Covid-19: Not prioritising the vaccination of teachers will have far-reaching impact

Last Saturday the United Nations issued a third global call to prioritise teacher vaccination against Covid-19. Three days later the Government announced that teachers would not, as promised, be prioritised for vaccination,

The first call came from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on November 13th, 2020, based upon epidemiologic setting and vaccine supply scenarios. High priority teachers and school staff (primary and early childhood development teachers) are among the priority groups recommended for vaccination in the first 11-20 per cent of national populations and all remaining teachers in the next 21-50 per cent of populations to be vaccinated.

On December 15th, 2020, Unesco, Unicef and Education International, the global federation of education unions, issued a call to governments to prioritise school personnel and teachers “to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, once frontline health personnel and high-risk populations are vaccinated ... to safeguard the future of the next generation. This begins by safeguarding those responsible for opening that future up for them.”

These calls were informed by research highlighting the significant negative impact of school closures on children globally. One study using data from 149 countries up to the end of October 2020, found a four-month learning loss for the most disadvantaged children.

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Many countries, unlike Ireland, have heeded the UN and other global organisations’ calls for prioritisation of teacher vaccinations.

In Chile 50 per cent and in Italy 44.3 per cent of teachers have already been vaccinated. On March 2nd, US president Joe Biden requested all states to begin vaccinating teachers. In Indonesia, by June 5th, all teachers will be vaccinated. In Canada, all teachers will be vaccinated by the summer.

In Argentina, Colombia, Turkey and Vietnam teachers are given high priority and they will be vaccinated in the same group as senior citizens and people with chronic illnesses. In some African countries – notably Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda – teachers are considered frontline workers and second on priority plans after health and security personnel.

In some EU countries, such as Spain, teachers are also listed in second-level priority groups. On February 19th, Germany moved teachers to the second of three priority groups from the third group. Teacher vaccinations begun in Poland on March 12th.

In light of Ireland’s high regard for and within the UN, which was spotlighted throughout 2020 in our successful efforts to secure a seat on the UN Security Council, it is difficult to understand why the Irish Government has not heeded UN and international teacher vaccination prioritisation calls, advice and evidence.

Incredible

Also, in light of Tuesday’s announcement, which the government said was informed by non-medical considerations, it is incredible that the many calls for teacher vaccination prioritisation, especially from teachers themselves who are at the coalface, was not taken on board in making the age prioritisation decision.

The response of teachers and their unions is one of despondence that administrative factors informed the Government’s decision, ahead of children and teacher welfare. If teachers are not safe and do not feel safe, how can they teach effectively? Only three weeks ago, a Department of Education survey found that 39 per cent of teachers still do not feel safe .

The impact of this decision, however, is much more far reaching than the pandemic. Its impact on an already badly bruised teacher morale may have catastrophic consequences for our education system going forward.

Teacher motivation is proven as critical to teacher quality. No education system is better than the quality of its teachers. Power Teachers, the charity organisation I set up in 2019 to support teachers and learning in poor-income countries, is informed by the powerful role of teacher motivation in education quality. I used to highlight the high status of teachers in Ireland to governments in developing countries as a key factor in our well-regarded education system. Now living back in Ireland, I am utterly dismayed to see the ongoing erosion of Irish teachers’ motivation, morale and status.

If we do not address this now, we will go down the route of countries like the US and UK, where the destruction of teacher status and morale has led to poor teacher retention, ongoing teacher shortages, and difficulties attracting high calibre entrants to the profession. This has led to and fed increasingly divergent two-tiered public/private education systems, leaving the most disadvantaged children even further behind.

For all its flaws, and no system is perfect, we have a strong state education system. Let us cherish it, continue to work on addressing issues, and nurture it by supporting our teachers. I am pleading with the Government to place our teachers’, and therefore our children’s wellbeing and future first through prioritising teacher vaccinations.

Let us heed the well-received words of a famous former teacher, Brendan Gleeson, on the St Patrick’s Day Late Late show: “I do think teachers should be bumped up the list, I would be prepared to wait, no problem to let the teachers have their stuff first.”

Margo O’Sullivan is CEO and founder of Power Teachers and was head of education for Unicef Uganda (2009-2014) and Unicef China (2014-2019)