We have no business debating the need to wear masks in school

Covid childhoods are a very real thing now. Eighteen months ago, many anticipated a short interruption to normal proceedings. Two full lockdowns later and with higher daily case numbers than we would like, there is a strange hybrid of cautiously celebrating relative normality while remaining nervous of where that could lead us. We have not forgotten the high price we paid for “having a Christmas”.

For some young people, that uncertainty has been a feature of their whole lives. If you consider the ages of different pre-school children, their experiences of close physical contact have been very different to what most of us experienced, and indeed their own older siblings too. Births have been dramatically different for both parents in different ways, and we must ask ourselves what impact this has had on them as parents and as a couple. And will the children born under these conditions carry evidence of this as they go through life?

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with education and schools. The environment in which children live out their Covid experiences will impact on their perception of these years of their youth. The children born during the pandemic may show up, and indeed develop, differently at school as a result of their very earliest months and years. This will all unfold in time, but as adults we need to be observing this pre-school generation carefully in order to be ahead of any very specific new needs which may have to be met at a school level. I would, therefore, argue that all of this has a huge amount to do with the culture schools create, both while this pandemic is ongoing and beyond. While school may be some time away for those born during the pandemic, there are Covid childhoods being lived out right under our noses at school.

Mistakes

Core to all of this is the importance of creating a culture of psychological safety for children, one in which there is an underlying belief that there will be no negative repercussions to stating one’s views or asking questions. In such a culture making mistakes is acceptable and does not induce panic.

Almost all Covid-19 restrictions to be lifted by October 22nd under Government plan

---

Nphet to be ‘scaled back significantly’ from October 22nd

---

Israel offers Covid-19 booster to all vaccinated people over 12

---

One-third of indoor diners say Covid-19 certs not checked

---

This year’s back-to-school is the first under the vaccination programme. In September 2020 schools reopened after a six-month gap and this brought Covid fear and nervousness. Strong views were expressed both for and against the wisdom of an en-masse reopening of schools. September 2021 brings a debate around whether or not to take the vaccine. Last year we knew that nobody had been vaccinated. This year brings an uncertainty around whether those we encounter have been vaccinated. There is a different them and us-ness in society from a year ago. It is also much easier to spot an anti-masker than an anti-vaxxer!

There is not a lot of psychological safety in the world around the virus or the vaccine. There is solid scientific data, which many place high trust in. Others claim that this trust is based on early and relatively limited evidence. In time we will know a lot more about how taking the vaccine, or not, impacts on people. One day we will have the benefit of hindsight. But that is something we must wait for. We simply cannot read tomorrow’s history books today.

Meanwhile, here in the present, the benefits of structure and clarity are not to be underestimated. As teachers, we can deliver these gifts to young people day in day out. They will never have needed them more than they do now while Covid lingers – for far longer than the majority of us imagined. The certainties of what we can provide must outweigh the questions we cannot know the answers to. It has been a very long time since being a teacher was solely, or even primarily, about what we know.

And this is why we have no business debating the merits of wearing masks or not at school. Instead, we can provide the structure that comes with complying with regulations. Nor do we need to engage in discussion around the wisdom of taking the vaccine or not. We do not have the right answers and it would be entirely irresponsible to offer our own personal take on any of it.

Humiliated

Young people are impressionable. They seek out role models. They turn away from adults who make them feel uncertain, unsafe or humiliated. At a time when so many different views are already available to them, both personally and via social media, it would be both irresponsible and inappropriate for us as teachers to add ours into the mix.

What we can do in order to create a culture of psychological safety for our students is listen actively and allow students to share any views they may feel it necessary to explore. Factual details may be addressed and indeed corrected, but we need to refrain from engaging in unhelpful discussions where we are no better informed than our students. Part of our role in creating inclusive environments at school is accepting that a classroom is filled with differing views.

We can work towards a sense of the collective and our shared identity by focusing on what has us all in the room together, namely the subject and the course work. It may be of comfort to students to get a break from the rights and wrongs of Covid behaviour. Some families will have travelled further afield than others this summer and mixed socially more. This opens up a whole new world of potential differences and competition. For some youngsters it will be more than enough to have to deal with this in the playground, so the usual “where did you go on holiday?” topics simply won’t be as appropriate in our classrooms this year.

Covid childhoods are already complex, so schools keeping things simple will be such a gift to our children.