Flunking the test: Why a 'clear' back-to-school plan is so important for the Barr government

The Barr government was flunking the schools' test during the pandemic.

The muddled political messaging was threatening to overshadow all the good work it was doing in response to the coronavirus crisis, not least of all by the teachers and education bureaucrats who miraculously managed to pull together and start delivering a remote learning program in a matter of weeks.

The back-to-school plan announced on Thursday, which will see students in all year levels return to the classroom on June 2, won't suit everyone. It's not perfect.

Some, like the Canberra Liberals, want students to return earlier. Others will say that returning now is too much of a risk.

Others are fed up with what appears another change in approach.

Perfection, a policy to please all, is not a realistic ambition in the clearest of times, let alone in the haze of a health and economic emergency.

In these uncertain times, the most parents, teachers and students could hope for is some certainty wherever it could possibly be given.

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They are right, too, to demand that the government's decisions would be made for the right reasons, based on the right advice. They are right to demand that their reasoning would be clearly and thoroughly explained.

The four-week plan to shift students back to the classroom has been welcomed by the peak body for public school parents groups, in large part because it is certain and it is based on health advice.

Speaking on Thursday, education minister Yvette Berry spelt out, in relatively simple terms, why the government could now afford to abort the remote learning plan and start reopening schools for classroom learning.

"The circumstances have changed," she said.

"We've had very low numbers of positive diagnosis in the ACT, a blitz on testing and an easing of restrictions across the community. That means there is more confidence in our school communities about a return to campus education."

Unfortunately for so many, clear messaging has been sadly absent for the past six weeks.

The confusion which swirled incessantly around this issue since mid-March cannot be explained away or blamed entirely on the ever-changing nature of the pandemic.

Neither Berry nor Chief Minister Andrew Barr can justifiably point the finger at Prime Minister Scott Morrison and education minister Dan Tehan, and argue that the federal government's insistence that schools reopen was the root cause of the confusion and anxiety among Canberra parents.

Berry and Barr have created that uncertainty themselves - or at least a large part of it - through their shared failure to clearly and consistently explain the rationale for decisions made during the saga.

An explanation was all the more warranted because the government's policy of shutting all but a handful of schools at the start of Term 2 was at odds with the advice of medical experts. No other state or territory took the same approach during the pandemic.

At the same time as it was assuring Canberrans that its response to the pandemic was being guided by medical advice, the government was defying it - without properly explaining why.

Barr rejected as a "crazy conspiracy theory" the Opposition's accusations that the remote learning plan was shaped by the teachers union. But the Liberals only made the claim because they couldn't get straight answers on the government's motives.

Eventually, it would became apparent that the reluctance of teachers to return to the classroom was the key barrier to school's reopening.

Once restrictions started to ease, teachers agreed to return to the classroom.

A quick scan of social media shows the government's announcement has not been well received by all.

Parents are right to feel angry and confused.

But at least there's clear plan in place.

Now let's hope there isn't a second wave of COVID-19.