Received from: EIS
Congress acknowledges that the pandemic and associated lockdowns have impacted significantly on all parts of society, and, in particular, that it has severely disrupted the education of children and young people, and negatively affected their wellbeing.
Congress believes that “education recovery” needs to be more than simply getting schools, colleges and universities back to a previous norm. In the interests of equity and sound learning, the recovery should be a fully funded programme to address and resolve the effect of societal inequities on children and young people’s education, as revealed and exacerbated by the pandemic.
Congress instructs the General Council to campaign for the UK and devolved administration governments to significantly increase funding to schools; to increase staffing to create smaller class sizes; to fully utilise supply teachers; to increase ASN specialist support; and to implement a national mentorship programme for young people who have been disproportionately disadvantaged by Covid-19 disruption.
This campaign should also include the educational needs of young people in further and higher education.
Congress also instructs the General Council to continue to campaign for safe working conditions in all public workspaces, with a full range of mitigations that meet and exceed the government-issued guidance and regulations, eg ventilation. This campaign should also ensure that the additional resources are commensurate with the risks faced by public workers, and that the health and interests of public workers are properly and fairly considered.
Educational Institute of Scotland