First ministers briefing

[Trichford]

Is there one on today? If so what time will it be? Thanks

I do think opportunities for women (and men) are and always have been more widely available in or near cities. So I’m sure living rurally and nearer a town rather than a city has had a bearing on my experiences. Buses are non existent in my county outwith the towns, trains even rarer for example. I often read posts on scotsnet discussing the advanced highers available at hubs to Glasgow students with envy. My children never had this opportunity and I don’t see the geography changing to facilitate this in the future.

I think it’s quite easy to forget, and it must be quite difficult, to have policies which is a one size fits all in Scotland, as we are not just a country of cities. I think there is a strong argument that Scotland is more a country of towns (and policy should be more reflective of this. That shouldn’t just be suggesting as we emerge from lockdown that we should support and buy local; I’m already doing that and I don’t have a choice).
Going way back, I believe that the industrial revolution with peoples’ movement from countryside to town was good for women’s rights, opportunities and independence. I would like to know more about the suffragette movement in Scotland; was there one? I did learn about women’s suffrage in history in the U.K. but nothing was said of what happened here. Perhaps I am under the misapprehension that women’s rights in Scotland were swept along with the momentum in England.

@Jodri, I grew up in Moray, in a rural area. I don't actually know whether other mums worked - if my mum hadn't worked we'd have struggled to scrape by - but I don't remember thinking it was unusual.

My mum worked part time once we were all at school. About half of parents did I would say. I don't remember many working when their kids were pre-school. And there wasn't much in the way of after school care which is why most only worked part time.

I went to a rural secondary also and choices for highers and above were limited. I couldn't believe the range of choices my kids have.

I work flexibly anyway, I was thinking about increasing my hours before covid, but our youngest still can't be left on his own so I'll need to stick to the hours I have now for as long as school is part time.

I have a lot of friends in similar positions,youngest kids reaching an age where childcare starts to be less of an issue, thinking about working more hours, all scuppered by part time school. Fingers crossed it won't be for long, I can't think that it will be, surely not, but part of me thinks it will be part time right through the winter and next flu season.

Yy went to a rural high school and choices were limited. 50/50 of the mums worked. It certainly wasn’t remarked upon if someone’s mum didn’t work.
My mum won’t back to uni when I went to high school which was inspirational at the time but I didn’t realise then
I was determined to live in a city as women’s a choices were just so much better. Back home there were very capable women stuck in dead end jobs because there was no childcare and they were automatically the default parent. TBH it could easily go back to that. If blended learning becomes a thing it will be overwhelmingly women who lose out.

I was at primary school in the 80s and all but two mums in my class were sahms. That’s in a city suburb. The mentality was definitely that mums were the primary carer for children. I’ve worked really hard at my career and earn twice as much as DH but even then struggle to get him to share the mental load. He’ll do what’s he asked but I shouldn’t have to ask! Example - I ended up on a call during the week for hours. When I finally came off I discovered he hadn’t even thought about making the kids lunch.

It’s infuriating - it’s like it’s been bred into them.

The gender pay gap clearly shows the prejudices and assumptions that women face in both the workplace and at home. It’s only going to get worse as a result of this.

We have been keeping to the "rules" but with a 1.5 year old and a pre schooler as well as 2 WFH full time we are about at the end of our tether.
We are working until nearly midnight most days and then at the weekends and feel like if not on the laptop we are on phones checking emails etc which leaves hardly any time for nursery work or p1 prep far less quality time together.
Although my work has been classed as keywork, I am not a key worker within that so not entitled to childcare and my husband isnt in a key worker industry either. Nevertheless we are still both required, quite rightly, to work full time.
My parents live in the same small place as us and we are getting to the point where we are going to take them a few days a week to them like they would have done pre lockdown as for all of us it is getting too much and I really feel like my mental health is on the edge....like most people's right now I would think.
This is totally against all the social distance things but I dont understand why, other than economic reasons, it would be ok to send your child to a childminder with potentially other families children but not to grandparents or other family (especially when not shielding, vulnerable, or over 70 etc.)
I feel like if the option is there (I know some of my co workers have been doing so since day 1) then we should be able to utilise it in conjunction with judgement and limiting other interactions etc.
Total rant post but my goodness I am losing the will...

Thought I’d revive this thread as a John Swinney is now stating that next year’s exams may well be scrapped. Which is an absolute disgrace.

www.heraldscotland.com/news/18476371.coronavirus-next-years-school-exams-may-scrapped-due-covid-19-pandemic/

@karonAVyrus that is absolutely ridiculous, this is just getting silly now

No he says he's unable to rule it out, which is not the same thing.

Not ruling it out is not good enough. He really is a useless twat.

Agree with @Mistressiggi, they have no idea when children will be able to return to school fully so cannot rule it out.

If they are not back in school fulltime, or if there is a second lockdown and they have not covered full courses what else can they do?

It is too early to worry about this.

Not an SNP voter but no one can really tell what will happen this time next year and they will be preparing for all situations.

My Ds is sitting his Nat 5s next year. Why the hell shouldn’t I worry about his education? It’s either important or it isn’t.

I agree, this is nuts now.

Other countries can manage to get schools back, none of this drama.

I'm not even confident enough to buy high school uniform.

Would you prefer he says they will definitely go ahead, there is a second wave and another national lockdown - your dc then sir exams without having had the chance for complete the course? You can guarantee teachers will be looking for every opportunity this years to store up examples of work that could support their grades if this happened again.

Maybe Swinney should actually commit to it? He’s been absolutely shite since the moment he took over his brief.

Mascotte how many countries have gone back without social distancing/phased return etc? The ones I hear of are still limited class sizes. Let's hope the situation has improved a lot by August. I think they are preparing for the worst case scenario really.

I just want them back. Risk is minimal. Children are being done a huge disservice with lack of education and contact with their peers. It's disgraceful.

I think because of the economy part time learning is only going to work for a short period, personally I think that by September / October the scientists will have established for sure the risk to children which appears at present to be lower than their normal risk of death in a Year

I think that government will realise that people can not work properly from home while supervising young children certainly under 8's, employers can't work long term around people working ine week and not the next or working 2 days one week and 3 the next, lots of people can't work from home at all, so schoolds will have to be open for most kids most of the time, but there will be none of the " Freddy has a cold well of course he should be in school" I think ofsted rating based on poor attendance for illness will be a thing of the past, that's why so many kids were in ill even with ordinary bugs because of threats from schools councils and of course you can't take multiple periods off work
once you can get tested and results within hours track trace isolate may work but no one realistically is going to be off work for 2 weeks because an app said someone on Number 13 bus might have symptoms, someone might go to a testing station within 5-10 miles if they get a phone call but not 50 miles or 3 buses

Balanced risk taking is what life is about, we chose for ourselves and our kids all the time, can Bob go camping with scouts at 8 can Molly go on outward bound at 10 can John go to shops and cross the roads at 9, can Jill climb this tree,? No-one can ever guarantee to 100% keep our children safe we can't do it purselves we don't even always minimise it because the benefits of Molly abseiling and gaining confidence are weighed against risk of injury obviously Molly would be physically safer on the sofa but ultimately physically safety is not the only thing that matters

Mascotte you said Other countries can manage to get schools back, none of this drama so I'm asking again, which countries did you have in mind?

I just want them back. Risk is minimal.

Sorry, didn't realise you knew more than the scientists.

I think at this stage the consensus is that the risk has gone down a lot. A lot of countries have reopened and no Armageddon has befallen them.
Probably it would be wiser to go back to school (at least for some, like in England) NOW and make the most of it before next winter, just in case...

I'm a teacher and whilst I am keen to get back to school and back to routine, what on earth do I do with my own children if school is going to be part time?

Surely some children will have to be in full time education to allow teachers to teach the rest?

The lack of answers and plans is worrying!

Just coming on to agree that I think Scotland is a bit behind on women’s rights die equality, certainly vs London (cannot speak for the rest of England though). Cities will certainly be better than rural areas, but I observed a lot of thoroughly old fashioned attitudes and internalised misogyny at work in a large Scottish corporate. We are not nearly as progressive as some would like to think!