Parents campaign group increases calls for national online education platform

A new parents campaign group is ramping up calls for a national online education platform to ensure pupils who need to self-isolate as a result of coronavirus won’t fall behind.

The 50/50 in-school campaign group is demanding the Scottish Government and councils reveal what work is being done to offer quality education at home for children who are forced to stay off school. It claims that following the decision to reopen schools full time, no details have been provided on plans to make sure that pupils who can’t attend school because of new clusters of Covid are provided with a national platform for at-home learning. Already pupils at a number of different schools have tested positive for Covid and the 50/50 group has said this underlines the need for a national standard of online and at home learning, including a minimum number of teacher contact hours each week for every pupil.

Education secretary John Swinney has said that work is ongoing between government and the Western Isles online learning hub, e-sgoil, to provide a wider reach for Scottish pupils in the senior years, but as yet there have been no plans made public for other school years.

50/50 spokesperson Sarah Chisnall, said: “We are already seeing that young people are going to have to stay home at various points through this crisis and it is the government’s responsibility to ensure they do not fall behind. The government must ensure there is a national standard for online learning.”

A Cosla spokesperson said: “The hard work of all school staff has been focused on making sure that our children and young people get the very best from their education in what will be a very different environment from what they were used to before the pandemic.”