Like many educational professionals, I tuned into the briefing last weekend looking for a detailed way forward out of this current lockdown.

After all, with school openings supposedly just around the corner, there is a lot we still need to be answered about how we open safely. Sadly, I was not left any wiser at the end of the briefing than the start.

I suppose, though, some of this is not entirely education secretary Gavin Williamson’s fault. He can only answer the questions he is asked and many of those he fielded seemed to have little relevance to the reality actual teachers are facing.

And, truth be told, it is frustrating and disheartening that frontline teachers have not had more of a direct voice in the discussions and debate about returning.

In fact, the only hopeful part of the whole session was when Mr Williamson said his door is always open.

With that in mind, I wonder whether it would be a lot more beneficial for the Department for Education to host a virtual conference for serving classroom teachers.

This would give us the opportunity to ask the questions that mattered and refine and implement any strategy being pursued, rather than having to watch from the sidelines.

Coronavirus: 7 questions about reopening schools

I’ll even submit my questions in writing if that helps:

1. Many students who want to return are not able to do so in remote areas because of poor public transport links. What strategy is the government adopting to ensure that these students can be transported in safely?
2. Limiting the spread of Covid-19 is not just a damage limitation exercise in schools. It starts with the daily commute for a large body of students and teachers. Having been locked down in an area with a lower infection rate, I will be deeply concerned about the possibility of carrying the Covid-19 virus to and fro. How can the government demonstrate that the measures it has in place will work?
3. Secondary school teachers working with Year 10 students in classrooms will also have to be online to set work and teach the students not coming into school. Isn’t this “mixed economy” the worst of all worlds for those operating it and those on the receiving end?
4. Many reporters and ministers seem to be out of touch with the reality of primary school classrooms. Some Reception and Year 1 children will have “accidents” in the classroom; most will cough and sneeze without covering their mouths. There are a very few children with challenging behaviour: some learning assistants working closely with one or two pupils are scratched, bitten and kicked quite regularly. Isn’t it time to provide the extra protection needed for the teachers and learning assistants working with these pupils?
5. How can schools hope to accommodate all year groups in primary settings and keep them apart?
6. I find it very hard to imagine how learning space for 2,000 pupils and class sizes of 32-plus in some schools can be suitably spread across overcrowded campuses. How will you accommodate all the pupils with appropriate social distancing in the long term? 
7. Like many people, I foresee a future of spikes and lockdowns in which we return and then retreat for some time to come. No one can discount the possibility that a similar situation - in which we cannot hold external examinations - will arise again next year. As such, a new and more flexible model of assessment would be needed to avoid the rushed, fraught teacher assessment of this year. How has the government been using its time and the information gathered from this first lockdown to form a coherent policy for the next GCSE and A-level cohorts?

What emerges for me as I review all these questions is how starkly the coronavirus has exposed the deeply entrenched inequalities of home circumstances, the provision of services in rural and urban areas, the divide between affluent and poorer schools, understaffing in classrooms across the nation and overcrowding in school buildings, and lack of genuine long-term vision for education. 

These are all fundamental issues that need addressing - now more than ever - but right now what we need to do is ensure that our return to the classroom is safe and properly considered.

The chance to raise these concerns and have them acknowledged - and ideally answered - would be a good start.

Yvonne Williams is a head of English and drama in a school in the South of England