The general secretary of Scotland’s largest teaching union has said that no teacher will miss out on holiday as a result of the new nationwide return date of 11 August.
The move, announced yesterday, means an earlier start to the 2020-21 school year for most school staff in Scotland.
However, in an interview with Tes Scotland today, EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said there would be negotiations at local authority level to determine when the lost holiday of up to a week in some council areas could be recouped. It might be taken in some authorities next month; other places might take the holiday in June next year, he suggested.
“No one will lose out and there will also be caveats,” said Mr Flanagan. “People who have already made commitments - like weddings - that detail will be looked at and worked out. The principle is clear: there should be no detriment to anyone.”
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The revelation that all schools would go back on 11 August came yesterday when the first minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the Scottish government’s strategy for easing the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
She also said that teachers would return at some point next month to lay the groundwork for the “blended” approach to teaching and learning scheduled to begin after the summer, which would mean pupils spend half their time in school and half learning at home.
Mr Flanagan, however, said that a large proportion of teachers could be exempt from returning to school in June.
He revealed more data from an EIS survey of 26,000 teachers, which found that around a third had childcare responsibilities, while 17.5 per cent were part of the group considered to be at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus. This group has been told not to leave the house and that initial self-isolation period will be in place until June 18.
When it comes to childcare, only teachers working in the hub schools providing critical childcare are classed as key workers and that situation would continue into June, said Mr Flanagan. However, he added that plans afoot to ensure all teachers were classed as keyworkers by August.
Mr Flanagan said: “All the exemptions around underlying health conditions and childcare arrangements should continue to be honoured [in June] and those staff members would not be required to be in.”
He said the return of teachers in June was being treated as “mandatory”, but stressed that if the public health advice continued to be to work from home if possible, that would apply to teachers.
He also said there would not be “an en masse return to school buildings just for the sake of it”.
“It all depends on the public health guidance,” he said. “If [it] continues to be work from home if possible, a school would have to demonstrate why someone needed to be in the building. It may well be some teachers do need to be there, but if you are [for example] a secondary English teacher looking at what the Higher course is going to be like next year, there is not going to be the same need.”
The initial period of shielding for people in Scotland considered to be at greatest risk from the coronavirus ends on 18 June, but it is unclear how lockdown might be eased for this group. Yesterday, when announcing the government’s phased recovery plan, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said there would be no change for those shielding, but that new advice would be issued before 18 June.
