1/🧵"This is crazy, how is this ethical?"

Pilots for Daily Testing to replace isolation are starting.

Finally got a copy of the operational handbook and official FAQs

Government isn't following the science
2/ Basics: Close contacts take a LFD at the start of school for 7 days to avoid isolation.
All the experts I know say these tests aren't reliable enough for this purpose.

Book says LFDs will catch the majority of cases, this is a bit of an assumption, but it will miss cases
3/ Close contacts doing DCT can only go to school, they must isolate when not in school. This is because they know this does carry a risk. So why are they doing this, seems like the DfE are balancing risk of higher transmission with reducing isolation.They'e trying to be clever🤦‍♂️
5/ Justifications. General gist is more people will engage with this who wouldn't have bothered isolating.

Oh and it allows parents to work, economy over health mentally writt large
4/Says the benefit is more positive cases could be found, however this could be done with testing at home. And finding more positive cases who are mixing with others when they would have been isolating does seem helpful to me
6/ Again it says this won't detect all cases, but because it will find more cases its worth it.
Not of they are in school when they should have been isolating, isolating and again this argument is happening
7/ They come into school for the morning test, might improve test reliability due to supervision. However a positive test means they mixed on the way to school, what about getting home?

Try to get on a quiet bus, that's their actually solution!
8/Another issue is that they only take the test for 7 days, incubation rate can be longer tha 7 days particularly looking at some of the B117 studies
9/ Accepts these tests aren't good enough for international travel
10/ Consent, This is totally shocking.
Only the close contact who chooses not to isolate has to give consent.
Everyone else who has to share that space, their consent isn't asked, imagine if they're from a CV household.
11/ DfE is saying they are going to run a live experiment in schools with a highly infectious disease which they acknowledge may increase risk of transmission, and the vast majority of guinea pigs aren't even asked going to be asked if they consent.

Absolutely shocking
Also some of the language in the handbook makes reference to if parents have the chance to do DCT in their workplace, so it seems that they hope to roll this out more widely.

After using the pilot schools as guinea pigs. Would love to see the modelling they did on this
FOI time?

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More from @karamballes

12 Apr
🧵NEU Democracy an example from #NEU21.

Executive Elections are starting, I encourage all members to vote, read the candidate booklet, attend a husting, members have real influence when they get involved, mass involvement makes better policy in my opinion.

#edutwitter
I am standing myself, people in District 11 in the South East can vote for me if they want me to represent them.

Please use your vote, whoever you choose to vote for, this is where members not normally involved in the union have power to improve the NEU
Unfortunately not enough members actively participate in union democracy, this is across all unions and the unions suffer because of it. If you want a better union, get involved, if you want the union to represent you, then use your vote. Candidate choice does matter
Read 53 tweets
7 Apr
1/ 🧵Crackdown on behaviour, banning mobile phones, where have I heard this before?

Leaked DfE policy discussion document August 2019.

The one that talked of backing "reasonable force" to improve discipline, and measures likely to see an increase in exclusion
2/ Thread here with more details on the leak.

Those in the room recognised that the policies would have a disproportionate impact on students from certain backgrounds, particularly Black Caribbean.

3/ Even the language is telling "the SEND lobby" are treated as a nuisance, interesting that UsForThem got meetings with ministers while SEND parents campaigning for their children to get back into school were repeatedly fobbed off.
Read 16 tweets
2 Apr
1/🧵What a term! March Recap

Announcement made in Feb, leaked to papers first.
No rotas, no blended, its the "big bang" for England as Johnson ignores SAGE advice.

LFD testing and masks in secondary classrooms the only improved measures.

DfE Guidence⬇️
2/ Moment announcement was made, even before the 8th, the PR campaign to undermine these safety measures began.

Anti-maskers given plenty of media space to make false claims that go unchallenged
3/DfE uses our money to pay its friends to run a Back to School propoganda campaign.

Includeds several misleading and some entirely false statements including some about good ventilation.

Read 24 tweets
30 Mar
1/🧵Blood on their hands!

So schools drove b117 growth in the south-east, late government response saw many thousands die, billions lost from an extended lockdown, strain now spreading around the world

And now UsForThem are trying to remove masks from classrooms!
#edutwitter
2/ How many grassroots organisations have multiple government links, multiple articles in RW papers every week, get coms support from Conservative PR gurus and can enlist one of the most expensive multi-billion law firms to threaten the UK government?

How is this funded?🤷‍♂️
3/ Consider how hard @SafeEdForAll_UK @Parents_Utd have fought to get a bit of airtime, how hard the still ongoing struggle to stop CEV/CV parents being fined. The inability so many groups have had in having their voices heard by this government.
Read 17 tweets
25 Mar
1/ 🧵Culture wars in education, indoctrination, and baiting.

Despite what the media says, not all educators are hard left Marxists intent on indoctrination, some aren't even left.

I'm worried alt-right in education are going to engage in deliberate baiting.
2/ Don't know what this teacher was thinking, might have been an error of judgement trying to spark a difficult debate, however we are going to get cases or deliberately provoking an angry response, so they can play victim against the "hard left"
3/ Here we go, man's now a free speech martyr, by Timothy who has been quite positive about the discriminatory policies of Orban in Hungary.

These will be the same people who questioned if BLM should be discussed in schools.
Read 23 tweets
25 Mar
1/ Short 🧵 I wonder how much damage has been done due to the gaslighting by UK government, client journalists and suspect experts on transmission in schools?
Their stance and selective use of data and studies has impacted policy in other countries.
2/ Europed now discovering B117 is more infectious in children,also Merkel said more dangerous in children, similar data in other countries

This was raised in UK around New year, and pediatrics stepped in,the media closed circle and the story disappeared
3/ They should have been warned, been prepared to put increased safety measures into schools, but this information was stifled for ideological/political purposes, UK told them not to worry.

Then we exported B117 to those countries.

Read 4 tweets

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