Experts advised the government that primary pupils may need to wear masks at school as part of efforts to combat the spread of Omicron, it has emerged.
In papers published the week before Christmas, Sage scientists told the government that “it may be necessary to reconsider the wearing of face coverings in places where the balance of risks and benefits did not previously support it - for example, primary school classrooms”.
The Department for Education subsequently decided to bring back mask-wearing for secondary pupils and staff in classrooms this term, but did not apply this rule to primary schools.
It has now emerged that it decided not to ask for masks to be introduced for younger pupils because of difficulties with “hygienic use” and “communication”.
The DfE also made the decision on the basis it has a “range of measures to mitigate transmission in primary schools and early years settings” in place, including “staff testing, staff face coverings in communal areas, daily testing for close contacts and improved ventilation”.
In an evidence dossier on its decision to bring back face coverings for secondary pupils published today, the DfE says that current “high infection rates...present a challenge to maintaining face-to-face education”, and that studies have shown that there are “higher rates of Covid-19 in schools without mask requirements, compared to those with mask requirements”.
It also referenced preliminary findings - yet to be peer-reviewed - of its own study of mask-wearing in 123 schools last term, which it says “demonstrate a potential positive effect in reducing pupil absence due to Covid-19”.
It says its study shows that schools that had masks in place saw absence fall by 0.6 percentage points over a two- to three-week period last October, compared with a control group of schools that were not using face coverings.
However, it says that the study results are “statistically uncertain” due to the fact they are not peer-reviewed and because of the small sample size.
Communication issues
The DfE document also sets out why it has resisted requiring masks in secondary classrooms throughout the pandemic. It says that, although staff and pupils have said that wearing masks helped them to feel safer in school, the majority said it made teaching and learning more difficult.
In a DfE survey carried out last April, all secondary leaders and teachers (94 per cent) thought that wearing face coverings made communication between teachers and students more difficult, with 59 per cent saying it has made it a lot more difficult, the paper reports.
The document adds that research into the effect of mask-wearing on communication found that “concealing a speaker’s lips led to lower performance, lower confidence scores and increased perceived effort on the part of the listener”.
However, another DfE survey revealed that “pupils generally agreed that face coverings made others (87 per cent) and themselves (70 per cent) feel safe”.
Meanwhile, the paper acknowledges a Unison survey of support staff, which found that the majority (71 per cent) said face coverings in secondary school classrooms were an important safety measure.
