Return to school approach criticised

There have also been discussions from the Australian Education Union SA branch about potential teachers strikes, with negotiations ongoing.

The hybrid model will involve face-to-face learning for students in pre-school, reception and grades 1, 2, 7, 8 and 12 from Wednesday February 2, while all remaining grades will learn online for the initial fortnight.

A spokesperson from the Education Department has confirmed teachers will not be required to offer remote learning and face-to-face programs at the same time. Schools with composite classes across the two groupings (online and face-to-face) will nominate either remote or face-to-face learning.

All students will return to school for face-to-face learning from February 14.

"This plan is all about balancing the learning needs of our kids, while also ensure they stay safe," Premier Steven Marshall said.

"Because of the restrictions we put in place on Boxing Day, we have got on top of this outbreak, made sure our hospitals have not been over run and now - we announce that our key year levels will go back to school in week one.

"While we understand there will be disruptions to the start of 2022 and it's going to be challenging for a lot of families, we have put our kids first with this schools plan - they learn better face to face and that is what we've worked hard to achieve.

"This back to school plan is fully supported by the health and education experts in our state, and I'm certain it is the right way to go."

Despite the certainty, opposition education spokesperson Blair Boyer has criticised the approach, saying the state government have "backed themselves into a corner".

"We've been calling on the government to put into place some of the protections that other states like Vic and NSW have put into place, things like conducting a complete audit of ventilation in classes, rolling out air purifiers or physical infrastructure changes to improve airflow or ventilation," he said.

"So now, try as they (the government) might to suggest all these challenges and the confusion about how school goes back is just the fault of Omicron - it's largely of the government's own creation too because they chose not to take any of the preparedness stuff seriously.

"Now they're asking teachers to do this hybrid model, and then teachers who are close contacts are going to have to stay in the classroom but isolate when they get home, what can the government tell the staff and students about what action it have taken to protect them, to make them as safe as can be?"

A recently-released national survey from The Parenthood, which surveyed 3043 families about their thoughts on returning to school, found 66 per cent of Australian parents didn't believe it to be safe for children to return to classrooms while Omicron was still running rife.

Mr Boyer said returning students to school while vaccination rates for children were still low, was a major cause for concern.

"In SA, we have the lowest rate of first dose vaccination of 5-11 year olds of all the states," he said.

"Ideally, students don't miss out on their education or learning, but it's not as if anyone has only just called for the government to make it easy as possible for parents to get their 5-11 year olds vaccinated."

RELATED READING:

Eastern Fleurieu School principal Ian Kent said regardless of people's thoughts on the return to school, getting children vaccinated was one of the highest priorities.

"I would probably prefer to have all kids back at school face-to-face and just get on with it, but if kids are feeling unwell, they should stay home and get tested," he said.

Mr Kent said covering staff sickness, as well as staff being able to access childcare/out of school hours care would be one of the biggest issues for schools, regardless of the return to school approach.

"It will be a challenge, but we have managed in the past and will no doubt in the future," he said.

Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Sign up here to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.