Hansard

I thank Jamie Greene for ensuring that we have time to debate the broad range of serious and interrelated issues that our schools face this term. As Mr Greene’s motion states, the Parliament set clear expectations of the Government when we passed my safe schools motion, as well as Conservative and Labour amendments, nearly a month ago, so it is disappointing that this debate is even necessary, but it is.

On 18 November, the Parliament called for vulnerable school staff to be supported to work from home, or in a safer alternative setting. We called for a further 2,000 teachers to provide cover over the winter and ease the crippling workload pressures that are currently faced, and we called for regular testing to be made available for all staff and for senior pupils.

The one area in which I see some progress being made is testing, with the recent announcement of an asymptomatic testing pilot, but given that we are nine months into the pandemic, frankly, another pilot feels like a delay. I would appreciate it if the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills could outline why a further pilot is necessary, given the wealth of evidence that we now have from across the world and from mass testing programmes that are already in place here, such as what is currently happening with university students and the pilot in Johnstone. I would further appreciate it if he could confirm where the pilot will take place, when it will start and end, and when the mass asymptomatic testing in all schools that the Parliament voted for will be delivered. Given the near certainty of a post-Christmas surge, I am not the only one who believes that that should be in place for every school in January.

I am aware that some discussions have taken place on the issue of protecting vulnerable school staff but, beyond the effective advocacy of unions in individual cases and, in some cases, at local authority level, no solution is in place. A postcode lottery on a fundamental issue of health and safety still exists, and many extremely vulnerable teachers whose employers made changes while their areas were at level 4 are today wondering whether those protections will be maintained when their areas are at level 3. The cabinet secretary said that no teacher should be pressured into class against the advice of their GP, but he knows that that is exactly what is happening, so we are again asking him to intervene.

On the recruitment of additional teachers, like Iain Gray, I can see no progress. High staff absence rates will continue well into the new year, and to say that teachers are at breaking point would be an understatement. However, today’s budget update made no mention of additional funds for teacher recruitment, so we can only presume that the Government is not going to do what the Parliament has instructed.

I hope that the cabinet secretary will address those points, but time is tight and Mr Greene’s motion also makes reference to the critical issue of next year’s exams, which I want to address, too.

The Greens are, of course, glad that the Government has finally made the decision to cancel and replace highers and advanced higher exams. We have called for that since May and have been contacted by increasing numbers of young people anxious about having had to miss weeks of school because of self-isolation. They did not know how they were going to manage exams in comparison with those who have been fortunate enough to avoid absences.

However, in leaving the decision so late, the Government has caused some entirely unnecessary stress for pupils and particularly for their teachers. When the decision on national 5s was taken, the cabinet secretary categorically assured me that it should not increase teacher workload. He did so again yesterday when I made the same point in relation to highers and advanced highers, but if he genuinely believes that to be the case, he needs to explain why not a single teacher seems to agree with him. The reality is that exams have essentially been replaced in large part by de facto exams, to be administered and marked by teachers.

Pre-pandemic, Scotland’s schools were dependent on an average of 11 hours of overtime being worked each week by teachers. That has only increased this year, and with the assessment model, it will increase further. The proposed approach will take many teachers beyond their breaking point, and it is simply not sustainable.

The Parliament has already given the Government clear instructions, and we are now set to do so again. If the Government does not act, it will be not just the Parliament but teachers, pupils and parents who will hold it responsible next year.