The Andalusian Regional Ministry of Education and Sport has sent out the instructions on the organisation of schools and curricular flexibility for the 2021-22 school year, incorporating contributions from the unions of the Sectoral Board, as well as from head teachers’ associations and families. The main aim is to continue guaranteeing safety in schools, for both pupils and staff, maintaining the protocols and measures that made the school year that has just ended a success, and reinforcing the commitment to in-person teaching.
Regarding the extraordinary additional teaching staff, the meetings of the technical negotiating panel with the unions of the Sectoral Board continue this week.
The instructions provide for the updating of the Covid-19 protocols, in line with the current state of the pandemic and using as a reference the document on prevention, protection, surveillance and health promotion measures drawn up by the Regional Ministry of Health and Families for non-university schools and educational services in Andalusia for the 2021-22 school year. Likewise, as last year, schools must include in their protocols contingency plans to deal with the possible effects of virus outbreaks, following the guidance of the health authorities.
As requested by families, both the protocol and its updates will be published by schools through the channels they decide on, so that the school community is informed. The instructions also state that during the first days of September, and before classes begin, schools will give families all available information on the organisational measures planned for the safe running of the school year.
At the start of the school year, and to help pupils adapt to developing habits of prevention and health promotion, schools may, as part of their welcome plan, make the timetable more flexible for a maximum of three school days. From the fourth school day, pupils will attend school on their usual timetable.
In order to avoid crowding at entrances and exits, schools may adopt measures of flexible timetabling which, depending on the size of the school, may extend to up to one hour, with several entrance and exit routes made available if possible. This organisation will take into account, where applicable, the make-up of the school bubble groups.
Among the organisational measures, the document stresses the need to maintain school bubble groups, which are key to limiting the number of contacts and also to providing relevant information in the event of a suspected or confirmed positive case.
Where schools have pupils from the same family unit in the same year, they will be placed in the same year and school bubble group and, where applicable, in the same classroom, depending on the schools’ organisational possibilities. Pupils will occupy the same physical space in classrooms and complementary services (desk, seat, workstation, school canteen, etc.) so that contacts can be identified more precisely in the event of infection. The classroom used by the bubble group, the break areas, the use of toilets and the use of common areas must be clearly marked out.
Regarding the use of face masks, they will be compulsory at all times inside school premises, except for children under 6. However, for pupils aged between 3 and 6, masks will also be compulsory outside their class or bubble group (entering and leaving the school, school transport, common areas, break time, etc.).
The number of teachers working with a school bubble group must be as low as possible, taking into account the specific subjects and stages. To this end, models will be sought that take into account the different teaching qualifications of the staff at each school, for the delivery of the various fields, areas, subjects or modules.
The Standing Committee of the school’s School Council will act as the Covid-19 Specific Committee, incorporating the Town Hall representative, as well as the school’s health, safety and occupational risk prevention coordinator, and the reference nursing staff from the Andalusian Public Health System centre.
The school’s Covid coordination will be taken on by the head teacher, who may delegate duties to other members of the management team. In exceptional cases, the head may also delegate this Covid coordination to the member of the teaching staff who held that role during the 2020-21 school year. The Covid coordinator will be the person who keeps in contact with the reference nurse, who will direct and coordinate the action to be taken in the event of suspected or confirmed cases at a school.
Nursery, Primary and the first two years of Secondary schools may establish measures to adjust pupil groups in order to increase the distance between people. These may consist of splitting classes, either to create more groups of the same year or mixed groups. Likewise, schools may group the different subjects into fields of knowledge depending on the qualifications of the teaching staff available at the school.
Schools that teach years three and four of ESO (compulsory secondary education), Bachillerato (sixth form), Initial Vocational Training and Special Regime Education may adopt flexible curricular organisation only if the municipality where they are located is at alert levels 3 or 4. In that case, they may introduce two possible models, which are not mutually exclusive: synchronous teaching (in person and online) and blended teaching, with partial attendance of the group during in-person timetable slots.
Leer esta noticia en español →
