Councils face ‘challenging’ task of preparing to reopen schools

The Scottish Government’s U-turn on reopening schools full-time has been welcomed by Lochee councillor Michael Marra – but he warned councils now face a “challenging” task to develop new plans.

Mr Marra, who is leading a new campaign Better Than This For Scotland’s Children, said the announcement will be a relief to parents across the country.

But he warned that the blended learning contingency plans – a mix of schools-based and home learning – must be “acceptable” for parents and teachers to deliver.

It comes as the councillor recently appealed to Children’s Commissioner Bruce Adamson to investigate the Scottish Government’s approach to blended learning.

On behalf of the Better Than This campaign, he said: “Parents across Scotland have made clear to the Scottish Government that the chaos of recent weeks, the lack of government planning, the absence of leadership was completely unacceptable.

“Passing the buck to head teachers was simply not on and led to a patchwork of approaches with many children set to suffer.

“Delivering the new policy will be incredibly challenging for councils and especially at this notice.”

He added: “Crucially, today the children’s commissioner wrote to Better Than This and made clear that legal responsibility for making all of this work sits squarely with government ministers.

“It is their responsibility to put the policies and resources in place for the return to school and to make good the damage that the crisis has done to the life chances of Scotland’s children.”

Dundee councillor Michael Marra leads the new campaign, Better Than This For Scotland’s Children.