PARENTS’ CHOICE - NOT THE PREMIER’S OR PRINCIPALS’
Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur has called on the state government to follow the advice of the federal government in encouraging parents to send their children to school if they are unable to properly supervise them.
The Federal Minister for Education, Dan Tehan today said, “To parents who are working, please do not feel guilty about sending your students to school.”
The Prime Minister has also encouraged students to return to school in Term 2.
The Premier promised Victorian parents that children could still be sent to school if they don’t have “access to a suitable learning environment at home”, but some children were reportedly turned away from the school gate yesterday morning.
Schools, not homes, are the places of learning for the vast majority of children in Victoria. Just as hospitals are the places of healthcare.
The Prime Minister has also said that all Australians who are working are ‘essential’.
Those ‘essential’ workers who are forced to work at home cannot be expected to be child minders and tutors while attempting to hold onto their job. At the same time, employers cannot be expected to pay salaries to staff who are unable to give 100 per cent of their time to the job for which they are employed.
The Chief Medical Officer of Australia has said children "can practice reasonably good social distancing and hand hygiene and other practices in the school".
All children should be going to school unless their parents decide the contrary. This means that teachers also need to be at school providing teaching and supervision, as is normally expected.
We are expecting all healthcare workers to report for work unless unwell. We are grateful for all supermarket staff for keeping shelves stocked and checkouts operating so that we can put food on the table. There are shops, factories, farmers and delivery drivers working to keep the economy running and our every need catered for. Education at school should be no exception.
It is totally unreasonable for Daniel Andrews and the Victorian Health Officer to expect families to provide tutoring and education supervision for children at home while trying to do their own work in the same space. This is an impossible ask.
In any case, this is no way to operate an education system. Those who choose home-schooling know it requires incredible discipline and skill to do it effectively. Those who don’t, need to send their children to school, just as they send their children to kindergarten or childcare. Why should schools be any different to childcare and kindergarten?
Schools should be ‘open for business’ to all students whose parents seek education in a school environment. No child should be encouraged not to attend or turned away.
Quotes attributable to Bev McArthur MP:
“The decision must ultimately be up to the parents if they believe their child needs to go to school. Parents know what’s best for their child’s learning – not the Premier and not the school principal.”
“Daniel Andrews promised Victorian families that school access would still be available in circumstances where children’s homes are unsuitable learning environments. Unfortunately, it appears that this is not the policy that some schools have adopted.”
“Many workers have no choice but to work from home, as directed by both levels of government, and when they are at work that does not include providing childcare or home-schooling their child while they’re on the clock. That’s not fair on Victorian businesses or Victorian families.”
“I agree with the Prime Minister and the Federal Education Minister – parents shouldn’t feel guilty about sending their children to school if they don’t believe they can provide them with adequate learning opportunities from home.”
16 April 2020