Way back in ancient history - or the spring of 2020, as it’s also known - there was a curious optimism in the air. Schools had closed, exams had been cancelled and, out in communities, Covid-19 was surging through the population. Yet, in the midst of crisis and upheaval for schools like we had never seen before, there were often inspirational signs of innovation and can-do collaboration.

“Teachers are doing all they can,” wrote the University of Dundee’s Richard Holme for Tes Scotland in April, as he surveyed the inventive ways schools were keeping in touch with pupils - remember all those bright and breezy video compilations of motivational messages for pupils that schools put together? Holme also saw “a surprising amount of professional learning” and a sense of collaborative endeavour that went well beyond the usual school and local authority boundaries. “Teachers are reaching out to provide support to colleagues across Scotland, and around the world, in ways that we have never seen before,” he said.

There are instincts that kick in during a crisis - a clarity of purpose and a singlemindedness - that were on full display in Scottish education, as a collective adrenaline rush seemed to drive staff through all the uncertainty and anxiety.

Coronavirus: Getting schools back up and running

The defiant optimism was also partially explained by predictions that Covid-19 could have silver linings for education. There was much talk of fundamental exam reform, of how the voluntary sector would play a greater role in schools than ever before, and of a new dawn for outdoor learning - to give just a few examples.

Now, however, the initial adrenaline has long since subsided and there’s a distinct weariness to be found - despite schools’ best efforts to gee up staff and students for the new school year - and an ever-present hum of anxiety as all sorts of questions swirl around. What will exams look like next year? When will I get clearer guidance on how I’m supposed to run my subject this year? Are we ready if we have to revert to blended learning? What safety measures are needed in schools, and how long till the guidance changes all over again?

Meanwhile, there is less consolation being taken in supposed silver linings. We did have the launch of exam.scot last week, which suggests a serious effort by some educators to bring about assessment reform, but for now the national plan is to carry on with 2021 exams almost as usual. Covid-19 safety restrictions, meanwhile, may catalyse some innovation, but they are also being used to justify chalk-and-talk teaching and monolithic school timetables - double maths on a Friday afternoon, anyone?

Those silver linings of pedagogical innovation, then, are harder to discern when many school staff feel that their practical reality, for now, is having to cobble together inferior versions of what we had before Covid-19.

We should, however, be wary of ladling on the doom and gloom since, as we’ve seen so many times before, the resourcefulness of teachers knows few bounds. In a profession like this, where the very aim of the job is to better the lives of others, there are huge reserves of passion and inspiration that schools can draw upon.

But we are asking a lot of school staff. Even if they felt more prepared and had all the guidance they needed for their return, the possible transmission of Covid-19 in schools (which first minister Nicola Sturgeon warned earlier this month was all but inevitable) would be a constant source of anxiety.

Schools have been put at the vanguard of getting the country back to something like “normal”. For that, staff deserve exceptional levels of support - but they don’t yet see it.

@Henry_Hepburn

This article originally appeared in the 28 August 2020 issue