Teachers should not be working in school buildings until pupils are also back, a teaching union has told the education secretary.
In a letter sent to John Swinney today, the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) says: “As a matter of urgency, I feel you need to instruct schools and local authorities to follow public health advice and insist that secondary school staff work from home in the period up to the return of pupils in schools.”
First minister Nicola Sturgeon announced earlier this month that most pupils would not return to school buildings until Monday 18 January at the earliest, but that teachers would still return as planned from Tuesday 5 January or later that week, with some pupils - such as children of key workers - also attending.
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In the SSTA letter, general secretary Seamus Searson writes: “Many local authorities have instructed all secondary school staff to report to their schools on the first day of term and this is causing teachers unnecessary stress and worry, as the new Covid-19 variant is developing. I am at a loss to understand how those that manage schools can ignore public health advice and make such a decision during the pandemic, especially when there will be so few pupils in school.”
SSTA has written to @JohnSwinney regarding the safety of teachers amid the insistence that all staff return to school next week despite public health advice #COVID19 #TeacherSafety #FollowTheAdvice #SafetyFirst pic.twitter.com/2UKeaF0pgP
- SSTA (@SSTAtradeunion) December 30, 2020
Mr Searson says that only a “limited number of staff” should be in schools from next week. He adds that staff should be asked to volunteer to come in and that none who have to travel long distances or use public transport should have to be in school; teachers with underlying health conditions or who are in a vulnerable group should only be required to work remotely.
He asks Mr Swinney - who is also deputy first minister - to “act quickly and relieve this unnecessary pressure on secondary teachers at this time and allow them to focus on teaching and learning safely”.
