The situation in Scottish schools just now is “really tough” because of “exceptionally high” staff and pupil absence, according to the general secretary of Scotland’s secondary school leaders’ organisation.
Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland (SLS), says that schools hit by high levels of teacher absence in this Covid-disrupted year - highlighted in data reported by Tes Scotland yesterday - are coping by prioritising senior students and the qualifications they are pursuing.
He said this meant that younger students were either being sent home, taught en masse in large spaces such as the school hall or taking part in blended learning
Mr Thewliss told Tes Scotland: “What the clinicians are saying is that the rates of infection are high but not clinically serious. But our huge frustration is that at this time of year we are preparing young people for SQA [Scottish Qualifications Authority] exams and trying to maintain continuity of education across the board, but schools really are under pressure.
Covid: Schools ‘under pressure’
“We are hearing from our members that things really are tough just now and there are just exceptionally high absence figures.”
SLS president Jon Reid, who is headteacher at Falkirk’s Larbert High School, told Tes Scotland: “We need clear and helpful guidance from SQA with maximum flexibility. We also require recognition, from all involved, that schools are very much still in the middle of dealing with the pandemic (just because the restrictions have disappeared, it doesn’t mean Covid has!) including very high levels of staff and pupil absence.
“We cannot let this get in the way of pupil achievement - it is not yet ‘business as usual’.”
Mr Reid said that S2 and S3 at his school were involved in remote learning today, as was the case with S1 students last Friday.
Yesterday, Tes Scotland revealed that school staff absence hit an all-time high on Tuesday - with the total number of staff off because of Covid higher than in January, when there were fears that schools would not be able to reopen in the wake of the surge in Covid infection caused by the Omicron variant.
The figures, updated yesterday by the Scottish government, show that on Tuesday of this week (15 March), 6,058 school staff were absent, up from 4,676 the previous week.
A previous high of 5,137 staff absent was recorded on 11 January.
Responding on social media to the Tes Scotland article - which also revealed that two-thirds of secondary students have now had at least some time off school this year because of the pandemic - teachers said that in some schools staff absence was running at 45 per cent and the remaining staff were “on the verge of burnout, trying to keep things going”.
Speaking to Tes Scotland this morning, Mr Thewliss also hit out at the quality of the support materials published by the SQA last week, which were meant to help mitigate against the continued disruption to education caused by Covid. He said that “some of them were better than others” but that it was “patronising” and “unhelpful” to be handing out advice to Higher students about “using a ruler to draw a graph”.
He said that “clearer and more precise” support material should have been published earlier.
Mr Thewliss added: “What we have been trying to get across is that young people have just not been taught enough, either because they have been off or their teachers have been off. What we were looking for was support in the system sooner.”
He said schools were now trying to make the best of a bad situation, adding: “People are trying to make sure that these kids who are going into exams in April and May are the ones they are prioritising. So what you are finding is younger year groups are being kept in the assembly hall or being sent home or receiving part-time education.”
Mr Thewliss said the teacher pay offer from the Scottish government and local authorities’ body Cosla had “not helped morale”.
He said the pay deal “discriminates” against school leaders “by capping the pay increase at £80,000”.
Teachers are currently being balloted over the “best and final offer” from Cosla, with Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, recommending that they accept and push for a 10 per cent rise in 2022-23.
The offer equates to a 2.23 per cent uplift and a one-off pro-rata payment of £100 for all those in post on 31 March 2022. However, there is an £800 cap for those earning £80,000 and above.
Mr Thewliss said: “A significant number of secondary headteachers earn more than £80,000 so that means a significant number of our members are disadvantaged. Headteachers and senior leaders are working flat out to make sure schools are kept open and that young people who are going to be sitting exams are not disadvantaged.
“To then be faced with a pay award which is derisory and mitigates against them both in the short and long term is a bitter slap in the face.”
He said it was “scandalous, given all that headteachers have done”.
