Speaking on Tuesday, Premier Peter Gutwein said schools would reopen on February 9, with face to face learning a priority for the state.

He said the government had been developing an education plan based on public health advice for several months.

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Mr Gutwein said he would not be drawn on the specifics of the plan, but did confirm rapid antigen tests were being considered.

"I would expect that in terms of the provision of Rapid Antigen Tests to parents, that is certainly something we will do. What that number will be and how they would be expected to use them will be based on Public Health advice," he said.

"At the end of this week, we'll provide further detail to parents, to school communities to our teaching cohort to ensure that people understand very clearly what the arrangements will be."

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Mr Gutwein said the plan would apply to state schools, and Catholic and Independent schools would likely adopt the same measures.

"If they require some assistance then we will provide assistance to them," he said.

Australian Education Union state president David Genford said clarity on the definition of close and casual contacts in schools was required.

"We need to have a clearer understanding of close contacts so that it's a consistent process from school to school," he said.

"We definitely want to make sure that there's a clear definition and an explanation as to why that's the case."

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Mr Genford said definitive guidelines around a mask mandate for primary school were also required, as well as an ongoing assessment of school and classroom ventilation.

"The government has talked about doing a ventilation audit, they basically did an external window audit and identified external windows that needed to be fixed so they could be opened in classrooms," he said.

"Our concern is that nothing's been done to actually monitor whether ventilation is actually adequate in learning spaces and schools, and we need to make sure there's a plan to have ongoing monitoring."

Mr Genford said maintaining continuity of education was also something that needed to be addressed for isolating students, or if classes could not continue.

"There are going to be times where schools are not going to be able to get relief teachers in," he said.

"Previously we've been able to collapse classes, so if you have a class of 25, you might send five kids to five different classrooms, but then you're increasing those class sizes and decreasing the chance of social distancing.

"What's the trigger point for schools to actually go, we need to close for a certain amount of time until we get enough staff on-site to be able to cope with the teaching that's required."

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Tasmanian Association of State Schools Organisation president Natham Reynolds said he was also concerned with the ability for schools to continue providing care if students were required to isolate.

"I'd like to see stronger online systems in place or stronger online resources," he said.

"If a school goes into lockdown they have the resources to try to shift online, but it's more the students that miss school isolating."

Labor education spokesman Josh Willie said the government was running out of time to inform parents, teachers and students about COVID back to school measures, and the plan should be released now.

"If students and staff will be required to undertake rapid antigen testing, has the government purchased enough to ensure testing is undertaken with the frequency required?" he said.

"If not, will families and staff be required to source and pay for RATS themselves when there is a critical shortage?"

Andrew Chounding is The Examiner's Health Reporter, if you have a health-related story please email Andrew.chounding@examiner.com.au

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