British government changes advice on wearing masks in English schools

British government changes advice on wearing masks in English schools.

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Good evening the government has revised its advice on face coverings for schools in England, which are beginning to reopen this week in areas where the transmission of coronavirus is high masks will be compulsory for secondary pupils and staff where social distancing isn't possible elsewhere headteachers will have the discretion to set their own policy ministers had ruled out mandatory face coverings saying the scientific advice showed schools are safe.

 But the education secretary Gavin Williamson now says the new guidelines are based on the latest world health organization rules primary schools are not affected. Scotland and Northern Ireland have already said secondary school pupils should wear masks in communal areas, and the Welsh government is reviewing its own guidance. Here's our education editor Bronwyn Jeffries.

We've got as far as week four so far back to class in Leicestershire today this school already decided on face coverings pupils able to choose to wear them most of the children will carry a mask anyway. We would advise all children to carry one because they may wish to go into the shop on their way to or from school and all of the ones who travel by bus will also have to wear a mask including the school buses and public transport.

 Earlier in devon the pm preparing the way for change saying it was about keeping up with the science there's far more risk to the well-being of our children from not going to school than there is uh from uh I'm afraid from the disease so uh that's my priority on the issue of whether or not to wear masks in some context you know we'll look at the uh the changing medical evidence as we as we go on

if we need to change the advice. Of course, we will go tonight for secondary schools the details in areas where transmission of cases is high compulsory use of face coverings in busy parts of the school for all pupils and staff. Still, where cases are low, it's up to the school. The clear advice welcomed by one headteacher's union what we've got tonight is clear that if you're in an area which is higher risk, higher transmission rates.

 Then there is an expectation that young people around the school will be wearing those face coverings. Still, equally, there's the flexibility in other areas for you as a leader working with your staff working with your governors working with the community to do what's right in your context in Scotland pupils are already getting used to the idea there are quite a few pregnant teachers, so it is helping out. There are people with underlying health conditions, so like in the long run.

 It does help everyone else the government there going further in its advice adults and pupils in secondary schools should wear face coverings when they're moving around the school in areas where distancing is challenging for example through corridors or in communal spaces and secondly adults and children aged five and over should wear face coverings on dedicated school transport Northern Ireland have issued similar guidelines health experts say for teenagers it makes sense.

 This virus is spread by airborne droplets you get out of the classroom. The first thing you do is start talking uh, everybody's talking because guess what? You've had to keep quiet for the last hour, so there are two reasons for a teenager to wear a mask one is to stop them infecting other people but also there is an element of protection against the other kids who are also chattering away as they go along that crowded corridor.

 This school year brings new habits, each small change adding to the defense the science and advice running to keep up with the virus brownwen Jeffries Bbc news well our chief political correspondent Vicky young is at Westminster Vicky the government is calling this a revision of policy others a u-turn what's your assessment well yesterday Gavin Williamson. 

The education secretary was in a school saying that the government couldn't recommend the wearing of face coverings in schools. He said it wasn't needed and actually, in some cases, they feared that it could make it worse if the coverings weren't worn properly, but today, the pressure really began to build Nicola sturgeon, saying

she was going to bring it in in Scotland now not everyone was pleased about the rumors swirling this afternoon that England would follow suit; one conservative mp said England shouldn't be pandering to this scientifically illiterate guff, and one tory mp said to me that it looked like the prime minister was being pushed around by Nicola sturgeon.

 so I think what we've ended up within England is a compromise really that face coverings will be required but only in areas where there's more transmission of the virus, so in those lockdown areas, they haven't gone quite as far as Northern Ireland and Scotland in that sense, but I do get the impression that there are those in the department of education who think that actually a lot of this is about reassurance they are very very keen to get the schools back in full form next week 

and if this supplies some kind of more reassurance to parents and teachers, then they're happy to go with that, okay Vicki, thank you for that Vicky young there at Westminster the head of the exams regulator in England sally collier is standing down following the chaos surrounding this summer's A-level and GCSE results there was strong criticism of the system which had been used toward grades with pupils unable to sit exams

 because of the coronavirus lockdown, in the end, a government u-turn meant teachers assessments formed the basis of results where our education correspondent dan johnson is here and how much of a surprise was this, not a huge one because the only really predictable result this summer clive was that someone was going to have to carry the can for this mess and it looked fairly certain quite quickly that it wasn't going to be the education secretary gave Williamson who went he's wavered over whether he had confidence in sally collier's leadership she pulled out of a BBC interview last Thursday and hasn't really answered

any questions about what went so badly wrong she was facing a hearing in parliament next week because there are so many students who are now launching appeals which are opting for autumn exams trying to get the grades they need to get the university places they want there are still b-tech students who don't have their final grade and the fact that so many teachers were left uncertain about their results and their futures is evidence for some of how dysfunctional off qual had become managing to design an unfair system and failing to take heed of the warnings that were given that.

 This was going to go wrong. Others say that sally collier has been scapegoated here and that it should be ministers who are accountable for their insistence that grade inflation was prevented by the system put in place this year. Now her predecessor, dame Glenis Stacy is back to steady the ship until the end of the year, and there is extra staff being drafted into offal from Ofsted, the school's inspectors, to try and sort all this out. Some say that's evidence that Ofqual itself,f not just its chief executive,e isn't up to the jo. Okay, dan, many thanks, dan johnson.