The Scottish government today published an education recovery plan setting out the action it is taking to address “the worst impacts of Covid-19”.

The plan outlines work underway, as well as planned next steps to support schools and young people, with the government highlighting its manifesto pledges to recruit an additional 3,500 teachers and 500 support staff, and its £1 billion commitment to tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.

However, the recovery plan has been attacked by Scotland’s biggest teaching union, the EIS, which says it “largely restates existing workstreams and fails to promote a single big initiative…which would catalyse an education recovery programme and bring immediate benefits to Scotland’s children and young people”.

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EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said elements within the plan were to be welcomed, including the commitment to increasing teacher numbers.

But he added: “Smaller class sizes, even on a limited basis as a starting point, such as P2 and P3 or S1 and S2, would mean more teacher time per pupil and assist with targeted interventions where the pandemic has impacted disproportionately on children’s lives. As a country, we need to be bolder in our ambitions for our youth.”

Plans to help Scotland’s education system continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic have been published.

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- ScotGov Education (@ScotGovEdu) October 5, 2021

One of the largest areas of investment for the government will remain the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC), with its drive to close the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils.

A Covid catch-up plan for schools in Scotland

The Scottish Attainment Challenge was launched in 2015 and had £736 million invested in it over the course of the last Parliament.

Investment in the SAC this year amounts to £215 million and includes £147 million of Pupil Equity Funding, which goes directly to schools.

The education recovery plan - entitled Education Recovery: Key Actions and Next Steps - says the SAC is in the midst of a “refresh”, which will be implemented from 2022-23 and will “address aspects of unacceptable variation” between councils through “a more streamlined accountability framework across all local authorities”.

The document adds: “We aim to launch this new iteration of the SAC in autumn 2021 to allow schools and local authorities to prepare for implementation from spring 2022.”

An Audit Scotland report published in March - as the first iteration of the Scottish Attainment Challenge came to a close - said that improvement in closing the gap needed to happen more quickly and there needed to be greater consistency across the country.

The report said there was “wide variation in education performance across councils”, with evidence of worsening performance on some indicators in some councils - including councils that had received the largest share of the SAC cash.

Launching the education recovery plan, education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the government’s ambitious programme of education support had been “underway for many months”. She said almost £500 million of additional funding had been committed in 2020-21 and 2021-22, including £240 million to recruit extra staff.

Ms Somerville added: “Other initiatives will play a crucial role, such as the provision of free school breakfasts and lunches all year round for all children in P1-7, digital devices for every child, abolition of fees for instrumental music tuition, removal of core curriculum charges, and our extended early learning and childcare offer.

“Pupils sitting exams in spring 2022 will be offered a package of support, which will include online revision classes and targeted help for those who need it most. At the heart of all of this is our children and young people, who we will ensure have the opportunities they need to fulfil their potential in school and beyond.”

Following the publication of the plan, it remains unclear when the government plans to deliver its promised reduction in class-contact time of 1.5 hours a week for teachers - on that manifesto pledge, the plan says the government is continuing discussions through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT).

Ms Somerville is due to appear before the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee tomorrow.

The papers for the committee meeting, published on Friday, highlight that: “The Scottish government has not produced a separate roadmap or strategy for education recovery.”