How militant teacher unions are stopping millions of children from classroom learning - and why Scott Morrison is pushing for them to return within weeks, writes CHARLIE MOORE
- All states and territories, except the NT, have made going to school optional
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants schools back as soon as possible
- But militant teachers unions are standing in his way as a showdown looms
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
Australia's powerful teachers unions are holding children's education to ransom, insisting schools should remain closed contrary to medical experts.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, keen for Australian children to have the best possible education, is desperate for schools to re-open - but belligerent unions are standing in his way.
The fate of millions of schoolchildren is at stake.
The National Cabinet is due to meet on Thursday to discuss the future of schooling amid the coronavirus pandemic after all states and territories, except the Northern Territory, either told parents to keep children at home or made school optional.
Scott Morrison, keen for Australian children to have the best possible education, is desperate for schools to re-open but belligerent unions stand in his way
The President of the Queensland Teachers Union (pictured) told Mr Morrison to 'butt out' and insisted that teachers should not have to attend school
On Tuesday night Mr Morrison released a video asking teachers to agree to go back to work, saying: 'Your students and their families are relying on you more than ever.'
The President of the Queensland Teachers Union, which has 47,000 members giving it more than $20million per year, told Mr Morrison to 'butt out' and insisted that teachers should not have to attend school.
President Kevin Bates claimed that 'young people will not suffer' from learning online - despite strong evidence that children learn far better in a classroom environment.
Mr Bates, who has shared articles on Twitter advocating the overthrow of capitalism, said it was not safe for teachers to go to work.
Australia has made significant progress in the fight against coronavirus, with a clear flattening of the curve on the graph that measures the daily infection rate
The Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union and the NSW Teachers Federation have also demanded school closures.
But health experts have repeatedly said schools are safe and on Wednesday afternoon Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth again re-iterated it was fine for schools to be open because children do not tend to spread the virus.
Children make up only two per cent of coronavirus cases in Australia, he said.
'It's the view of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee that schools are safe places because of the low rates of transmission.'
He described teachers as 'essential' and said the AHPPC will advise the National Cabinet how to make schools even safer so they can re-open.
Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan told education representatives in a meeting on Tuesday he wants schools back up and running in four to six weeks.
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On the same day, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said the powerful unions were responsible for shutting down schools against the wishes of state premiers.
'Most of the state governments actually didn't want to close the schools, it was the parents and the teachers who closed the schools,' he told a New Zealand parliamentary hearing.
The unions are major financial contributors to state Labor parties, making it difficult for Labor premiers such as Victoria's Daniel Andrews and Queensland's Annastacia Palaszczuk to stand up to them.
Moreover, the teachers unions can afford to drive a hard bargain because they know their members' jobs are secure, unlike jobs in the private sector which have taken a hammering due to the coronavirus shut down.
With salaries starting at around $70,000 and heading up towards $160,000, teachers in Australia are among the highest paid in the world.
Paypackets for primary school teachers are 36 per cent higher than the OECD average and salaries for high school teachers are 22 per cent higher, a report in September showed.
Meanwhile, battling parents are being told to keep their children at home, causing them to fall behind.
Commentators have compared concerned teachers to our unflappable nurses who put their health at risk every day on the front lines without a fuss.
Dr Bella d'Abrera from the Institute of Public Affairs told Daily Mail Australia Scott Morrison is right to ask teachers to 'do their jobs'.
Classrooms across the nation were virtually empty toward the end of term one as parents stopped sending their children to school
'School teachers should be in classrooms, doing the jobs that they are being paid to do,' she said.
'They are behaving as if they are being asked by government to risk their lives at the front line of infection.
'The teachers unions should be putting children first by providing them with an education.
'Australian schoolchildren are already behind in literacy and numeracy. They simply cannot afford to fall back even further,' Dr d'Abera said after NAPLAN results showed Australia had fallen behind comparable countries in science, maths and reading.
Experts also strongly refute the insistence of the unions that learning from home is an adequate replacement for going to school.
The Victorian government's own website says: 'Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child's education.
'There is no safe number of days for missing school. Each day a student misses puts them behind.'
A major study of online schools in the US found that children were far less well educated than in normal schools.
'Attending an online charter school leads to lessened academic growth for the average student,' the study said.
In an article for The Conversation, Grattan Institute Fellow Julie Sonnemann said poor students and those already behind are being hit the hardest.
'Children from poorer households do worse at online learning for a host of reasons; they have less internet access, fewer technological devices, poorer home learning environments and less help from their parents when they get stuck,' she wrote.
Ms Sonnermann said intense after-school tuition classes and even holiday classes should be considered to help these children get back on track once the schools re-open.
In the meantime, Scott Morrison has a major fight on his hands to get us to that point.
