An EIS member draws comparisons between Scotland and Canada in their respective approaches to combating Covid in schools.

Being a Canadian living and working as a primary teacher in Scotland, I have had the opportunity to observe how the Canadian, (more specifically Ontarian), as well as Scottish education systems have reshaped, refocused and reinvented themselves during this pandemic.

Although the differences in infrastructure as well as population size make Scotland’s needs different to that of Ontario’s, we’ve both faced the virus armed with similar strategies.

Ontario’s latest lockdown began late December, quickly followed by a state of emergency. Much like here, a Stay-at- Home order was soon issued and while there has been a phased reopening of the economy in some regions, However, the vaccine roll out in Canada is much slower than the UK’s.

Although our restrictions are identical, our governments have approached education quite differently.

All school staff in Ontario are required to wear a mask at all times while in school except when eating. The union, much like our EIS, fought tirelessly to ensure that teaching staff were provided with the necessary PPE. As such, each teacher is equipped with two medical grade masks per day as well as a face shield for when working closely with students. In addition, all students, (except those with medical conditions,) must also wear a mask even during break.

To address concerns over continued disruptions to learning, as well as the safety of children amid the pandemic, Ontario changed its approach to the delivery of education. At the start of the school year, the province offered two learning models: virtual and in-person. Parents were given the opportunity to enrol their child in a virtual school or continue on with in-person learning at their current school.

In the Toronto District School Board alone, 66000 primary students and 18000 secondary were enrolled in virtual learning. To meet the incredible demand, the board hired 2200 teachers. The continued expansion for secondary virtual classrooms was untenable and therefore capped at 18000. Before this massive hiring process, permanent staff were given the option to choose between teaching virtually or in-person.

Offering these two learning models has helped to alleviate class sizes for in-person learning, thus making social distancing more feasible.

In secondary schools, in-person learning has been capped at 15 students a class. To achieve small class sizes, Ontario Secondary Schools scrapped their conventional timetable of termed or semester’d learning. Most boards now divide the year into a quadmester where each student takes 2 courses per quad and each class is divided into 2 cohorts.

In Week 1, the teacher teaches half the class in-person during the morning and the whole class online in the afternoon. In Week 2 ,the cohorts flip their timetable. For the mornings where students are learning remotely, asynchronous work is assigned. To help ensure students don’t fall behind, their daily final period is ‘Subject Support Room’ where they may reach out to their teachers for extra help

Much like here, parents must wear PPE on school grounds, and playgrounds have been divided such that classes are separated at break. There is also a 2 way traffic system and hand sanitisation stations are found throughout the schools.

In addition, Toronto students are expected to bring their daily completed Screening Form, signed and dated by their caregiver. In this form, their guardian confirms that the student has no symp-toms of COVID-19 and has had no known exposure.

To improve ventilation, the mechanical HVAC systems in Toronto schools were adjusted to increase the amount of fresh air and reduce recirculation. That being said, many schools do not have HVAC systems which is now being addressed. In addition, like here, windows are opened to increase natural ventilation.

Unlike Scotland, no lateral flow testing has been offered to schools; however, each school board in Ontario is working very closely with their regional public health department to meet testing needs.

The Education Minister of Ontario is now calling on larger school boards to test at least 5 percent of primary and secondary schools weekly, amounting to 2 percent of the student population in the province.

Whether in Scotland or Canada, we’ve learned much throughout this challenging time — most especially resilience. May we keep doing all we can to stay safe and keep learners engaged.

-The author is an EIS member working in Scottish primary education, who has chosen to remain anonymous.