15th June 2020
Today, we're launching a crucial campaign: 'Parents, Speak Up!' Parents have not wanted to trouble schools or local authorities with the challenges they've been facing. But now we're encouraging parents to make their voices heard about plans for re-opening schools by writing to their political representatives. You can get the contact details for your politicians here. We're also urging parents to let schools and nurseries know if their situations have changed or if they have been dealing with specific issues (ill-health, children's additional support needs, financial hardship). Schools can provide, or point families to, extra help and support.
Eileen Prior, Executive Director of parents' organisation Connect, said:
'Today, we are launching our campaign 'Parents, speak up!' We're urging parents to write to their local councillors and MSPs to tell them what impact part time school will have on their family. We know parents feel strongly about this because we have now had over 7000 responses to our survey on plans to return to school and on how parents are doing now, a few months on from lockdown.
We strongly believe that parents, children and families in general are being taken for granted, are already paying a very heavy price during this pandemic and the plans currently being published are going to put more families into crisis. Much more needs to be done to support families - all families, not just the ones local authorities recognise as vulnerable, which is the tip of the iceberg.
Nearly 30% of parents are saying they must have additional childcare if part time school is to work for them. 37% say they can only do part time school if their employer is flexible; 22% say they cannot do part-time school because of work commitments; 3% can't do part time school for other reasons; 36% say it will depend on how part-time school is organised.
So majority of parents say their ability to manage part time school is limited - as it depends on what employers allow. In addition, parents are telling us again and again that trying to do school work at home is impacting negatively on their family relationships and on their mental health.
We urged local authorities to consult parents about the models they were looking at - but many have not done this. Consistency for children and families (and employers) is just not there in some of the school ‘rota’ systems being proposed. This is not acceptable.
Families need to hear:
- when their informal childcare can resume (grandparents, friends etc)
- how employers will be encouraged to be flexible
- how families will be helped if employers are unable to be flexible
- what else is being put in place on top of time in school - learning is not just about school! How are local councils going to work with community and other groups, and the range of spaces we have in communities, to provide different kinds of learning which will support children and families? What funding will be provided for this?
- what support will be available for their child’s health and wellbeing as they adjust to new arrangements
- what financial support will be put in place for families who find themselves in difficulties because of part time school hours.'
We shared interim survey findings with Scottish Government and local authorities, to share parents' views and to urge them to consult parents about their plans for re-opening schools and nurseries and to put essential support in place. This has not happened in many local authorities - parents' voices and children's voices have not been heard or factored in. Parents are increasingly worrried about their children's mental health and their wellbeing.