SCOTLAND's largest teaching union has called for clarity from the Scottish Government as to the triggers for school closures as part of any tiered approach to tackling the spread of Covid 19 infections. 

The union's chief made the intervention as many schools in the west of Scotland return after the October break whilst other parts of the country begin their holiday.

General secretary Larry Flanagan said that transparency around such planning is critical to avoiding the political wrangling now evident elsewhere in the UK.
"It is clear that school closures, either locally or nationally, need to be considered as part of measures to control the growth in the R figure and to deal with local outbreaks, where they occur," he said.

"As a country we should be open and transparent as to the type of indicators which would trigger such a move so that pupils, parents and teachers can be as prepared as possible for such an occurrence; a few days' notice, for example, would be woefully insufficient."

He added: "We also need to be confident that schools are able to switch effectively to remote teaching, or to blended learning, so that we don’t see a repeat of the "digital divide" which was evident in the last lockdown, with pupils from the poorest backgrounds being disproportionally disadvantaged. Failing to learn lessons from that experience would be inexcusable."

"Everyone understands the importance of schools being open but as is now evident from decisions and discussion elsewhere, if they need to close, even temporarily, in order to control the virus, that is a decision we need to be prepared to make."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said in response to a report that schools may have to close in hotspots: “Our top priority is to keep schools safe and open – and the measures we are putting in place in wider society will help achieve that.

“School reopening guidance makes clear contingency plans should be in place in the event of local outbreaks, including the possibility of using remote learning and online resources. Schools and councils have been encouraged to put in place their own arrangements for remote learning if this becomes unavoidable.  

"Education Scotland has worked with local authority partners to develop a shared national offer for schools to draw on, this includes access to live, recorded and supported learning resources.

“We know access to technology is, and will remain, a fundamental aspect of education in Scotland. We are investing £25 million to address digital exclusion in schools.

"Funding allocations for digital devices and connectivity solutions have now been made to all councils, who are responsible for making arrangements to secure and distribute equipment to address local needs. In total, the programme is expected to deliver around 70,000 devices and 18,000 connectivity solutions for disadvantaged children and young people across Scotland.”