Swinney urges employers to be ‘f lexible’
EMPLOYERS will have to be ‘flexible’ with parents whose children have to learn from home when schools return, the Education Secretary has warned.
John Swinney said the Scottish Government was still ‘wrestling’ with issues such as how the children of parents who have to go out to work – including those employed by the NHS – will be home-schooled from August.
The Scottish Government’s plan for easing lockdown measures could see schools reopen on August 11, with a combination of in-school teaching and home learning.
But this model has caused concern for parents who are unable to work from home.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Swinney did not explain how the child of two frontline NHS workers would be taught at home, but said: ‘Our route map is predicated on lots more people continuing to work from home to contribute towards the work of their employers.
‘We are not going to return to a pre-Covid normal of how schools or businesses operate.
‘What this will require is employers to be flexible about the way in which they’re asking their employees to engage in work.’
Asked about the logistics of the plan, Mr Swinney said that he and Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop are ‘wrestling with some of these questions with the First Minister, to make sure that business and education and other aspects of the community are working harmoniously as we adapt to what’s a really difficult situation’.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the Government was still working to mitigate the challenges that some parents will face when athome learning becomes a key part of the reopening of schools.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing, she said: ‘Subject to health advice, we have the agreement that teachers will go back to work in June to start working through what the next term looks like.
‘We will communicate directly with all parents over the summer so that they’ve got a better understanding of exactly what schooling is going to look like and some of the support we will try to put in place to help parents with the fact it will not be back to school absolutely as normal.’