Pupils should be spending at least half of their time in school after the summer if at all possible, Scottish education secretary John Swinney said today.
A “clear rationale” must be provided in places that offer less than that and, in some cases, he hopes pupils will be in school more than 50 per cent of each week.
Mr Swinney made his comments at today’s meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee, where Tory education spokesperson Jamie Greene raised concerns that some councils were proposing pupils be in school only two days a week initially. Later in the day, City of Edinburgh Council announced that only a third of its pupils would be in school at any time.
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Earlier this week, Tes Scotland reported that, in some local authorities, pupils might spend only a third of each week in school buildings when the 2020-21 year starts on 11 August.
Mr Greene questioned whether - given the low number of under-15s testing positive for Covid-19 - it was “justifiable and proportionate” to advocate a “blended learning” model where pupils spend half their time in school and half learning at home.
Mr Swinney, who said the government was guided by experts including the UK government’s Sage advisory group and a “variety of experienced epidemiologists”, underlined that he wanted to see pupils spend as close as possible to 50 per cent of their time in school.
A “very, very clear rationale” would be needed to justify any exceptions, Mr Swinney said. In some cases, he added, “it may be possible to exceed 50 per cent”, particularly where the school roll is under capacity.
Mr Swinney also said today that he could not provide “absolute certainty” that the 2021 Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) exams will go ahead.
Planning was “proceeding as we speak…for there to be the delivery of the traditional exam diet”.
But he stressed the importance of teachers gathering evidence of their students’ progress in the coming year, in case exams cannot go ahead.
