May 2010

2010 will figure as a year of travel disruption, and bad balance sheets! Schools seem to have had a real run of bad luck in this respect, forced to close by swine flu and snow, and now facing potential disruption because teachers and students are stuck abroad, held earthbound by a cloud of volcanic ash emanating from Iceland. Is it fanciful to wonder what we have done to offend the Norse pantheon of gods?

So, what thoughts are going through the minds of the senior management teams in our schools? Those who aren’t themselves affected by the difficulties, that is.

There are a number of school parties, accompanied by teachers, who are stuck in Europe and further afield. The Easter holidays are traditionally a time for ski trips, but also for last minute study trips by those about to take public exams in foreign languages, who hope that a last-minute brush-up on their French, German and Spanish vocabulary will stand them in good stead for the oral exams which traditionally kick-off the public examination timetables in late April/early May.

These school parties are facing a real test of the resourcefulness of the party leaders, and their travel companies, in finding temporary accommodation for groups of up to 40 or 50 people. Add to this the possible difficulties with visas running out, they face tussles with foreign bureaucracies – we have to hope that our Embassies and Consuls are able to muster help on a grand scale. Luckily in these days of mobile phones, easy internet access and credit cards, communications are easy, problems can be shared, and there is no need for undue anxiety about the whereabouts of children and whether they have enough money! However, the teaching staff will continue to be responsible, on a 24 hour-a-day basis, for the welfare of the pupils, and will no doubt be finding the support which they have to provide somewhat draining. School trips are largely enjoyable, but exhausting!

Many independent schools educate children who live abroad; they will be booked on scheduled flights, and although they will be enjoying more family time, they will also be worried about when they can return to school.

Pupils who are about to sit public examinations will be in a heightened state of anxiety if they are prevented from resuming their revision under the expert and reassuring tuition of their regular subject teachers. Luckily, most schools, already affected by snow and swine flu, have strengthened their IT provision so that students may access course work and study guides on the schools’ VLEs (virtual learning environments) as long as they have access to the internet; and so many resorts have internet cafes these days. Conscientious students should be able to knuckle down to their studies and mitigate the effects of their late return.

Examination boards are also inclined to be helpful about genuine difficulties, as schools will have already experienced during recent emergencies such as the SARS epidemics. Examination Officers will be looking at ways to reschedule the oral and practical tests if it becomes necessary to do so. Written papers in the core subjects will be the most difficult to rearrange, but as they are not due until later in May, we must hope everyone will be back by then.

There tends to be very little public sympathy for the difficulties experienced by teachers, because of the perception about long holidays. School teachers do enjoy long holidays – but of course, those holidays come at expensive peak times, in fact school holidays cause the peaks, and therefore there will be a disproportionately large percentage of teachers and other school staff amongst those stuck abroad. They will be anxiously scanning the small print in their travel insurance documents, and trying to weigh up the relative evils of alternative travel plans, possibly involving long train or bus journeys, culminating in the age-old problem for we British – how to cross the Channel. Or should they stay put, relying on the airlines to re-schedule flights? Although an enforced extra week or two in a holiday resort sounds wonderful, the practical realities may be quite grim, even if the weather is more benign than we might expect in the UK.

Meanwhile, back at home, schools will be opening up for the summer term, and anxiously taking a roll call of their staff, as well as their pupils.

The immediate problem will be how to cover for absent staff, to ensure the smooth running of the school. Schools which have a high absentee rate amongst their staff will be forced to adopt a variety of measures in order to maintain appropriate cover, including asking colleagues to cover for absent teachers, amalgamating classes, and using supply teachers to help plug the gaps. It is by no means easy to find supply cover at a time when there is high demand, and it is a costly solution, too. Many school contingency funds will have already been exhausted in coping with the regular winter absences owing to flu – and snow! Those schools who have insurance for supply cover may well heave a sigh of relief.

The bottom line is that the law says that if an employee fails to get to work, the school is under no legal obligation to pay them. On the face of it, therefore, schools have the right to dock the pay of those teachers and other staff who are unable to return from abroad, treating it as unpaid leave.

This would be bound to have a negative impact on staff morale, especially given that many employees will be anxious about the uncertainty of the situation. Travel insurance may not cover a loss of earnings owing to disrupted travel plans.

Schools may, on the other hand, choose to exercise their discretion and pay employees who are unable to attend work because of the disruption. Independent schools customarily enjoy harmonious relations with their employees, based on mutual trust, and this will no doubt have a bearing on decisions they must make, but the financial reality may be hard and individuals, as well as businesses, may have to share the burden.

There is no disguising the fact that the rumblings of Eyjafjallajokull will be responsible for yet more financial losses, for our airlines, airports, travel and insurance businesses, freight and mail, as well as schools and other businesses who employ large numbers of staff – and at a time when we are least able to bear them. Once more, Iceland is playing a major part in gloomy financial forecasts for the UK, although it would be churlish to blame them for not keeping their volcano under control!

If anyone knows how to propitiate Thor and his cronies, I hope they will speak up.

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