We must keep schools open – so why is the government making life harder for teachers?

Ministers must be prepared to listen to headteachers when they ask for guidance to be redrafted, or accountability rules to be temporarily softened, writes Ed Dorrell

The case for keeping schools open in Lockdown 2.0 is evidently a strong one (Getty Images)

With hindsight, it now seems obvious that schools were going to have to close during the first coronavirus lockdown.

But when Gavin Williamson pulled himself up to the despatch box in March and announced that every nursery, primary, secondary and college would be indefinitely shuttered, it was one of the most remarkable statements by an education minister since the war.

At the time, there was almost universal support for the decision: we knew little about Covid-19 and it seemed likely that educational settings were potential transmission hotspots for the deadly virus.