Last Friday marked six months to the day since it was announced that schools would close en masse. The same day, first minister Nicola Sturgeon made a grave warning that the situation with Covid-19 was at its most critical point since mid-March.
This was confirmation, if it was needed, that the story of coronavirus in Scotland would be circular, not linear - that, rather than a slow but inexorable recovery after the initial shock, the past few months have merely led back to a similarly dire situation to the one we faced in March.
The implications for education are profound and still impossible to discern fully. The first time around, a “we’re in this together” mentality drove people through challenges that they’d never faced before. Children and adults alike were reassured with reminders that, if they just got through it all, things should get back to something approaching how they were, before too long.
That optimism in the face of a crisis can still be found - just look at all the activity around the grassroots #ScotEd last Saturday, an online conference where pedagogical free thinking was driven by an infectious sense of camaraderie, as teachers around the country got their thinking hats on about where education goes from here.
Teachers are not in denial, however. They know how hard the year ahead will be. Aside from the logistics of education during Covid - and at least, for secondary schools and FE colleges, there should be clarity within the next couple of weeks about what’s happening with exams - there is also the psychological impact to consider.
We always knew that Covid-19 would take its toll on mental health but, for a time, pupils could take consolation from the idea that it was a hiatus for a few weeks or months. Just get through the Easter holidays and they might be back in school soon after that, they were told. Then, the goalposts shifted to the summer holidays, with the promise of a full return in August.
Now, after this week’s events, there’s no hiding from the fact that coronavirus is here for some indeterminate time to come, with all the psychological baggage that heaps on young shoulders.
Politicians, at times, have not helped. Think of Boris Johnson, who - always over-eager to provide good news even if it strikes the wrong tone entirely - made an outlandish prediction in March that the country could “turn the tide” of coronavirus in 12 weeks. But think, too, of the Scottish government, whose initially pragmatic and sombre prediction that the entire school year of 2020-21 could be badly disrupted by Covid-19 gave way suddenly to a relatively upbeat new plan for a full return of pupils, just as schools were breaking up for the summer. Whatever you think of the rights and wrongs of that move in practical terms, it was typical of some of the tonally confusing messaging around the coronavirus these past six months.
Politicians are, of course, happier conveying hopeful messages, but a sobering dose of reality is necessary sometimes - if you overreach and are too upbeat too soon, it can be hugely damaging to morale when that proves wildly off the mark. It doesn’t help, either, when policymakers act as if a global pandemic isn’t that much of a problem - the Dominic Cummings episode in May still looks like being one of the most emblematic moments of the outbreak in the UK.
As teachers continue navigating the twists and turns of a year like no other, they know that the experience of Covid-19 has already been traumatic for many pupils. The charity Save the Children advised - in guidance prompted by the Indonesian tsunami of 2018 - that promoting a sense of calm, connectedness and hope are crucial in coping with traumatic events. Schools and colleges are doing their best to meet such needs, but the challenge just got bigger this week.
@Henry_Hepburn
This article originally appeared in the 25 September 2020 issue under the headline “Until the Covid cycle is broken, teachers’ sense of hope will be key”
