NO PLANS FOR RETURN TO THE CLASSROOM, SAYS STURGEON
Covid rates still too high for schools to reopen
SCOTS schools look set to remain closed after Nicola Sturgeon warned she did not want ‘to raise parents’ expectations’ over a return to the classroom.
The First Minister yesterday signalled there will be no resumption of face-toface teaching for pupils on February 1 – as had been planned.
Despite ‘positive’ signs with infection levels slowly retreating north of the Border, officials believe transmission rates are still too high for schools to reopen.
Mainland Scotland was plunged into a second lockdown earlier this month following a surge in coronavirus cases – with Scots urged to ‘stay at home’.
Schools were closed following a lastminute decision by the Scottish Government to continue remote learning after the Christmas break.
Schools had been set to reopen on February 1, with a review on the next steps to be held today with ministers and the Education Recovery Group.
But Miss Sturgeon has warned parents it is now unlikely children will return to the classroom. The lockdown will also be reviewed today – and while Miss Sturgeon
‘Not going to raise parents’ expectations’
signalled there will be no tightening of the current restrictions, she suggested it is unlikely these will be lifted at the end of the month.
Speaking at her coronavirus briefing, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Schools are closed to the majority of pupils right now to February 1. We said we would review mid January, which is now, and I will set out the conclusion on that. I am not going to raise parents’ expectations.’
Miss Sturgeon said there were some ‘positive’ signs on infection levels, but warned transmission rates remain higher than officials would like.
She added: ‘Therefore I am not going to raise anybody’s expectation about schools being back on February 1, but nor am I going to stand here and make assumptions about a decision that we won’t actually take until tomorrow.’
Her comments came only days after John Swinney cautioned against a return to schools within the next few weeks.
The Education Secretary said: ‘I think that’s a tall order, to be honest.’
Pupils began remote learning last week, but within hours the plan was thrown into chaos with youngsters unable to log in to work on Microsoft Teams.
The platform is being used by schools across the country, but technical difficulties left thousands unable to access the resources. The issue was later fixed by Microsoft engineers. They also identified an issue with Education Scotland’s national resource, Glow, with engineers also working to correct this.
Former First Minister Jack McConnell has called for a nationwide plan to allow youngsters to attend learning hubs during the school closures.
Lord McConnell also believes teachers should be included in the priority group for vaccinations to allow face-to-face teaching to resume. Concerns have also been raised over an extended absence from the classroom for exam pupils in S4 to S6. They should have been sitting national exams again this year, but they have been cancelled – including Higher and Advanced Higher.
Instead, teacher assessment will be used to award grades. However, with youngsters not attending school, questions have been raised over how this will work.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has said officials are looking at contingency plans.
Miss Sturgeon also signalled that the lockdown in place is likely to remain into next month. She will today announce the outcome of a review, but warned Scots restrictions will remain in place.
She said: ‘At tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting we will look at all the latest data and come to a view on where we are and whether or not we need to extend lockdown restrictions to help us further suppress the virus.’
Last night, Lindsay Paterson, professor of educational policy at Edinburgh University, raised concern over the inequality of provisions for pupils.
He said: ‘I suspect that the schools and teachers that are doing well right now are the same schools and teachers who did well last year. Therefore inequality of provision is probably worse than last year, because these same schools will also have learnt from their own experience last year, and will have improved even further.’
He added: ‘The same background problems of online learning remain. The poorest families can’t afford laptops, or fast broadband. The Scottish Government provision of laptops etc is not nearly enough to cover even this problem.
‘Except with the most expensive broadband, it’s impossible to have several children online at the same time, and also at the same time to have parents online for work.’
Professor Paterson also raised concerns over examinable pupils – and said schools ‘should be the first places to reopen as soon as it is medically safe to do so’.
He added: ‘That lack of planning for a realistic but pared-down but still rigorous curriculum is perhaps the greatest failure of the national education agencies this past year.’
‘Inequality is probably worse’