National parents’ organisation Connect has surveyed almost 8,000 parents and carers about their experience of the coronavirus lockdown.
As Scottish schools prepare for a “full” return in August, these are the key priorities for parents that emerge from Connect’s survey report:
Coronavirus: Priorities for parents as schools reopen
• Schools and nurseries should have a communication plan, agreed and shaped by parents and staff, to cover emergency closures (local lockdowns), doing schoolwork at home, sources of support and help, and ways for parents/learners and teachers/staff to contact one another.
• Schools need to set out a plan for doing school work at home in the event of closure, in a way that is agreed and known by all.
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• Schools and local authorities need to be ready to receive, and act on, information from parents/children about children’s learning and experiences during lockdown and not take a “pick up where we left off” approach.
• Families should be able to self-identify as being in need of help and support; local authorities and schools should trust families and give them the help they need.
• Families should be invited to share their stories and experiences of lockdown, as this will inform what needs to happen now. The Connect survey shows that families dealing with multiple factors struggle most, as they navigate ill health, the needs of younger children or those with additional support needs (ASN), work, lone parenting, financial stress, children of different ages, and a lack of equipment for learning.
• Health and wellbeing approaches must be shared with families, and everyone needs to work together to establish, for example, how learning about Covid-19 will take place in schools. How will parents be involved in this? How can children and young people’s anxiety and stress about Covid-19 be minimised?
Eileen Prior, Connect’s executive director, said: “The intention of the survey and report is for us all to be able to learn from the experiences of families during lockdown. The priority is to make sure families in Scotland are properly supported throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Help must be appropriately targeted in the face of possible future local lockdowns and we must address the challenges of ’blended learning’ if schoolwork is to be done at home, and alternatives for learning must be provided for children and young people who cannot do school work at home.”
