It is some years now since your blogger was the parent of school aged children, but I remember all too well the challenge of arranging leave commitments and finding childcare to cover school holidays and closures.
Nevertheless, given the accelerating transmission of the new variant of the covid-19 virus, it is surely obvious that the sensible course of action is that advocated by the National Education Union (NEU) - to announce now that schools will not reopen for the first two weeks of January, with teaching online for that period whilst local Directors of Public Health organise testing and education staff are vaccinated.
One advantage of a labour movement, including both a political wing (the Labour Party) and an industrial wing (the trade unions - whether or not affiliated) is that the practical experience of the latter can inform the former, so that the policies advanced by our Party can be rooted in the reality of everyday life even as they (should) aspire to truly transformative outcomes.
It is therefore disappointing to have to contrast the clear proposals from the NEU with the approach of the Her Majesty’s Opposition in Parliament - which is to ask the Government to clarify what they are proposing to do (as if that were ever likely!) I hope that UNISON will be updating our own guidance to members in line with the position of the NEU.
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