Seòmar agus comataidhean

COSLA Submission January 2022

Submission from COSLA on Covid and Schools January 2022

COSLA

Covid-19 Impacts on Education

12 January 2022

Introduction

1. COSLA is the voice of Local Government in Scotland, we are a Councillor-led, cross-party organisation who champions councils’ vital work to secure the resources and powers they need to deliver effectively. We work on councils' behalf to focus on the challenges and opportunities they face, and to engage positively with Governments and stakeholders on policy, funding and legislation.

2. Local Government continues to meet the challenges of the pandemic, while also playing a key role in recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. Councils are the anchors in our communities and continue to focus on those who are potentially more vulnerable as a result of the pandemic. Local Government, and the communities we serve, continue to show innovative and creative thinking in responding to the pandemic and the impacts of public health restrictions. The Committee are encouraged to consider COSLA’s “Live Well Locally” campaign as it will be vital that Local Government is properly funded in order to support communities to thrive as we recover.

3. The COSLA Resources Spokesperson gave evidence to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on 11th January 2022 on the Scottish Government's Budget 2022-23. The Committee will be aware of the disappointment and concern shared by all 32 Council Leaders at the Local Government Settlement and will want to consider the Budget Reality document.

4. We welcome the opportunity to discuss the continuing impact of the pandemic on children and young people's education and the mitigations being taken by Local Authorities and our wider partners to ensure the best level of education continues to be delivered.

5. Supporting children and young people to achieve the best outcomes possible as we recover from the pandemic is a key priority for Local Government. We note the worrying findings of the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels data released last month. Whilst these results are, unfortunately, unsurprising considering the disruption to in-person learning as a result of COVID, we will work with renewed focus on the health and wellbeing of our children and young people in the months and years ahead.

Covid-19 Education Recovery Group (CERG)

6. Since the start of the pandemic COSLA’s Children and Young People Spokesperson, Councillor Stephen McCabe has Co-Chaired the CERG alongside the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. CERG meets on a fortnightly basis and continues to discuss how to maintain effective education provision moving forewords, including consideration of the implications of the Omicron variant and the knock on impact on staff and pupils required to isolate in high numbers.

7. Guidance for reducing risks from COVID-19 has been through a number of revisions over the past 2 months, in light of Omicron, cover a range of mitigations including self-isolation and ventilation.

8. COSLA has also been an active member of the COVID-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group, and many other groups focused on facilitating the best possible support for children and young people during this difficult period.

Impact of the Omicron variant on absence rates and contingency planning

9. The committee will be aware of the impact of the omicron variant across society, businesses and the public sector, where there have been high-levels of staff absences due to COVID and self-isolation. Education has similarly been affected with increases in the absences for children, young people and school staff.

10. Over the period of the pandemic Local Authorities have demonstrated their ability to adapt to the continually changing nature of the pandemic and therefore are practiced at responding to the evolving challenges of COVID. In line with COVID guidance for education, Local Authorities and schools have prepared a wide range of contingency plans, including partial attendance (either due to distance requirement or self-isolation) or the return to full remote learning.

11. Whilst scenarios will be specific to each schools any closure of schools (or sending specific classes home) will stem from either:

• public health advice, provided by the local incident management team in line with advice on contact tracing and self-isolation, or

• a decision by a local authority, headteacher or other senior officers that there is not enough school staff available to open

12. Whilst the presumption that children and young people are able to access in-person learning as far as possible, should one of the two scenarios above require the full or particular closure of a school, support to children and young people will continue. Schools will provide materials and support to children and young people if they are unable attend in-person learning within the staffing resources available.

13. Building on the assets that have been developed during earlier stages of the pandemic, children and young people will also be able to access the National E-Learning Offer (which has been developed and supported by Education Scotland, Local Authorities and Regional Improvement Collaboratives) including live lessons from e-Sgoil and recorded resources through WestOS.

Supporting Staff / Using Additional Funding

14. The monies provided for the recruitment of additional teaching and support staff has been used to recruit an additional 2,200 staff based on the needs of children and young people locally. The money has been baselined into Council funding and as such individuals will be employed on permanent or temporary contracts as appropriate to the role and identified needs of services.

15. Throughout the pandemic COSLA has worked closely with Scottish Government, Education Scotland, Trade Unions and individual local authorities to ensure a range of supports have been available to the education workforce to enable them to look after both their own health and wellbeing, that of those they work with and of the children and young people that they teach and support. The work nationally has complemented the suite of supports that have been made available locally by councils and work continues to ensure that the national offer connects meaningfully with this.

16. Staff wellbeing communities of practice have been developed to ensure the workforce feel supported in managing their own mental health and wellbeing and have the capacity to support the mental health and wellbeing of learners. This followed on from the successful development of spaces for wellbeing across different sectors of the education workforce over the session 2020/21. These were evaluated positively, for example, key impact themes were highlighted around empowerment, trust and permission, focussing on their own mental health and wellbeing, connections across the education system and innovation and experimentation. They also aid in providing a common language and shared understanding of the mental health and wellbeing needs of children and young people, as well as supporting the workforce to recognise the impact trauma can have on their own, and learners, actions and behaviour.

Supporting Pupils

17. As noted previously, children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing was consistently identified as at risk of being negatively impacted by school closures and the wider impacts of the pandemic and public health measures. It is also widely recognised that the uncertainty and anxiety caused by COVID-19 at all stages during the pandemic will have an impact on health and wellbeing, including changes to public health measures and guidance, including at the end of 2021 and return to school in January 2022. Local Government has continued to work with partners to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing and a range of approaches and provisions continue to be in place. These include art-based therapies targeting those not engaged in school and/or finding it hard to leave home and return to school, a hybrid online/offline youth work-based approach, and digital services.

18. Youthlink Scotland have undertaken and published a series of surveys regarding access to facilities for youthwork provision throughout the pandemic. Provision, delivery, and access has changed throughout the pandemic and local authority youth work services have adapted to provide support to young people in a variety of ways, both in person and digitally, as restrictions have changed. There are still ongoing barriers and challenges related to youth work access to facilities and provision, some of which could be alleviated should additional funding be provided by Scottish Government.

19. Similar to youth work has been the provision of extra-curricular physical activity and sport clubs and sessions which provide health, wellbeing and social activities for children and young people. Where restrictions have allowed, and facilities, staff and volunteers are available, activities have continued. Access to facilities for sport and physical activity face similar challenges to youth work which could also be alleviated by funding from Scottish Government to additional Covid19 related costs.

20. Local Government and Scottish Government have worked together to provide those working in schools with the advice, information, and support that they need in order to signpost and link into sources of advice and support for children, young people and their families, aligned to the Getting it Right for Every Child approach. Ongoing focus has been placed on delivery of counselling support through schools, and a whole-school approach to wellbeing, and professional learning for school staff to enhance their ability and confidence in supporting children and young people.

21. A wide range of approaches continue to be used, such as telephone helplines, bereavement support, educational psychology, bespoke support packages and resources, virtual and telephone counselling, advice lines, regular contacts and relationship maintenance, family support, links to CAMHS, youth work to support pupils who are not able to regularly attend school. Approaches to resilience, nurture and trauma-informed approaches, Scottish Mental Health First Aid, LIAM and ASSIST are also frequently used.

22. It is also recognised that changes may affect children and young people who have additional support needs more significantly. Given the wide range of additional support needs individual learners have, the expertise and judgement of the school staff and children’s sector professionals working mostly closely with them continues to be key. As the March 2021 Education Scotland published report noted, local authority support, professional learning and ongoing reflection has resulted in improved approaches to meeting the needs of learners with complex needs, and positive steps in increasing engagement and support for parents of children and young people with complex learning needs. It is recognised that there is learning from the experiences of remote learning in terms of how support for learners can be further developed.

Digital

23. Local Government have distributed over 122,000 digital devices to children and young people. This includes 72,000 devices provide to children and young people identified by their schools as being at risk of digital exclusion supported by £25m of funding from the Scottish Government, with over 14,000 connectivity solutions provided. While local authorities entered the first period of remote learning from different starting points, in terms of digital devices, programmes and approaches, all councils worked quickly to provide devices to as many children as possible who were at risk of digital exclusion. However, we note that our remote, island and rural communities continue to face challenges with broadband and connectivity issues, which can be a barrier.

24. Schools and our education and children’s services workforce showed their creativity and innovation in adapting both to remote learning, when there was not the time or opportunity for digital learning, and to support children and young people without devices.

25. COSLA continues to work with the Scottish Government on their commitment to provide a device for every school-aged child, we look forward to using further investment to ensure all children and young people can benefit from digital education.

Ventilation

26. Last year Local Government and Scottish Government agreed to undertake a programme of CO2 Monitoring in all learning and teaching spaces across the school estate during the first term of the 2021/22 school year. This was supported by £10m funding. As the committee will be aware from correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary, despite supply and delivery challenges, 100% of learning and teaching spaces were assessed by November 2021. As a result, improvements have been made within learning and teaching spaces where areas of poorer ventilation have been identified.

27. Through COSLA’s Workforce Issues Group, a quick guide has been developed for all school staff to support their understanding and use of CO2 monitors in classrooms. Any concerns about ventilation or CO2 Monitors are raised at the school level in the first instance, however where escalation routes have been exhausted there are avenues to discuss concerns both locally and national that we have established with our partners in the trade unions.

28. As set out in the most recent update to the guidance for reducing the risk of COVID in schools, published in December 2021, COSLA had worked with the Scottish Government and partners to agree a regular programme of CO2 monitoring with a minimum of one assessment of all learning, teaching and play spaces in Scotland per week, or more often in areas of persistent concern. Importantly the guidance notes that some Local Authorities may need time at the start of term to procure and distribute additional CO2 monitors to achieve this strengthened commitment, recognising the different challenges that will be faced by schools depending on their individual estate.

29. We note the continued interest in the use of air clearing devices. Local Authorities and schools continue to follow the latest guidance from the Scottish Government which is clear that:

“Air cleaning devices / HEPA filters may play a role in reducing airborne transmission of aerosols where it is not possible to maintain adequate ventilation. However, the available scientific evidence to date continues to support a primary focus on improving natural or mechanical ventilation, with CO2 monitoring playing a supporting role in identifying areas of concern

Expert advice from groups including SAGE and HSE states that air filtration devices do not provide any ventilation and should never be used as a substitute for efforts to improve ventilation – other actions should be undertaken to improve ventilation before, exceptionally, considering use of air cleaning devices. It is therefore important to understand that air cleaning devices must not be used as a substitute for natural or mechanical ventilation (including the opening of windows and doors) during cold weather – doing so may increase risks to staff and pupils.”.

30. On 11th January 2022 the Scottish Government announced that £5m to support urgent remedial work that has been identified as a result of ongoing CO2 monitoring work, in line with our existing school safety guidance. Remedial measures that may be considered for persistent problem areas include adjustments to window - and door-opening, use of fan systems, and use of air cleaning devices as a temporary mitigation while viable methods of improving ventilation are identified. At the time of writing, COSLA are in early discussions with the Scottish Government to determine the approach to the distribution and use of this funding.

Recovery

31. Local Government and Scottish Government have agreed that the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of children and young people are central in recovery from the pandemic. The guidance on ‘Curriculum for Excellence in the Recovery Phase’, makes this clear.

32. While Local Government continues to respond to the challenges brought by the pandemic and recovery from the impacts of the pandemic for their whole communities, a focus is on those who are potentially more vulnerable for a range of reasons. The committee will also be aware of COSLA’s concerns set out in the Budget Reality document regarding the real-terms cut in core funding of £371 million within the Local Government financial settlement which will affect the most vulnerable in our communities most acutely. The committee will be aware of COSLA’s “Live Well Locally” campaign which sets out our shared ambition for everyone in Scotland.

33. As stated in previous submissions, Local Government continues to work closely with Scottish Government on the COVID Recovery Strategy, focusing on tackling the inequality and disadvantage exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic. The Wellbeing of Children and Young People is one of the strategy’s three key outcomes. The strategy recognises that “local” is key - local leadership, local partnerships, local government, local transport, local children’s services planning, local employability partnerships, local resilience, and local service design. Local Government, in collaboration with the Scottish Government, will provide that local leadership to the approach to recovery that is at all times rooted in the needs of the people that we serve.