All school and early years inspections in Scotland are being suspended from Monday, as a result of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Shetland Islands Council has announced that it will close some of its schools for the whole of next week.
Tes Scotland has seen a letter from chief inspector Gayle Gorman, dated today, in which she advises education directors that inspections have been put on “pause”. She also advises that the same applies to “professional learning activity and events organised by Education Scotland”.
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The letter states: “At Education Scotland, we appreciate the pressures and uncertainty currently facing education establishments due to the changing situation with Covid-19. We also appreciate that education establishments may experience a reduction in staffing numbers during this time with the need to protect staffing levels.
“During this period, we believe it is vitally important that staff working in education can focus entirely on their establishment, on supporting their colleagues, pupils and local community, and provide support where needed.”
Ms Gorman adds: “This pause in activity will continue until your schools’ Easter break. During the inspection process, our...inspectors work closely with pupils, staff, parents and communities for a sustained period of time and we believe our decision to pause this activity for this period will allow schools and education establishments to focus on their local business continuity plans and to support their staff, young people and communities.
“We are aware from our discussions with the Care Inspectorate that they are proposing a similar approach in terms of their responsibilities for [early learning centre] inspections.
“The decision to pause our professional learning activity and events will help protect staffing levels and ensure staff are not out of their establishment during this time.
“Our staff work closely with local authorities and regional improvement collaboratives across Scotland and there may be cases where schools or local authorities would like us to continue our engagement and support work. We will consider these arrangements on an individual basis and will discuss any ongoing activities with local authorities to agree our approach, which may include the use of technology, to continue to provide support to staff.
“During this period, Education Scotland will also be required to take cognisance of the changing situation and staff will be deployed to work on a range of activities to support our organisation and wider Scottish government priorities.”
An Education Scotland spokesperson said: “Due to the changing situation with covid-19, we appreciate that this is a period of pressure and uncertainty for education establishments and that they may experience a reduction in staffing numbers during this time.
“We believe it is vitally important that staff working in education can focus entirely on their establishment during this period, that they can support their colleagues, pupils and local community, and provide assistance where needed. For that reason we have taken the decision to pause all inspections and our professional learning activity and events from Monday 16 March until the Easter break.”
Meanwhile, Shetland Isles Council has said on its website that it is closing some of its schools and early learning and childcare settings next week.
It states: “This action is not being taken for public health reasons but for operational and resilience reasons, and reflects Shetland’s unique, island setting.
“Fair Isle Primary School, Fetlar Primary School and Foula Primary School will remain open for children and young people. All schools will remain open for staff.
“Children’s services will be issuing further information to parents and carers at the start of next week, which will include information about learning that can be done at home, and electronic communication between children and schools during the closure period.
“There will also be follow-up communication from schools for parents and carers of children with complex additional support needs early next week.”
“The implications for young people in the senior phase with forthcoming SQA assessments and examinations are being considered carefully and further information around this will follow at the start of next week.”
Helen Budge, Shetland’s director of children’s services, said: “During this Covid-19 pandemic, we have taken this decision, not specifically for public health, but for operational and resilience reasons.
“We are already seeing significant levels of pupil and staff absence. We realise that this will have an impact on working parents and carers but hope that they will understand and support this decision.”
