Ofqual chair Ian Bauckham has advised head teachers to establish ‘emergency timetable changes’ to help with staff shortages caused by the pandemic. Bauckham states that suspending ‘specialist’ subjects, such as music, PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education), or RSHE (relationships, sex and health education), and moving teachers to other subjects will help with high absence levels predicted this term.
Bauckham, who was made permanent chair of Ofqual last year, and who is also chief executive and director of the Tenax Schools Trust, established his model in a ‘case study’ published on a Department for Education’s (DfE) portal for headteachers. The exam watchdog chair wrote: ‘In cases where a specialist teacher rotates between classes to teach subjects that sometimes include for example… music, it may be possible temporarily to suspend the teaching of that subject and use that teacher to teach classes whose normal teacher is absent and unable to teach remotely.’
ISM chief executive Deborah Annetts said: ‘Music is a National Curriculum subject that has a vital role in our education system. While staff shortages in schools are concerning, and schools will be looking for solutions to cope with the current pressures, simply cancelling music lessons and redeploying teachers cannot be the answer.’
Other suggestions from Bauckham include teaching larger-sized classes with a more theoretical focus, to allow schools to prioritise A Level and GCSE students. He notes that there is ‘no right answer’ and that ‘different school and trust leaders will have different approaches’ that are equally as valid.
A DfE spokesperson told D&T: ‘Face to face learning for all pupils is a priority, which is why we have put in place a range of measures to help keep young people in the classroom. We’ve also asked schools to have contingency plans to maximise attendance and minimise disruption to learning, should they have high rates of staff absence.’
They continue: ‘We are working with the sector to share case studies of flexible learning models in the event of high workforce absence, supporting the development of schools’ contingency plans, and we are grateful for Ian’s contribution.’