By last night, more than 530 Islanders had signed a petition saying that teaching staff should be among the first people to receive a vaccine.
The petition states: ‘With emerging evidence that links schools to high infection rates with the new strains of the virus, this is surely a sensible course of action, and would give parents some degree of peace of mind.’
Although the petition was not launched by teaching unions, it has the backing of union members.
Marina Mauger, negotiating secretary for the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers in Jersey, said: ‘Teachers are potentially mixing with 30 other households when they enter their classrooms. You have 25 to 30 students in a class and they haven’t been advised to wear masks. It makes teachers feel really vulnerable and exposed.
‘We haven’t seen any scientific evidence that teachers aren’t at risk in a classroom. This new variant could be spread quickly among children and young people.
‘You are told you are not allowed go into a shop but you can have 25 children in a classroom. And yet they can’t go into each other’s houses. It doesn’t make sense.’
However Mrs Mauger also pointed out that giving teachers priority for the vaccine would mean delaying another group of Islanders who could be more vulnerable and said that ‘teachers wouldn’t want that on their conscience’.
Brendan Carolan, former president of the National Education Union in Jersey, argued that problem could be solved if schools stay closed.
He said: ‘If they reopen on 11 January then there’s a massive case for vaccinating teachers.
‘But Boris Johnson said that schools are “a vector of transmission”. If you put the schools back next week, the R number will increase.
‘Whatever system you have, you are going to have large groups of people less than two metres apart in poorly ventilated places.
‘Until all the people who are in their 80s or are vulnerable have been vaccinated, then the schools should remain closed.’
Meanwhile, Education Minister Tracey Vallois has confirmed that a UK decision to cancel summer exams will apply to students in Jersey.
She said: ‘We will do all we can to ensure that students’ education is disrupted as little as possible and to ensure that results are fair and robust.
‘Exams are going ahead as planned in secondary schools and colleges in Jersey this January.
‘Plans are already in place to make sure that students are not at a disadvantage by sitting January examinations. They have been supported this week by teachers and lecturers, with teaching sustained by a mixture of face-to-face and online tuition last term. There will be re-sit opportunities should vocational tests go ahead in the summer and, if not, we have robust assessment data to ensure that all students achieve the results which reflect their true potential.
‘Some confusion may have arisen as the UK Department for Education decided late yesterday to leave the choice of whether vocational examinations are run with the individual schools and colleges. Unlike schools and colleges in Jersey, many schools and colleges in England were in lockdown in varying parts of the country last term and may not, in all cases, have established online learning to the degree we have here.’
Teachers’ representatives were taken by surprise by the announcement that exams were to be cancelled this year but said they would work with a system of teacher assessments.
UK Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told the House of Commons that teachers’ estimated grades would be used to replace GCSEs and AS and A-level exams in England this summer.
He promised to avoid the fiasco of last summer when thousands of A-level students had their results downgraded from school estimates by a controversial algorithm.
Mrs Mauger said: ‘We follow England in exams so whatever recommendations are issued, we will have to go with. Teachers will need to be allowed to prepare for assessments.’
And Mr Carolan added: ‘I’m sure it will be a rigorous process but exactly what will be required we don’t know yet.’
However, the government has confirmed that BTEC and vocational course exams are going ahead as planned in Island secondary schools this month.
Senator Vallois confirmed that schools in Jersey remained on track to reopen next Monday as scientific evidence pointed to the risks of school absence outweighing the risks from Covid-19.
