Plans for learning at home simply are “not good enough”, a campaign group of parents and carers has said.
The 50/50 campaign reacted after receiving a letter from the Scottish government, which it says “suggests that the weight of responsibility for learning at home will lie with individual schools and teachers”.
50/50 is concerned that the letter suggests work on a national e-learning platform being worked on by Education Scotland and e-Sgoil will only be for senior phase pupils in secondary school (S4-S6).
For all other students who must self-isolate, the government suggests points to each school’s “digital learning strategy”, an approach the 50/50 campaign believes will “lead to unequal access to education”.
Coronavirus: Heads fear online learning not reaching all pupils
Survey: Most vulnerable teens ‘did no home learning’
Opinion: 4 essentials for long-term online learning
Also today: Huge response to SQA consultation on 2021 exams
The campaign has in the past week consulted parents and carers of children who are being asked to self-isolate, and says that “provision looks extremely patchy” across different schools.
Sarah Chisnall, a spokesperson for 50/50 campaign said: “This simply isn’t good enough from the Scottish government. We are being told that schools are waiting for guidance and now it turns out that the plan for children who are self-isolating is down to an individual school’s own digital learning strategy. Young people are already having to self-isolate. We need a national online learning platform for all children now, and not just for the senior years. We need minimum standards and guaranteed contact with teachers for every child in Scotland.”
“It should not be down to individual teachers, schools and parents to pick up the pieces for learning at home. We already know that some schools have no plans in place for learning at home. If they had to lock down tomorrow, we could be right back where we were in March, with a huge disparity between what schools are able to provide for at-home learning.”
Ms Chisnall added: “We have seen a great example of what can be achieved with an initiative like the West Partnership Online School [that] includes eight local authority areas. This online school covers all stages of education, from primary to senior secondary years and has already involved over 100 teachers who have recorded lessons. They are looking for more teachers to sign up to deliver more online classes which students can then access at a time to suit them. Imagine what this could achieve if replicated across Scotland.”
The Scottish government reply, from Thomas Stewart of the directorate for learning and dated 25 August, came in response to a letter sent by the 50/50 in-school campaign as schools were about to return earlier this month.
The government letter states: “Given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, and the fact that the evidence base around coronavirus is constantly evolving, there have been times over the past few months where issues have moved at pace. Difficult decisions have had to be made which balance a range of factors across numerous groups in society, often in a short space of time. The decision on reopening schools, on a full- or part-time basis, falls squarely into that category, and we do appreciate the difficulties associated with the timing of this announcement. We do not underestimate the challenges associated with the reopening of schools, and very much value the work that has already gone into preparations.”
The 50/50 group was formed in June and has five key demands: national published plans for learning at home; a comprehensive strategy to deal with young people’s post-lockdown mental health and wellbeing; extra help for pupils who may have fallen behind and those with additional support needs; an examination of outdoor learning provision; and consideration of how schools might use local buildings if these are needed to better enable social distancing.
