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The country’s three main teaching unions have all voiced grave concern with plans to keep schools open for Leaving Cert students and children with special needs.
The Taoiseach this afternoon confirmed that schools around the country would remain shut until February at the earliest.
However, Leaving Cert students will return on Monday and are due to attend classes for three days a week.
Individual schools will be given autonomy to decide how that will work in practice.
Meanwhile, the provision of special education will also resume on Monday in special schools, special classes and in specialised settings.
Covid-19: Teachers to seek assurances that schools are safe to reopen Teachers unions say members are deeply concerned over surge in coronavirus cases
Sun, Jan 3, 2021, 19:51
Teachers will seek reassurances from Government and public health officials this week that it is safe for schools to reopen as planned on January 11th, union representatives have said.
Teachers union officials say their members are deeply concerned about the record numbers of Covid-19 infections being recorded and the transmission of the new variant of the virus in the community.
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland, and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) want the National Public Health Emergency Team to examine school safety measures for Covid-19 given that scientists say this new variant is more infectious.
Students could get Leaving Cert points for work experience Draft report underlines need to provide more vocational pathways for students
Mon, Dec 21, 2020, 01:03
Students could get Leaving Cert points for completing accredited work experience or apprenticeships while still in school under draft plans being examined for reforming the senior cycle. Photograph: David Jones/PA Wire
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Students could get Leaving Cert points for completing accredited work experience or apprenticeships while still in school under draft plans being examined for reforming the senior cycle.
Back in early March, when this was all new, a few schools took unilateral decisions to close because of Covid cases, and they were promptly told by the Department to re-open.
All schools shut for a period and, when they reopened in September, there was a raft of protocols with detailed guidance about keeping schools safe and about what happens when Covid is identified in the school community.
Advice included that any decision to close is taken by public health officials. On the one hand that removed a burden from the board of management but it also left those directly affected with no flexibility to take the sort of decision they would take on another day, for another reason – such as a breakdown in heating – if they felt the school was unable to function safely.