A few thoughts on the return of online learning.

1) Please remember that teaching online puts enormous additional pressure on teachers. They will do their absolute best, but this isn't going to be like education in normal times.

2) It isn't just about doing your usual thing but in front of a webcam. Online learning requires a total redesign of both plans and resources.

3) Trying to simply do 6 odd hours a day of live lessons is a recipe for disaster. Teachers Will have no time to do anything else, for a start, but this sort of structure isn't especially inclusive and could end up making things even harder for the most vulnerable.

4) There are going to be significant IT issues. I've been teaching fully online for months and it took several weeks to work out the glitches- and my students are all adults. This is why we really should have started with blended learning in August.

5) Put the wellbeing of your kids first. At the end of the day, maths and spelling aren't as important as your children feeling as secure and loved as possible. If that means ditching the classes for a day to go throw stones in the river then that's absolutely fine.

6) I know why people want it, but demands for a 'National Plan' for this sort of thing are misguided. Schools in different places, with different catchments, and different resources, and different staffing situations, will take different approaches.

That's a GOOD thing.

7) Teachers - DO NOT start working all hours. Take it from someone who has been teaching online for months now: you need to set hard boundaries and stick to them (ie no reading emails before 8.45am or after 5pm etc).

You can't help anyone if you don't take care of yourself!

8) The SQA needs to get its act together right now. Their plans for exam results this year were already absurd exercises in bureaucracy but they are now simply impossible. @JohnSwinney needs to be right on top of this (it's not a hard fix, but the SQA are a nightmare).

8 continued

And of course this issue could have been avoided if the SQA or John Swinney had behaved sensibly months ago, but we are where we are.

9) This is really, really hard for everyone. For most of us this has been the hardest year of our lives and things are going to get worse before they get better. Every single person is struggling, and everyone needs to try to remember that.