School attendance is crucial for young Scots but it is also time to properly embrace online learning

Teaching online has grown since the Covid-19 pandemic and is here to stay

The closure of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic has had far-reaching negative consequences that society is only beginning to understand.

Rarely a week goes by now without a headline about rising pupil violence, growing anxiety levels among children, development delays, or falling school attendance, all of which have been linked to the disruption caused during the coronavirus lockdowns.

There are many reasons why it is vitally important for young people to physically attend school.

It remains the best way to learn for most, and also offers crucial social interaction with peers, while enabling school staff to observe a child and intervene if they believe they are at risk of any kind of harm.

Indeed, a major international study last year found not going to school to be as bad for your health as smoking and drinking every day.

The move to online learning during the pandemic represented a poor substitute to school for many pupils.

However, some welcomed the switch, including pupils with autism, who can feel anxious in a school environment.

A recent report by Holyrood’s education committee called for a curriculum review to consider “increased flexibility” for such pupils.

The MSPs had heard evidence from the likes of the National Autistic Society Scotland, which said: “There is a need to learn from and embed the online learning practices that were helpful for lots of autistic young people who found it very hard to attend school pre-2020.”

The experience during Covid led to significant improvements in the quality of online learning, through the likes of e-Sgoil, and now RGC Online.

If these kind of resources can now be used to help other pupils, such as those in rural areas who have limited subject choices, then there is no reason why they should not be increasingly considered by education authorities.

And if it can help employ teachers at a time when many are struggling to find permanent jobs, or face their posts being removed as a result of council cutbacks, then even better.

The merits of any individual platform would have to be judged, but it is clear that online learning in some form is here to stay, and should be embraced where beneficial, alongside normal attendance at school, where possible.