New official figures on school staff absence show the number of teachers and support staff off work in Scotland because of Covid has fallen this week, but remains high.
The latest figures show that 5,815 teachers and school support staff were off on Tuesday 22 March, either because they had Covid or suspected Covid, or were isolating, shielding or looking after someone with Covid.
That is down on last week’s figure of 6,058 staff absent because of the pandemic but school staff absence this month has been higher than at any other time this year.
The previous peak was recorded on 11 January when 5,137 staff were absent.
This week’s figure of 5,815 school staff absent is broken down as follows:
- 753 teachers and 575 support staff were absent because they were isolating, shielding or looking after someone
- 2,708 teachers and 1,779 support staff had confirmed or suspected Covid
Pupil absence, meanwhile, is also down on last week. On Tuesday 22 March, 27,015 pupils were off because of the pandemic, down from 34,271 the week before.
The latest figures show that 14,165 were off because they had the virus and 11,575 because they were isolating. The remainder were absent because their parents had chosen to keep them away from school (770) or because their school was closed (505).
The attendance rate on Tuesday was 88 per cent, up on the 86.7 per cent recorded the previous week (15 March).
The Scottish government confirmed earlier this week that secondary students will continue to wear face masks in communal areas after the Easter holidays.
The decision comes as the mask rules for the general public in shops and on public transport are expected to be converted to guidance by 4 April.
Earlier this week the BBC reported that at least six schools in Scotland were closed as a result of high levels of staff absence, with Highland Council thought to be the worst-affected area.
Yesterday, Tes Scotland published a long read on the impact of two years of Covid on those who work in Scottish schools and nurseries.
