Parents in Glasgow are leading calls to ensure that pupils who must self-isolate from school due to Covid-19 don’t fall behind.
They form part of the nationwide 50/50 in school campaign who sought the safe return to school with a minimum of 50 per cent in-school time and a national standard online, interactive learning.
The campaign group has called on the Scottish Government and local authorities to publish what work is happening to make sure that young people can keep up with their studies.
Prior to the Scottish school holidays there were reports by pupils and parents of huge differences between council areas and even between schools in what online learning was available; how much interaction there was (if any) between pupils and teaching staff; and complaints that there was no chance for real learning of concepts, but merely assignments being set and sent via Teams or similar platforms.
The 50/50 campaign has consistently raised this issue and said that access to quality education at home should be the right of every child in Scotland.
Scottish schools have been back less than a week and there are already a number of concerns about coronavirus clusters in Glasgow.
Some schools have already told young people to stay at home and the feeling among many teachers, parents and pupils is that it is only a matter of time before more clusters, children and/or teachers are asked not to attend school.
The 50/50 campaign has consistently raised this issue and said that access to quality education at home should be the right of every child in Scotland.
Following the decision that all students would to return to school full time by August 17 no details have been provided on what is happening to the plans to make sure that all pupils who can’t attend school are provided with a national platform for at home learning.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Learning John Swinney has said that work is ongoing between Education and e-Sgoil to provide online lessons for learners in the senior phase of school – but no mention has been made of other years in school.
Sarah Chisnall, a spokesperson for the 50/50 group said: “We’ve known since before the school holidays that there was a postcode lottery for online learning with some children not having work marked; and not hearing or seeing their teachers since March 19.
“The government must work to ensure there is a national standard for online learning that is informative; interactive and engaging for young people.
“We know none of this is easy and there aren’t quick fixes; but we have known the possible scenarios since the spring. Surely there must have been some work ongoing to get this right.
Officials and educationalists must have something better than we have seen so far. Members of our group have been doing research into what is out there for online learning and there are models which, even in the short term, look more interactive and interesting than what many young people have been faced with on a daily basis since mid-March.
“As we head towards autumn and into winter, we need to know what schools will be allowed to and able to access to maintain all our children’s learning.”
A council spokeswoman said: “Our schools will do all that they can to support children and young people who are not able to attend school – this practice has been in place long before the virus and will be targeted to meet the individual needs of the pupil.”
