Education Minister says ACT teachers ask for week to prepare for remote learning

ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations spokeswoman Janelle Kennard said some parents were surprised and disappointed because they thought that public schools were ready for a lockdown.

"Some parents are relieved because there are no expectations on them this week," she said.

"Some people are concerned about their children's learning."

She said some primary schools provided Chromebooks for students from year 3 and above while other schools were not offering the devices yet.

"Some are feeling better supported than others," Ms Kennard said.

"It's disappointing that there is such a range of experiences."

Opposition education spokesman Jeremy Hanson said he was disappointed that it would take the Education Directorate five school days to prepare for remote learning.

"I thought schools would have been better prepared considering the high likelihood of a lockdown," he said.

Education Minister Yvette Berry said the system was ready but teachers asked for five days to prepare their online lessons.

"We've listened to the professionals in our public schools and they've suggested to us they need five days to do the best possible job of transitioning their education from face-to-face to remote education," Ms Berry said.

She said teachers would spend the time doing professional development and re-working lesson plans.

In the meantime, she directed families to an online resource library for self-directed learning.

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Australian Education Union ACT branch senior industrial officer Patrick Judge said the five-day planning period was always part of the Education Directorate's plan in case of a snap lockdown.

"It's about giving the staff in our schools the space that they need to move from what they had planned, which was their regular in-person learning, to some other model, and what's required there really depends on where things are up to for the particular teacher and their students," Mr Judge said.

"It is time that's absolutely necessary and I think we always anticipated that it would be."

Mr Judge said most public schools had minimal attendance on Friday as only children of essential workers or those in vulnerable circumstances were permitted to attend their usual school. Most school staff were working from home where possible.

"I think today has really been a test of how many students initially will attend and we'll find out over the coming weeks whether that changes," he said.

Ms Kennard said year 11 and 12 students had been advised to keep working on their current assessments where possible.

She said parents of younger children would be working from home while trying to keep their children happy and relaxed.

"That's the lockdown juggle we've done before and we're doing again," she said.

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