Teachers want Edinburgh schools to switch to remote learning for two days to reduce risk of Covid spread at Christmas

TEACHERS in Edinburgh are calling for city schools to switch to remote learning for the last two days of term to give pupils and staff a better chance of a Christmas break without having to self-isolate.

EIS Edinburgh secretary Alison Murphy says stress levels are high among both staff and pupils

At the moment schools in the Capital will remain open right up to Tuesday December 22.

But teachers' union the EIS wants everyone to work from home on the Monday and Tuesday to avoid spreading the virus and the risk of families being forced to cancel plans for seeing relatives at the last minute if someone in their class tests positive for Covid.

EIS Edinburgh secretary Alison Murphy said many people in other jobs, including ones which were high risk, were able to book leave to give them time to isolate before going to see vulnerable relatives at Christmas, but in schools there was no flexibility.

She said: "There will be lots of families who have not seen elderly relatives for months. If a child is in school on the 22nd and there's a case that day that family will have to self-isolate, they're not seeing granny. Or potentially even worse, there is a case on the 22nd, they go to see granny on the 23rd and they find out on the 25th when they're with granny and possibly they have exposed granny."

Education Secretary John Swinney had been considering a nationwide extension of the Christmas break with all schools closing on December 18 and reopening on January 11, but he ruled out the move last week, saying the public health advice was that the transmission of the virus between young people could be minimised in an organised environment like a school better than in home or community settings.

On behalf of the EIS, Ms Murphy has written to city education chiefs and councillors, stressing they are not asking for a longer holiday, but urging them to agree to remote learning on December 21 and 22. She said she believed many parents would keep their children off these days anyway.

And in her email she warned if schools did remain open on these dates “many staff will be forced to choose between putting their loved ones at risk, or not taking advantage of the opportunity to see vulnerable family members – this is not a choice anyone should be forced to make when an alternative is available.”

She continued: “Many Edinburgh families will find their Christmases ruined if there is a positive case in the school in the last couple of days. Moving to remote learning for the Monday and Tuesday would lessen the chances of disruption.”

In a further email to education bosses and councillors, Ms Murphy acknowledged that council officials had worked hard to support schools in coping with the pandemic, but stressed the difficulties everyone faced and said stress levels were high among both staff and pupils.

“That rates of infection and self-isolation in our, often very overcrowded, schools have not been higher than they are is a tribute to exhausting, draining levels of vigilance and work by staff and pupils right across the city. But maintaining these efforts is coming at a huge cost. People are tense, exhausted, stressed and often simply terrified.”

She described schools as “some of the least Covid-secure workplaces going”.

“In primary and special schools, it is frankly impossible to maintain any physical distancing. Our special schools have pupils who are 15 and 16 years old, which in terms of infection puts them in the young adult category, yet their disabilities mean that staff are in constant close physical contact with them, they cannot wear masks and they may well pull off any mask or visor the adults around them are wearing.

"In our mainstream secondaries, there are often 30 S5 or S6 pupils in a small classroom - even if staff have found a way of rearranging the desks so that they are 2 metres distant from the pupils for the bulk of the lesson, maintaining this whilst helping individual pupils with problems is virtually impossible. And ventilation is a continuing worry that council officers are working hard to address but that is not amenable to easy solutions.”

Ms Murphy said she was meeting more and more EIS members who were “clearly on the edge of breakdowns”. And she said: “Failing to move to remote learning for the last two days of term, will be the final straw for many.”

A council spokesman said: “No decision has been taken to change current school arrangements at this stage.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.