Coronavirus, Schools

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Education. Is the minister satisfied that all public schools have sent out consistent information to parents?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:00): I thank the member for the message. There are some schools that are in a slightly different circumstance. I particularly draw the member's attention to a couple in particularly identified vulnerable communities, where the rules have been a little bit different and the engagement with families has been a bit different.

Schools have been supported to send out messaging. We have endeavoured to make sure it is as consistent as possible. I think there have been localised variations in relation to specific circumstances in specific areas. Last time we were in this chamber, obviously there was a specific set of challenges at Unley High School that led to a different approach being taken at Unley High School, and that was something that was certainly supported.

There are some inconsistencies in information that is being presented by some local schools. We are working with education directors and principals to try to ensure that all families have if not necessarily consistent messaging—because there may be localised circumstances where it is appropriate, we are looking to ensure that all families of all students around South Australia are able to rely on the advice that Associate Professor Nicola Spurrier has provided to the government about the arrangements that will be in place in schools.

We now have, as a result of the four pupil-free days that were announced a couple of—goodness, it may have only been last week; no, it was two weeks ago, I think. Some days feel very long during this pandemic, and time is affected. I think it was about two weeks ago that we announced the four pupil-free days. That is enabling the teaching workforce and principals in schools to work with our teams in education to prepare for what term 2 will look like, as the Premier described earlier. We have this opportunity now therefore of 2½ weeks—with the formal school holidays to commence on Friday this week—to ensure that the situation is clear for parents and schools.

The other point I would make, and I thank the member for giving me this opportunity, is that schools need to have an understanding going into term 2 of the sorts of numbers of students who are likely to present at the beginning of term 2, and that has been a variation in the last couple of weeks across our system. There have been some schools with incredibly low numbers of students, and there have been some schools that have continued with a majority of students presenting.

To ensure that we have the staffing arrangements in place, and bearing in mind that there are some schools that also have different numbers of vulnerable staff being supported to work from home, that is going to present a very different challenge for a school that might have a small number of staff, a significantly disproportionate number in that vulnerable category and therefore a smaller number available to be on site. The arrangements for TRTs for that school are going to be very different from a large school with a higher proportion of less vulnerable staff and fewer people potentially being absent in term 2.

Schools need to have an idea of the sorts of numbers that are likely to be presenting in term 2, but that does not mean that it is a cut-off for families whose circumstances might change, for families who discover that they are unable to supervise safely the learning of their child, or indeed for families whose work conditions may change and they become able to supervise the learning of their child.

A family whose situation changes through term 2 we are looking to ensure will not be stuck with the decision they make this week for the whole of term 2. We are looking to have some flexibility, but we do want to have an idea going into week 1 of term 2 of who is likely to be at the school in that week.