Heads and senior leaders attending the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) annual conference in Birmingham this weekend will be asked “to maintain good hand and respiratory hygiene” in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
However, organisers say that there are so far no plans to postpone or cancel the event - and the same applies for the other annual conferences being staged by major teaching unions over the next two months.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of ASCL, said: “We are obviously conscious of the situation regarding coronavirus and have been following government updates carefully.
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“There is currently no restriction on holding public events. We are liaising with the conference venue about the situation, and delegates, staff and other visitors will be encouraged to maintain good hand, respiratory and personal hygiene during the event.”
Both the NEU and NASUWT teaching unions, which are holding their conferences next month - in Bournemouth and Birmingham respectively - say there are currently no plans to cancel or postpone.
And a spokesperson for the NAHT school leaders’ union, which holds its conference in Cardiff from 7-10 May, said: “There are no plans to cancel at the moment. Obviously the situation is constantly evolving, so it’s possible our plans could change if the government takes stronger measures, but we’re not there yet.”
The government says it is currently in the “contain” phase of responses to the outbreak. However, it is already planning ahead for the next phase (“delay”), which could involve reducing the number of large-scale gatherings as well as school closures.
The government action plan states: “Action that would be considered [in the delay phase] could include population distancing strategies (such as school closures, encouraging greater home working, reducing the number of large-scale gatherings) to slow the spread of the disease throughout the population, while ensuring the country’s ability to continue to run as normally as possible.”
