Parents who are after a definitive answer about what term two will look like, will need to wait a little longer, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying today while NSW would pursue a plan to get children back into classrooms as early as next term, it would not happen overnight.
Instead, students will likely attend school "on a roster" basis from some time next term.
Her comments come a day after the National Cabinet agreed to a set of National Principals for School Education to support the "ongoing delivery of high quality education to all students during COVID-19".
But there was almost immediate backlash after it was labelled confusing, amid arguments it did not go far enough to protect teachers.
While the first principle stated that education was "best delivered by professional teachers to students in the classroom on a school campus", seemingly heralding a quick return to face-to-face teaching, the second principle acknowledged that "alternative flexible, remote delivery of education services may be needed" during the COVID-19 crisis.
The principles were unveiled in Canberra by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who said while schools remained safe, it was up to individual states and territories to decide the best course of action.
This morning, Ms Berejiklian said she wanted to provide "further certainty" to parents, teachers and school communities that the first two weeks of term two "will be the same as the last few weeks of term one".
"That means most students will be at home learning," she said.
However, Ms Berejiklian said the government would soon be announcing "further changes and more face-to-face contact".
"But I wanted to stress this does not mean all students are going back. This does not mean all classrooms will be full," she said.
"What it does mean is that NSW is considering a roster system to provide at least some aspect of face-to-face for each student.
"But can I stress, we are not proposing or supporting at this stage full classrooms and every single student going back at the same time."
Instead, Ms Berejiklian said there would be a "rostering system, which will have some students go back on a particular day to increase that level of face-to-face".
She said the alternative was that students could face "a year or longer at home, and we don't think that's appropriate", and added "it will be a very long time before we get back to normal".
"So we do need to take these initial steps on how we can include face-to-face teaching at some level in term two and we are having those discussions as we speak ... to make sure we get that right," she said.
Ms Berejiklian said parents, teachers and school communities would have "about a month to prepare" for any changes.
The National Principles for School Education
- Our schools are critical to the delivery of high quality education for students and to give our children the best possible start in life. Our education systems are based on the recognition that education is best delivered by professional teachers to students in the classroom on a school campus.
- It is accepted that during the COVID-19 crisis, alternative flexible, remote delivery of education services may be needed.
- Our schools must be healthy and safe environments for students, teachers and other staff to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of education to students.
- State and Territory Governments and non-government sector authorities are responsible for managing and making operational decisions for their school systems respectively, subject to compliance with relevant funding agreements with the Commonwealth.
- Decisions regarding the response to COVID-19 in the schooling sector must continue to be informed by expert, official, national and state-based public health and education advice, consistent with these national principles.
- All students must continue to be supported by their school to ensure participation in quality education during the COVID-19 crisis.
- The health advice consistently provided by the AHPPC is that attendance at a school campus for education represents a very low health risk to students. The advice also notes that appropriate practices must be employed at schools, like at other workplaces, to provide a safe working environment for school staff, including teachers, and that the specific AHPPC advice regarding school campuses should be followed.
