Scotland’s largest teaching union has raised “significant concerns” over guidelines for the reopening of Scotland’s schools next week.
The EIS has today written to education secretary and deputy first minister John Swinney, calling for urgent action “to protect pupils, staff and the wider community from the risk of Covid-19 infection”.
In the letter, EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan tells Mr Swinney he is writing “to raise some significant concerns regarding the now-published guidelines for the reopening of schools”.
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The letter raises concerns about physical distancing and class sizes, procedures for testing for Covid in schools and staff members who have been shielding. It also points to “contradictions between procedures for schools and other settings such as public transport and shops”.
On physical distancing, the letter highlights that Scottish government guidance includes an “exhortation to move to smaller classes to support physical distancing where possible, without specification as to how that was to be done”. It adds: “The inherent contradiction in urging such a significant mitigation but failing completely to instruct its implementation is a major concern.”
The letter also calls for “specific physical distancing guidelines for pupils”.
On testing, the EIS letter says: “We would urge that further consideration be given to a more proactive approach to supporting teacher and staff confidence that they are working in Covid-secure schools, by providing asymptomatic access to regular testing.”
The letter adds: “Teachers who have been shielding for the past three or four months, under Scottish government direction, are now concerned that next week they could be back in front of a full class of pupils. This seems to be an enormous leap and one which does not sit well with [first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s] warning to those who had been shielding until 1 August, about continuing to be especially cautious.”
The EIS welcomes that “Scotland appears to have successfully suppressed the virus”, but adds that “we would not wish to see the reopening of schools act as a catalyst to a resurgence”.
It states: “That means we must ensure that school buildings are Covid-secure environments. Across the globe, we are witnessing how quickly things can deteriorate. Teachers, pupils, and parents have every reason to be anxious about schools reopening.”
The EIS has also opened a new survey of its members to seek their views on these issues and the steps that should be taken to ensure schools are safe. The survey will run for the rest of this week, with the results being fed into discussions with the Scottish government and local authorities before next week’s planned reopening of schools.
