Schools are not able to provide adequate supervision due to staff shortages. File photo. Photo: 123RF
More schools are asking students not to come in to the classroom, because so many staff are off sick.
Naenae College in Lower Hutt asked a different year group to stay home each day for the past two weeks, after a number of staff were away with illness.
It comes at a particularly stressful time for some students, with NCEA literacy and numeracy exams underway. Rostering home was the only way teachers could prioritise students sitting the critical tests.
It was the first time the school had to resort to asking students to stay home, outside of teacher strike action, but principal Chris Taylor feared it would not be the last.
"Most days we had up to 15 teachers out sick, which is 25 percent of our workforce, so we were just not able to cope with having that number of staff out. What we were doing was trying to be proactive because with that many staff out those that are still here at school have to cover a lot of classes that they wouldn't normally, which places a lot of pressure and stress on them," he said.
"I do feel it's becoming a part of the landscape. People get sick, the work pool of relievers is smaller than it used to be, I see this as being a response that we potentially would have to go to again in the future."
Other schools close classrooms
Naenae College is not the only school that has had to ask students not to attend.
Mercury Bay Area School in Whitianga asked its Year 12s to stay home for the day a fortnight ago, saying staff sickness meant it simply could not provide adequate supervision for all classes.
The week before that, Mt Cook School in central Wellington asked all 260 of its primary students to stay home, saying half of its 35 staff were off with Covid.
Secondary Principals Association president Vaughan Couillault said finding relief-teachers was a struggle, particularly at secondary level, because chronic staff shortages meant most relievers had now taken up full-time teaching work.
Papatoetoe High School principal said while keeping children out of school was not ideal, it was sometimes unavoidable.
"It's not completely unheard of, but it's a lot more mainstream now because the experience of schools in terms of the ability to staff on a regular basis has become more challenging," he said.
"What we tend to do is take that rostering home approach where we cater for those that are under 14 and keep them at school because they can't be left at home unsupervised and by themselves, and our more senior students, who can be left at home unsupervised by themselves, do that learn from home thing.
"We would love to find a better solution, but we haven't found one."
'It can have a long-term effect'
Post-Primary Teachers Association president Chris Abercrombie said it was concerning so many schools were shutting doors so early into the winter flu season. He worried about the effect multiple closures could have on students.
"It can have a long-term effect. Missing one period isn't going to be the worst thing to happen, but if it becomes a regular thing for a school, as the winter really starts biting, then the more they have off the more they have to catch up."
New government guidelines published in April said children could go to class if they had a mild cough, headache or runny nose, but were otherwise well.
But Abercrombie said having sick students in schools would not help the situation.
"There's a lot of kids, in a secondary school there's often 30-plus in a classroom. We know ventilation is not great in classrooms, we know heating, all of these things that actually will improve health, aren't great in schools, and so it's a significant issue."
Improving teacher pay and conditions would increase the pool of relievers and make it easier for schools to stay open, he said.
The Ministry of Education acknowledged some schools were struggling to cover classes when staff were away, but said schools were best placed to make the right decisions for their students and staff.
"There is pressure in covering classes when a number of staff are away and for some schools, that has resulted in combining classrooms for the day, or online learning options.
"We work with schools to manage the impact of illness-related staff absences and we encourage schools to be in touch with their local Te Mahau office."