Swinney: ‘Parents could get less than two weeks notice for return to school’

John Swinney has said parents would get “as much notice as possible” about when schools may reopen – but admitted it could be shorter than the fortnight being promised by England’s education minister.

The Education Secretary said that the government’s Education Recovery Group was now “exploring in detail” how a phased return of pupils to schools would operate, although the “scientific and clinical advice” that schools were safe was not yet available.

Mr Swinney was leading the Scottish Government’s daily Covid briefing as the First Minister was attending the funeral of former SNP MSP Kay Ulrich.

Asked about the notice period parents and teachers could be given for schools restarting, he praised the remote teaching and learning being currently done, and said a return would be “more phased than the approach we took in August when all pupils returned in one go”. Schools have been closed to the majority of pupils since before Christmas and are not expected to fully reopen until at least midfebruary due to the high levels of coronavirus transmission.

Vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers are continuing to be taught in class, while the rest learn remotely from home.

Mr Swinney added: “It's more likely we'll bring back different cohorts of pupils, and we are exploring that within the scientific and clinical advice available to us. But that scientific and clinical justification doesn't yet exist, neither does the wider context of the suppression of the virus exist to enable a resumption of faceto-face schooling, but I want to gettothatattheearliestopportunity.

“Ideally I’d like to give two weeks notice to everyone involved about a return to faceto-face learning, but obviously we may need shorter notice than that if we believe the opportunity exists for such an approach to be taken. When you’re opening up the system frankly it’s easier to give shorter notice than when you’re shutting it down. But we will give as much notice and clarity as possible."

England's education minister Gavin Williamson had said he hoped schools there would return before Easter and schools and parents would have "absolutely proper notice" of when children would return, which he said would be a "clear two weeks". Asked about Easter, Mr Swinney said that a judgement had to be made on the “general prevalence of coronavirus in society" and that the move to remote learning was to “reduce human interaction in society in general”.

He added: “If a child goes to early learning and childcare they will be accompanied by adults, there will be interaction to make that possible, there may be a need to use public transport – the measures we’ve had to take are to reduce human interaction, to minimise contact.”

For to schools reopen the virus caseload would have to be much reduced, he said, as it would allow “more human interaction, giving rise to the possibility the virus could spread and that could potentially increase caseload in hospitals”.

Mr Swinney said that he was aware that it was more difficult for the youngest of children - those in early learning or from primary one to three – to engage in remote learning, and so they would be considered first for a return to school, but there were also questions about the impact of the new variant of the virus on children.

Explaining the factors that will influence the government's decisions on the further reopening of schools, Mr Swinney suggested falling numbers of infections and hospital capacity will be key.

"We've got to look in detail at the effect of the virus – but particularly the new variant of the virus - on children and young people themselves and their ability to transmit the virus,” he said. "What we knew of the original variant is that, with the youngest children, there was really very, very limited possibilities of transmission of the virus and very limited effect to the virus on the youngest of children.

"It got more challenging the older children and young people became.

"Butwedon'tyethaveenough clinical clarity about what the effect is of a new variant on children, young people, and particularly on older young people – from 16 to 18-yearolds, for example."

The news came as Edinburgh University announced all undergraduate learning will remain online until April 2, 2021, when the academic year concludes.

This news means that the capital won’t see undergraduate students from the university back in the city until the beginning of the next academic year, September 2021.

All teaching and assessments for undergraduates will continue to be delivered in a digital format for the rest of the semester, with ‘a small number of exceptions’ for students in very specific degree programmes.

The decision to continue providing online teaching rather than moving to in-person or combined learning was taken following guidance from the Scottish Government to prevent further spread of coronavirus.

Professor Colm Harmon, Vice-principal Students at the Edinburgh University, said: “The University has taken this difficult decision with the best of intentions – to assist the NHS and keep all of our communities safe at what is a time of national crisis.

"In taking this decision now, the University hopes to provide as much certainty as possible so that students can plan for the rest of the semester.”

A number of measures are being put in place to support the continuation of online learning, including a new Library service.