On Monday, teachers in Scotland were able to go back to work in school. This was, however, only a very notional return. Approaches have differed by local authority, but suffice to say, not very many teachers set foot in school at the start of this week.
Monday was the day when the differing approaches to easing lockdown for schools in Scotland and England were clear for all to see. While some 2 million primary pupils were reported to be returning in England, in Scotland, the only school buildings open to pupils remained those “hubs” that have, for more than two months, been operating for a very small number of children.
This cautious approach buys some time before all schools return on 11 August. There are now just over two months to set out how a “blended” approach - combining school-and home-based learning - could work, to figure out what classrooms will look and feel like, to prepare support for pupils who struggle to adapt. There is also a window for teacher CPD, for honing online systems and for contacting thousands of registered teachers who have not been working of late - as the General Teaching Council for Scotland is doing - to see if they could help to deliver this radically changed approach to school.
All of this is, of course, is being done at breakneck speed compared with the usual pace of change in education. Yet, Scotland’s approach contrasts markedly with the UK government’s determination to reopen schools in England, and the sort of headlines that led to in the past week: warnings of legal action over schools without risk assessments; the National Governance Association saying it was “not practically possible” for most schools to fully return before the summer; scientists warning that it was not safe to open schools this week.
These approaches lay bare a different dynamic in the education systems either side of the border. In Scotland, there tends to be a more collaborative approach between educators and policymakers. The school system here is less fragmented and, philosophically, there is more unity of purpose.
Those qualities are sometimes construed as weaknesses, with Scottish education characterised as homogenous to a fault, inherently conservative and prone to groupthink. Yet, in a crisis, the greater sense of a collective endeavour in Scottish education will help navigate the months ahead. So, too, will the absence of anything like the sort of enmity that has existed between education secretaries and teachers over the past decade in England. And now, for all the inevitable complaints that certain things could have been done differently, there will be few bitter memories in Scotland of having been forced to rush back to school before the summer.
Yet, in some matters, there are fears that teachers and students would be better served by a greater sense of urgency, that indecisiveness is being passed off as canniness - specifically, on the matter of the 2021 exams, which teaching unions have been saying for several weeks should be cancelled.
By now, students should already have started the courses on which they would sit such exams. Last week, education secretary John Swinney said that, for the time being, the Scottish Qualifications Authority was still planning for them to go ahead.
But how long can that line be maintained amid all the uncertainty over how much time students will get in school or college next year, over how teachers will record students’ progress, over whether a second spike in Covid-19 cases could, eventually, force cancellation of the exams anyway?
It goes without saying that we need leaders who are inclined to carefully weigh up evidence before making crucial decisions on the future of education. Sometimes, however, the right call is to act quickly and decisively.
@Henry_Hepburn
This article originally appeared in the 5 June 2020 issue under the headline “Urgently required: a reasoned, informed approach to reopening”
