Retired principal: ‘We need to talk about getting our children back to school’

The News Letter sparked a debate regarding the closure of our schools under the headline ‘Return of schools is too late, yet the matter is not being debated’ (May 22).
Children wearing plastic face visors sit in class at Kinugawa Elementary School in Japan, where schools have returned. 
Hugh McCarthy writes: "There is a crisis looming when the children return if we continue to fill them with fear. The UK and Irish governments need to assuage fears the of the public first, then people will return willingly to the proper learning environment"Children wearing plastic face visors sit in class at Kinugawa Elementary School in Japan, where schools have returned. 
Hugh McCarthy writes: "There is a crisis looming when the children return if we continue to fill them with fear. The UK and Irish governments need to assuage fears the of the public first, then people will return willingly to the proper learning environment"
Children wearing plastic face visors sit in class at Kinugawa Elementary School in Japan, where schools have returned. Hugh McCarthy writes: "There is a crisis looming when the children return if we continue to fill them with fear. The UK and Irish governments need to assuage fears the of the public first, then people will return willingly to the proper learning environment"

You raise a serious issue.

We do indeed need to know why it is not being debated.

Hugh McCarthy is a former principal of Killicomaine Junior High SchoolHugh McCarthy is a former principal of Killicomaine Junior High School
Hugh McCarthy is a former principal of Killicomaine Junior High School

Not since the strikes of the early 1970s have our schools closed and this time children will go some four months without schooling and who knows what September holds.

Education is either important or it isn’t.

Numeracy and literacy levels will not have stayed level during this time, they will have fallen by close on a full year (in rough terms an average child who is aged nine will read at the age level of a nine year old, but will now read at the level of an eight year old).

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Catching up will take a huge effort. Where are the resources for this?

Reading scores for example affect exam results and from there access to higher education and employment.

This is serious.

I can only imagine the stress and angst some parents are feeling as they struggle with home teaching.

As the paper reported it is the disadvantaged who are becoming more disadvantaged.

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Does anyone seriously believe that children who can’t or won’t work at home at the best of times are doing so now?

Many children will be falling further behind.

Why aren’t we talking about how to get our children back at school?

Naturally parents, children and staff are fearful of a return to school, so let’s look at what the science and the scientists say.

Either it is safe to go to school or it isn’t.

According to the Depart ment Health Northern Ireland Dashboard one person under 40 has died in NI and not one under 15 and 75% of the deaths have been of people over 75, and the Office of National Statistics reports that if you are under 30 you have a one in a million chance of dying (reported on BBC 5-live Sport.)

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Professor Karol Sikora, who holds a double first from Cambridge and was formerly Director of Cancer services at the World Health Organisation (WHO) said with regard to primary school and nurseries “opening schools is absolutely vital” ... “the people who are suffering most are the most disadvantaged” and “the evidence that young children spread this is almost zero”. He goes onto say ,”why wait until September?”

The Chief Scientific Officer of the WHO mirrors his views.

Prof John Lee, Professor of Clinical Pathology at Hull, sums it up thus “The majority of cases are asymptomatic. The most common symptoms are not fever, cough, headache and respiratory symptoms; they are no symptoms at all. Somewhere around 99.9 per cent of those who catch the disease recover.”

The re-opening of schools in a phased and conditional way places immense stress on principals /School Management Teams (SMT) who will have to reassure children, parents and staff whilst at the same time organising staff rotas, part class rotas, year group rotas, curriculum arrangements — say 15 subjects, staffing, desks ,movements, toilets, canteens, ,break times and so on and in many cases teach.

In a post primary school with 140 in a year group – so 5 classes – which, with phasing, would mean with, each class divided into 3, 15 sub groups —if the school has five year groups then that is 75 sub groups to rotate across eg 15 subjects with probably a rotated staff.

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Similarly in a primary school, complicated by the principal with a substantial teaching commitment.

How do you do it, how do you ensure continuity of education?

The ‘safety measures’ — masks, screens, Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) etc give the illusion of safety whilst increasing fear and anxiety and this will hugely increase if the children do not return to school soon.

I see groups of children playing and associating naturally – so if they go into school and have to stay two metres apart,how absurd is that? (WHO guidelines recommend one metre).

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Mental health issues are on the increase in schools as it is — there aren’t enough resources at the moment, there is a crisis looming when the children return – if we continue to fill them with fear.

Principals are faced with one particularly difficult dilemma.

Given that the government is not putting in any extra money, the principal can phase children in say one day a week and they miss out on their complete education, GCSE preparation etc or they can bring in lots of subs and run the budget into chaos, for which they will be heavily criticised.

The obstacles are insurmountable.

Our children need educated in an environment conducive to learning, not one filled with fear and anxiety.

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Feedback from the teacher and social interaction is what makes learning happen, why the need for complicated and impractical phasing? It is either safe or it isn’t.

Michael Fullan, the esteemed educationalist) said, “scratch a good teacher and you will find a moral purpose” and now is surely the time to demonstrate our moral purpose as public servants.

Surely it is up to the UK and Irish governments (not the principals) to assuage fears the of the public first, then people will return willingly to the proper learning environment

As FD Roosevelt said “there is nothing to fear, but fear itself”.

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• Hugh McCarthy is a former principal of Killicomaine Junior High School

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