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The front against possible school closings continues to grow. On Wednesday, among others, the defense of children and young people, Caritas and the Chamber of Commerce spoke out against the expansion of distance education.
Instead, more flexible solutions should be sought, such as class divisions, a combination of face-to-face and distance learning, and additional classrooms or teachers, such as child and youth advocates in an email.
WKÖ: “Serious disadvantages”
The Chamber of Commerce also referred to the consequences for numerous companies: “The closures of basic education institutions must be rejected from both the economic and socio-political point of view,” emphasized Vice President Martha Schultz in a broadcast. They would bring serious disadvantages both for children and for companies and employees.
For example, many of the roughly 130,000 Austrian women entrepreneurs would be greatly affected by such a move, again involving intensive care or distance learning and homeschooling tasks. “About two-thirds of all self-employed women are sole proprietorships (UPE), which means that their work is self-employed. We also know from current surveys that it is still mostly women who bear the double burden of work and family or. I have to deal with children who need care, “says Schultz.
Caritas: protection for disadvantaged children
Caritas Secretary General Anna Parr spoke about the experiences of the spring. “Many children and young people accumulated educational deficits during the first closure, which we also observed in our learning cafes throughout Austria. Children were only able to make up for this in summer schools,” Parr said in a broadcast. Socially disadvantaged children would be left by the wayside during school closings: In many families, multiple children would have to share a laptop or tablet, and there is often no quiet place in the apartment where children can retreat to study. Rather than closing schools on their own, measures should be refined, for example by teaching in small groups, dividing them into morning and afternoon groups, or expanding the standards of oral and nasal protection.
Pediatricians: “wear masks at school”
The Austrian Society for Child Protection Medicine (ÖGKiM) and the Institute of Ethics and Law in Medicine (IERM) at the University of Vienna made similar statements. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, schools don’t need to be closed if protective measures are strictly observed, he said in a broadcast. “This specifically refers to the continuous use of MNS masks, also in class. Furthermore, in many classes it is certainly possible to place the school desks as far apart as possible and to ensure that there is a minimum distance of one meter between students in rows. “The classroom teachers would get to know the children and could also decide which children are close friends anyway and make sure these two or three sit together as much as possible and the others are apart. It goes without saying, however, that sick children and adolescents should stay home.
Medical Association: “Preventive Measures”
In a broadcast Wednesday, the medical association also called for schools to remain open. Children would be infected less often, develop symptoms less often, and transmit the virus less often than adults, according to a statement from the Austrian Society for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (ÖGKJ). Rather than closing more schools, more preventative measures should be taken, such as requiring masks for teachers outside of classes, higher minimum distances, flexible school start and end times, or the placement of Plexiglas panels.
Education experts: bad for learning outcomes
“Distance education does not have the same effect and only works well in very small groups,” argues educational scientist Rudolf Egger, dean of the faculties of environmental, regional and educational sciences at the University of Graz, in a broadcast against the switch to distance education in other schools. . In the area of compulsory school in particular, face-to-face teaching should be maintained, even if only in shifts. Longer school vacations would not only affect learning outcomes, but could also increase social inequalities, he warned. Additionally, teachers rarely know if students have their own room, a desk, supportive parents, or a stable infrastructure. You would like a comprehensive study of the learning requirements so that you can derive measurements.
The SPÖ and NEOS also repeated their call for open schools and kindergartens on Wednesday.
