John Swinney has rejected claims by Scotland’s biggest teaching union that sending secondary pupils back to school was a “political decision” and not for the benefit of young people.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said the Scottish government wanted a “good news” story to distract from Nicola Sturgeon’s troubles at Holyrood’s Salmond Inquiry.
The EIS hit out at the decision as parents prepared to send Primary 4-7 kids back full-time on Monday, along with the part-time return of secondary pupils.
Andrea Bradley, EIS assistant secretary, told BBC Scotland teachers had been “caught by surprise” by the First Minister’s March 2 announcement on the eve of her giving eight hours of evidence to the Alex Salmond inquiry.
Bradley said: “The decision seemed to be a political one rather than one that was based on sound educational principle.
“Certainly it wasn’t one that has taken account of the very real circumstances in which teachers are working - under quite significant stress and pressure over the last six months.”
Primaries one to three returned full time on 22 February, along with older pupils in S4 to S6 who had to complete work for qualifications.
Primaries four to seven make a full-time return from Monday.
S1-S3 pupils are the final group to return to school part-time after lockdown and the return of secondary pupils had been expected until after April’s Easter Holidays.
Bradley added: “The government have been keen to get all young people back to school, there has been strong lobbying for that from some quarters.
She added: “We have to have cognisance of the context in which the decision was announced, it took place before the parliamentary evidence giving session. Our sense was the government were looking for a good news story that week.”
Education Secretary John Swinney hit back that the Scottish government’s concern was for children’s “wellbeing”.
He said: “All the mitigations have got to be in place to keep everybody safe, whether they are members of staff or pupils.
“We were concerned about wellbeing of S1 to 3 pupils, who might feel excluded from the return to school if we didn’t give them some opportunity for face to face learning before the Easter holidays.
“That was the one and only motivation that the government had.”
He added: “The needs of young people are absolutely central to my consideration of all of these issues.”
