The Scottish government is “absolutely not” planning for an entire year of pupils only being in school part time, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said today.
She also said that the government will monitor local plans for reopening schools and would intervene where a council had not done enough to get pupils back into classrooms.
Ms Sturgeon took a similarly strong line on the 2020-21 exams, insisting that it was the “firm intention” for them to go ahead.
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Reports over the weekend had suggested that “blended learning” - the combination of school- and home-based education that will be in place when schools return from 11 August - could last for the whole of 2020-21.
Ms Sturgeon focused mostly on education in her daily coronavirus briefing this afternoon, amid growing concern over the various plans for schools to reopen.
She said she wanted to be “particularly clear” on the idea that blended learning could continue for the whole school year.
“While we, of course, have a duty to be open with parents that none of us right now have a crystal ball, and that the path the pandemic will take in the months ahead remains uncertain, it is absolutely not the case that we are planning for blended learning, with children learning at home for part of the school week, to last a year - or anything like it.
“On the contrary, we do not want blended learning to last a single moment longer than is absolutely necessary, and so we will be working with councils to return schools to normal as quickly as we can.
“We want young people to be back having face-to-face teaching for 100 per cent of the school week as soon as it is feasible.”
Ms Sturgeon added: “To that end, our regular three-weekly reviews of the coronavirus regulations will now include specific consideration of the evidence and data relating to transmission of the virus within schools and amongst young people - and where that suggests that safety restrictions can be lifted or eased without putting pupils and teachers at undue risk, we will do so.”
As part of these three-weekly reviews, the government will ask Scotland’s International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA) to weigh up experiences of reopening schools in other countries.
Ms Sturgeon also said: “In this immediate period that we are in right now, the Scottish government will be scrutinising council plans closely - and where we conclude that all possible steps have not been taken to maximise face-to-face teaching and learning, we will ask councils to reconsider and revise their plans.
“Innovation and creativity will be required here, but let me also be clear that where there are genuine issues of resources, the Scottish government will work with councils to address those and the quality of your children’s education will be the absolute priority in those discussions.
“And then from the 11 August starting point, our aim will be to return to normal schooling as quickly as we possibly can, recognising, of course, that along the way we need to build the confidence of parents, young people and teachers that schools are safe.”
Despite teaching unions’ concerns that running next year’s exams in the usual way will be “impossible”, Ms Sturgeon said: “And let me be clear, it is our firm intention, as things stand right now, that next year’s exam diet will go ahead.
“We will also be considering carefully how we work to address and mitigate and make up over time any impact of this crisis period on young people’s learning.”
She added: “Ensuring that our children and young people have the highest-quality education - and that life chances are not negatively impacted by what we are all living through right now - is of absolutely critical importance.”
