Category: Information for Members

It is sensible to take a cautious approach to reopening secondary schools on Monday 22 February but it cannot be a return to a way of working that existed prior to Christmas. Schools were closed in January because we needed to control the virus. We now need to ensure pupils and staff are safe during this staged return. The reopening of secondary schools is a controlled exercise that will be evaluated before further decision will be made. Secondary teachers need to be confident that the Scottish Government has put in place all measures necessary to keep people safe.

The SSTA expects that

• 2 metre physical distancing for all staff and pupils will be enforced in secondary schools
• That all pupils and staff will be required to wear face coverings at all times
• Schools will be given full support to ensure that all pupils follow all the safety guidance
• Pupils who refuse to follow safety guidance cannot be accommodated in school
• All risk assessments are reviewed and additional measures introduced
• Parental expectations need to be managed as teachers in school will not be able to continue to support remote learning.

#SafetyFirst #FollowTheGuidance #ProtectLives

Please find below a link to the January 2021 SSTA Newsletter.

Information included in the newsletter:

• A message from the SSTA President
• Election of President and Vice-President – 2021-2023
• SNCT – Teachers Pay Claim 2021
• The Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme – Retirement Workshops
• Parents Evenings
• SSTA Subscription Fees for 2021
• Professional Tax Review Service

The First Minister is introducing new laws that will require people to stay at home and work from home where possible from 5 January.

There is now confusion is some areas as some schools and local authorities are still instructing teachers to attend school in person this week when pupils are nor present (See advice below).

The SSTA advises members that:

1. Teachers should only attend school if they have been assigned child supervision duties
2. All meetings should be conducted remotely
3. Teachers should be allowed to prepare for remote learning from home. Should teachers need to collect materials from school then arrangements should be made to limit the number of people in the school buildings at all times.

SSTA Advice – Reopening of schools includes supervision of children and remote in-service days can be found here

The SSTA has been contacted by a large number of members concerned about their safety and the arrangements for the return to schools in January following the Covid-19 statement made by Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister on Saturday 19 December 2020.

The following was issued by Government on Monday 21 December – ‘Arrangements for the phased reopening of schools in January 2021 – supplementary guidance’. The guidance provides details regarding the phased start to the spring term 2021.  

This guidance supplements the existing Coronavirus: reducing risks in schools guidance, and is specifically to support schools and local authorities over the period from 21 December 2020 until 15 January 2021. The aim is for a full return to school buildings and face-to-face learning and teaching for all children on 18 January. All aspects of the existing guidance and accompanying mitigations continue to apply while schools are open.

SSTA Advice
The SSTA was not consulted on the guidance and the document stills leaves a number of concerns. The SSTA will be raising these with the Government and offers the following initial advice to all members. Please note: the rise in infections and further knowledge of the new variant may alter the arrangements and new measures may be required.

School Reopening – teachers are required to be available for work on the date the day schools were expected to open in the first week in January. The school will only be open for children of key workers and vulnerable pupils. Schools should have knowledge of the numbers required to be supervised and the staff (teaching and non-teaching) required to carry out this function. These children will not be following normal lessons. Schools should seek volunteers to assist with this provision as some teachers and members of their households, may have an underlying health condition, or are a part of a vulnerable group, must be protected.

Risk Assessments must be conducted. Members must not be required to attend school if they have not been assigned a specific child caring responsibility and given advice on procedures to be followed.

In-Service Days at the start of term should be conducted remotely and should be focussed on teacher assessment following the DFM’s decision to cancel next summer examinations. This was confirmed by the DFM at a recent meeting with SSTA.

Monday 11 January – children of key workers and vulnerable pupils are to remain in school and are expected to follow their normal timetable. The remaining pupils are to stay at home and begin ‘remote learning’. This will cause a major problem for schools as teachers cannot be expected to teach pupils in school and deliver remote learning to those not in school. Additional staff will be required to achieve this expectation.

Definitions – the SSTA would like to clarify the position of the following terms:

Remote Learning is when learning continues when pupils are working from home while teachers will be working in a place of safety (at home). At this point this will be the case up to Friday 15 January 2021.

Blended Learning is when some pupils are in school whilst others are required to work from home. These were the measures prepared last summer (but not implemented) for a return to school in August.

Online Learning is another term used for remote learning and requires teachers to provide suitable work for the pupils in their own classes. The teacher will devise work including shared resources from colleagues or other professional sources for pupils to carry out the required tasks.

Live Teaching is when instructions are given by a video link. Teachers or presenters are employed, trained and have control of the medium used to provide such instructions. There is no requirement for teachers employed in schools to provide live teaching for those pupils not in the classroom.

The SSTA view is clear that there is NO requirement for teachers to be involved in live video teaching. The SSTA has a number of safety and security concerns for both pupils and teachers that have not been considered by those who promote such activity in schools. No teacher must be pressurised into providing live video teaching.

Please see SSTA Advice on Online Communication 

Supply Teachers – The SSTA expects all local authorities to honour all contracts and ensure supply teachers are paid during the coming weeks.

The SSTA will be issuing further advice in due course. Further advice on SQA procedures and the impact on Working Time Agreements will follow in January

The SSTA advice to all members at this time is:

Enjoy your Christmas break, don’t make any plans for January as guidance is likely to change again.
All teachers need and deserve a break.

All members are advised to follow SSTA on Twitter to get the latest news and advice especially over the festive period whist the SSTA Office is closed.

Members Update – Christmas Arrangements for Schools – 11 December 2020

The SSTA met with John Swinney, Deputy First Minister this week and urged him to:

• reconsider the arrangements for Secondary Schools prior to Christmas and
• delay returning to face-face teaching in January

in order for everybody to be kept safe over the Christmas period.

This followed the SSTA letter to Local Authorities asking that schools move to ‘remote learning’ and fulfil their duty of care to keep everybody safe. Please see the SSTA letter ‘Continuing Education and Keeping People Safe at Christmas’ 

It is our understanding from a reliable source that it was a reluctance among local authorities that measures were not introduced to move to remote learning as suggested in the SSTA letter to CEOs.

The Deputy First Minister said that he was following the medical and scientific advisers and believed that pupils were safer in school than in the community. The SSTA stated our strong belief that the voice of the class teacher has not being heard. He may not be receiving the message that teachers are struggling and fearful for their families particularly at Christmas. He did accept that remote learning will be necessary in some areas and it may be appropriate in secondary schools particularly with senior pupils. The SSTA stated that, following the decision to cancel examinations in 2021, the pressure on teachers and pupils could now be reduced and allow measures to keep people safe and have a ‘real’ break at Christmas.

The DFM said he would consider our comments and would be in further discussions at the forthcoming CERG. The SSTA stated our concern that the CERG consisted mainly of policy makers and managers of the education system who do not represent and speak on behalf of teachers.

The SSTA looks forward to secondary schools been given support to move to ‘remote learning’ where both pupils and teachers work from home. An alternative would be a move to ‘blended learning’ where class sizes are reduced to allow strict physical distancing measures to be put in place with some pupils working at home. These are not ‘lockdown’ measures but measures to continue education and keep people safe.