This is yet another badly thought through proposal. Why not start testing now? Are students expected to use public transport? Will decisions about next year be made pronto? What about student rents? The fees they have paid? If I was a student now I would be so much more angry than I am.
Their exam results have been a shambles, they are being charged for services they are not receiving, The university experience has been drastically diminished. Their job prospects after university are getting slimmer by the day. Now it seems like a travel ban is being placed on them – and only them.
Oh the DfE are a joke. They comment that ‘Universities were expected to plan to ensure students could travel home safely, working with local public health officials and transport operators’. i.e. We have not got a clue so it is all up to you! Are they expected to provide taxis? masks protect others not you, so are they going to provide full PPE kit for students travelling on public transport.
And exams. I have already said that GCSE’s should be abolished with the added bonus of saving schools tens of thousands of pounds. A levels reduced to one paper, although I am not sure that is necessary either. Maybe a literacy and numeracy test would be useful for employers. If certain employers want more, let them pay for it, and do it themselves.
I would also give schools until Xmas to come up with a plan for reducing class sizes for the spring term. Take senior managers away from their computers where they look at fairly meaningless stats all day, and in the classroom. Stagger break times – oh the timetable squeak management! Schools could reorganise internally to 300/400 size with mainly dedicated teachers – not rocket science! Familiy siblings could be kept in the same group thus any changes in the school day could be of minimal impact on families.
So a school like my old one would basically be run as 4/5 mainly separate ones under the same roof.