Sturgeon defiant despite backlash from parents on return to school
NICOLA Sturgeon has defended the Scottish Government’s plan to partially reopen secondary schools and introduce blended learning, despite a backlash from parents.
From Monday, all S1 to S6 pupils will be offered some face-to-face teaching, but priority will be given to senior students studying for their national qualifications.
Parents have accused the Government of concocting a ‘derisory’ plan which will lean heavily on continued home learning. This has led to some youngsters being told they will receive as little as two hours of in-school learning per week.
Secondary schools will return to full-time in-class learning after the Easter holidays – with only two weeks of blended learning expected.
Concerns have been raised over the proposals, and Jim Thewliss of School Leaders Scotland (formerly the Headteachers’ Association of Scotland) told the BBC ‘you would be hard-pushed to find any teacher in Scotland who thinks this is a good idea’.
But the First Minister told Holyrood’s Covid committee that levels of the virus meant it was not yet safe to reopen secondary schools on a full-time basis from next week.
Questioned over the phased reopening of high schools, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘There will be those who want all young people back in school straightaway, but... it could potentially lead to an increase in transmission that could see things start to run out of control again.
‘We want to get young people back into school full-time. Our aim is for that to be possible after the Easter holidays.’
Miss Sturgeon said there was a discussion on whether there should be in-school learning for younger secondary students and the decision had been made to allow some face-toface classes.
She added: ‘We can all see not just the educational impact of being out of school, but the wellbeing impact as well. We always said it would be limited, and there would be local flexibility in how it would be delivered. I appreciate the pressure that puts on teachers and local authorities.’
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie asked Miss Sturgeon if it was worth pursuing a complicated reopening plan to give in-school learning for secondary pupils for only two weeks before Easter.
She said: ‘It was a choice between limited provision or not provision at all.’
It comes as MSPs on Holyrood’s education committee were told children had been left ‘distressed and disheartened’ by a lack of clarity from the
‘Impact of being out of school’
‘Pressure on teachers’
Scottish Qualifications Authority about exam replacements and the appeals process.
Coll McCail, a young adviser to Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner, Bruce Adamson, said there was a ‘fear’ among pupils who are working towards qualifications that they face a ‘potential month of test after test after test’ to produce enough evidence to support assessments of grades.
An SQA spokesman said: ‘To maximise learning and teaching time, we have extended the deadlines for submitting evidence and also advised that assessment should take place later in the academic year. We will issue a public consultation on 2021 appeals this week.’