Lessons to learn: education and the pandemic

Abstract

30 | International Union Rights | 27/1-27/2 FOCUS | UNIONS, WORKERS’ RIGHTS, AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Lessons to learn: education and the pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, while in many ways unprecedented in modern times, has in other ways only underlined and exacerbated the existing inequalities and fractures which we as trade unionists and educators have been fighting against for decades. Education has been badly affected by COVID-19, with more than 90 percent of students globally being out of education due to lockdown over the course of the pandemic to date. The increased reliance on distance learning has exacerbated disadvantages and the attainment gap for the poorest students and there are significant concerns about the health and safety of teachers, particularly those from BAME backgrounds and those with existing health conditions. In the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic in the UK we repeatedly heard the claim made by Government ministers that ‘this virus does not discriminate’. Such claims were advanced in order to make the case for the unprecedented lockdown measures which were imposed across the country and to underline the necessity of everyone following the government’s ‘stay home’ message in seeking to curb the spread of the virus. It did not take long however, before the assumption that all citizens were equally exposed to the risks posed by Coronavirus to reveal itself. Quickly it has become evident in the daily statistics and personal stories of those who had died, become seriously ill or who were facing perilous financial circumstances that Coronavirus has seriously amplified and exacerbated the existing economic and social inequalities in our society. If you are Black or Asian in the UK you are more likely to die from COVID-19. And, you’re also more likely to experience hardship as a result of emergency measures that have been introduced. For example, those in precarious and insecure employment, including supply teachers, are likely to fare worst financially, and those children and families living in overcrowded and unsafe accommodation are likely to be more vulnerable to contracting the virus. Disproportionately, these are BAME workers, families and children. It is also likely to be those children from the poorest and most marginalised families who have suffered the most educationally and socially, together with those families without the finances to support their child to learn at home or for whom school is the only safe or stable place in their lives. Tackling the searing social, economic and educational inequalities with measures to support the poorest children is essential, but not if doing so contributes to widening health inequalities and decreased life expectancy for the poorest children, their families and communities, or if they are placed at increased risk of contracting the Coronavirus. That is why the NASUWT is committed to working with employers to ensure that as schools reopen to more children, it is safe to do so and it is done in a way that minimises the risk to all staff and pupils. The NASUWT has raised with the Government the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 infections and deaths among black and minority ethnic populations and has been pressing for action at both national and workplace level to ensure that the wider reopening of schools does not lead to further discriminatory impacts in the transmission of the virus. It is a disturbing to note how slow the Government has been to address these concerns or to make public how the measures it is pursuing will not result in further regressive outcomes. With one of the highest rates of deaths and cases of COVID-19 in the world it seems clear that there are lessons for the UK to learn in dealing with this pandemic and tackling the regressive and discriminatory impact of the virus. Those countries that have secured a successful route out of lockdown were quick to take action when the virus began to spread globally and have put in place rigorous testing, tracing and tracking regimes to contain and eradicate coronavirus transmission in their populations. At the same time they have understood the importance of clear communication about the strategies that were being implemented and the importance of bringing on board partners from...