Question reference: S5W-32357
- Date lodged: 7 October 2020
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Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 November 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether teachers have adequate time to provide pupils who are self-isolating with consistent support and materials as well as fulfilling their obligations to other pupils who are in school.
Answer
Schools are responsible for providing learning for children who have to self-isolate at home due to COVID-19 symptoms. This is set out in the Scottish Government’s guidance for schools. This is the best approach as practitioners know their learners best, and can arrange remote learning which is appropriate to the needs and circumstance of each pupil.
In order to further strengthen the options available to schools, the Scottish Government and Education Scotland are working with local government to ensure that schools can access an enhanced range of options for online learning during 2020/21 through the National eLearning Partnership. Schools can access and sign up to a range of additional options via the e-Learning Partnership. This includes the courses available via e-Sgoil and other initiatives such as the West Partnership’s online schools. Digital learning and teaching resources are also available for teachers to download and use.
We have invested £80 million to support the recruitment of additional teachers and school support staff. As well as bringing much needed resilience to the system at this challenging time, these additional staff will offer increased support for individuals or groups of pupils who have significant gaps in their learning as a result of lockdown, support young people who are shielding, support small groups of learners who need more intensive support and cover classes for teachers who are shielding. Councils indicate that they have recruited over 1,250 additional teachers and we would expect this number to increase as schools continue to assess the needs of children and young people over the coming weeks.