Virus takes its toll on Wigan teachers' absences

Dozens of teachers in Wigan were absent because of coronavirus on just one day before Christmas, new figures show.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the past few months of the pandemic had put English schools under “enormous pressure”, calling for education staff to be prioritised for the vaccine.

Department for Education figures show 15 teachers and school leaders in Wigan state schools were absent with either a suspected or confirmed case of Covid-19 on December 17. There were also 16 forced to isolate.

This means 31 were off for Covid-19 related reasons on just one day – 1.9 per cent of all teachers in schools that remained open.

This was down from 4.6 per cent on the same day the week before, and 7.4 on October 15, the first date the survey was conducted.

On December 17, all schools that responded to the survey in Wigan were open, after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson threatened one council with legal action to prevent it closing schools.

Across England, 4.4 per cent of teachers and school leaders were absent because of coronavirus on what was the last day of term for many schools.

It is not known how many teachers in schools that had closed and moved to online-only lessons had coronavirus at the time, so the figures are likely to be under-estimates.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said: “The level of staff absence as a result of coronavirus is obviously affected by local infection rates, and the turbulence of the past few months has put schools under enormous pressure.

“It shows why it is important that the Government prioritises education staff in phase two of the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccination programme. This will provide reassurance to staff and it will minimise further disruption when schools are fully open again.”

Pupils – except children of key workers and vulnerable pupils – expect to learn remotely until at least March 8.

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