Covid-19: What could happen to Scotland's schools post-lockdown

In Scotland, both First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Education Secretary John Swinney have stressed that young people and their parents should not expect schools to go back before the end of this term.

However as Sturgeon launched the Scottish Government’s new framework document for gradually lifting restrictions last week, she said she was “ruling nothing out”, and committed to re-opening schools as soon as safely possible.

When pupils do return, social distancing measures will remain in place, raising issues of capacity. “Do we have to take classes and divide them into two, where half of the class is there one week and the other half another week?” Sturgeon said on Thursday. “Or one half in the morning and the other in the afternoon?”

READ MORE: Outdoor schooling: How it could work for pupils in Scotland

Scotland would look to learn from other countries, she added. And many are already finding a way to bring children back through their gates.

Taiwan – which acted early to close borders, impose health checks and quarantine those with symptoms – was first to re-open back in late February. Its pupils sit apart and wear masks. By mid-March some schools started to reopen in some parts of China where, again, masks are essential.

In Denmark primaries and kindergartens re-opened on April 15. Classes are split so that each teacher works with just 10 or 11 students – gyms and other spaces are being used to help accommodate socially-distanced pupils – and as many lessons as possible are held outdoors. Hand washing is done every couple of hours.

In Iceland, where some schools shut but many remained open, studies have suggested that children are not only less likely to be infected, but are not, as feared, “super-spreaders”. In the UK experts are divided with some claiming that shutting schools has more effect on flattening the curve than others.

Bruce Adamson, Scotland’s Children and Young People’s Commissioner, said it was important to get children back to school as soon as it could be done safely.

“Since schools closed in March the right to education has been sacrificed and not being at school continues to have a profound impact on all children and their families,” he told the Sunday National.

“It has a disproportionate impact on children who are experiencing poverty or have additional support needs. Schools, teachers, parents and carers are doing incredible work to support children given the circumstances, but it will never be a substitute for attendance at school.”

Children must be included in the decisions around the re-opening of schools, he claimed, urging decision makers to speak to them directly whilst they navigate the plan for places of learning.

And he acknowledged the challenges in asking children to maintain social distance from their friends and peers.

For younger children songs and dance could help reinforce messages he suggested, adding: “The significant thing will be not to instil fear or anxiety and continue the positive messaging of what we can all do to keep each other safe and healthy.”

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teachers’ union, said it had been in close discussion with government about the timing of opening.

Key to that, he argued, was the need for the Scottish Government’s test, trace and isolate phase to be up and running to help guarantee safety.

“When we do re-open there is going to have to be a phased return of pupils,” he said. “The sort of thing that has been floated about some pupils being part-time is certainly possible.”

Yet he remains concerned that children from poorer families will be disadvantaged if there was a continued reliance on part-time online learning.

Scotland must look to secure a national roll-out of devices for pupils – already underway in some areas, he argued. He is worried too that teachers could be asked to simultaneously run a class for half the pupils while also supporting the other half through distanced learning.

Changes are also needed, he argued, in the way we assess pupils through exams, with a need for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to “future proof” by putting in place more continuous assessment going forward in case of another wave next year.

“It’s time for a rethink,” he said. Play-based and outdoor learning using specialists to augment the teaching workforce could also help, he claimed.

Meanwhile colleges and universities are facing substantial challenges, admitted Susannah Lane, head of public affairs from Universities Scotland, the representative body of Scotland’s 19 higher education institutions.

The most considerable is financial. “Some are talking about black holes,” added Lane. “I think of this as an existential threat.”

This term alone universities expect to lose £78 million and if 50% of international students do not take up places and pay fees in the next academic year they stand to lose £435m in the first year, with that figure spiralling if the change is longer-term.

Yet meetings with the Scottish Government have given some reassurance and planning for the next academic year continues. It looks certain that it won’t run as previously expected.

“We are now planning for dual delivery,” says Lane, who expects courses to be delivered in part with social distancing measures in place, with other elements held online. Though large lectures may not be possible, lab work – with spaced benches – or smaller tutorial groups may be ways of ensuring face-to-face time, she says.

There are lots of other questions remaining – how will students from one town or city move to another for university?How do they ensure a sense of belonging when upping the level of remote learning?

This and much more she expects to be worked through in coming weeks and months – a new normal still to be negotiated.