General Secretary Larry Flanagan provided an update on Covid issues and discussions at CERG (Covid Education Recovery Group). Mr Flanagan said that there had been fairly significant changes in society in respect of Covid mitigations. Infection levels are broadly dropping in society – this was from record levels, so the overall level of infection remains high and, indeed, in schools, infection levels amongst primary aged pupils had risen. The EIS continues to argue for the greatest caution in removing any school related mitigations, Mr Flanagan added, irrespective of broader societal developments, underling that for teachers, schools are a work place environment.

Mr Flanagan concluded, “We are seeing very high levels of infection in schools, especially amongst primary school pupils. We are also seeing very high levels of teacher absence at the present time. The EIS has used our recent survey results to highlight the continuing case for safety mitigations in schools.”