Page 987 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 May 2020
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Fast-forward to 8 April, when another ministerial media release confirms that ACT government schools will move to remote learning in term 2, beginning on Tuesday, 28 April. It stated:
This will be different from what families have experienced over the last few weeks, while teachers have been developing a new kind of learning.
Whilst the words were designed to make term 2 sound like an adventure, the bubbling uncertainty that was already starting to build placed an even greater burden on an already stressed community. Parents were told that most government school students would learn remotely at home but that, for families who could not keep their children at home, due to work or other needs, the ACT government would provide supervision at a reduced number of government school sites. The minister also stated:
Additional supports will be in place for vulnerable students studying from home, including appointments with school psychologists.
In theory this sounds all well and good, and in such a fast-changing environment, during a once in a generation global pandemic, there are no easy decisions. However, it is in times like these, and particularly in times like these, that community leaders step up and are able to show clarity, decisiveness, empathy and transparency. What we got was none of the above.
We had many school communities confused; no idea of the location of the hub schools until just before the start of term 2; no clear process for registration; no clarity as to transport options; no clear solution for before and after school care; no answers as to what would happen to children in learning support units; no assurances about how students as young as five and six would be able to effectively learn online, either at a school site or at home; no plan as to how year 12 students would be given the best opportunity to ensure that their final year of school would be what they expected and should expect; no thought given to already stressed families raising concerns about how they would juggle supervising their children at home whilst working; and no explanation as to why and how this decision was made.
This plan was doomed to fail from day one. That same media release said, quite categorically, that all government school students would be learning remotely, whether at home or at a school site—note the term “school site”, not a school—and that if students turned up unexpectedly they would not be turned away.
We still do not know where the origins of the hub school arrangement developed, but every parent I have spoken to, every teacher I have spoken to and every medical expert I have spoken to raises significant and consistent questions. Why is it that nine schools which were now going to be full of teachers, learning support assistants, allied health professionals, out of school care workers and students from all across Canberra can be deemed safe but local schools, each with a unique and known school community, are not? Why is it preferable for students from all across Canberra to congregate in one combined hub rather than have them at their local school with a known cohort of their own school community? On what medical advice was the hub
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