Scotland's schools 'unlikely' to return to normal before next summer

He said there is a "working assumption" that exams will take place in 2021, but schools are also being asked to prepare for their cancellation.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted schools to return to normal as soon as possible.

Schools have been shut since March, leaving the vast majority of pupils to finish the academic year from home. Exams were also cancelled for the first time ever.

The Scottish Government has announced plans to reopen schools on August 11 with a "blended" learning model, which will see pupils spend up to half of their time learning from home.

Union leaders have warned this model could last the entire school year.

Mr Swinney said it will be a legal requirement for parents to send their children to school, regardless of anxiety about the virus, but the homeschooling portion of the curriculum will not be legally enforced.

He told the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland: "I don't want it to go on for a minute longer than it's necessary, because I accept that the blended learning model is not as good a model as the one that we had before coronavirus had the effect that it had, resulting in lockdown."

But he said it was "unlikely" things would return to normal before the end of the school year, adding: "We'll have to maintain the social distancing approaches for some considerable time to come.

"There will be changes and differences in the way we deliver education as a consequence of the requirements of physical distancing.

"There will be, on an ongoing basis, factors that we have to bear in mind in how schools operate but, obviously, the more we can try to expand the capacity and the involvement of young people in their education in face-to-face schooling, we'll be taking those opportunities when it is safe to do so."

Mr Swinney said it is possible exams could start later in the year to give pupils more learning time.

However they would need to take place early enough to fit in with university and college timetables.

Ms Sturgeon was later asked about the issue during her daily coronavirus update.

The First Minister said: "We continue to be cautious in our assessments, because to do anything other than that risks giving people a misleading picture of what the future might look like."

She added: "We are being cautious now about the length of time that some kind of blended model may be required for.

"But on the other hand, we shouldn't get to a point where we are accepting now that for a certain period of time schooling will not be normal.

"I want to get young people not just back to school, but back to normal schooling as quickly as it is deemed safe to do that, so we will be working hard to do that.

"And I hope it is the case that over the next academic year we do see schools returning to normal, but it is not possible right now for us, at this vantage point, to give dates and say that with certainty."

Asked if parents should prepare for part-time home learning to continue until potentially next summer, Ms Sturgeon said ministers are trying to be as open with people as they can.

She said: "Part of that involves just being open about the uncertainties.

"What John [Swinney] was doing earlier on is what I've done today, which is to say we have to be frank with people that we don't yet have complete certainty over what the next few months will look like, so we can't rule out some continued change to the model of education that young people will be following, at this stage, over the course of the next academic year."

Ms Sturgeon said ministers want schools to return to normal as quickly as possible.

She added: "These are all really difficult issues to be absolutely certain about right now, which is why sometimes, I suppose, we err on the side of the worst case scenario.

"We're doing everything we can right now to avoid having a second wave of this virus come the autumn [and] winter, but none of us can rule that out right now."

The First Minister signalled more money could be made available to councils to help schools cope with social distancing measures.

She said: "Local authorities are making plans and putting plans in place for the blended model of learning we will see from August 11 onwards.

"The Scottish Government will then look at that and we will make judgments around what additional support is going to be necessary."

Earlier, Mr Swinney said he was supportive of local authorities seeking to use public buildings to hold classes, such as town halls and libraries, as well as hiring more teachers to increase the number of classes and reduce the size of the cohorts, and was willing to enter talks with councils on funding needs.

He said: "What I've said to local authorities is come forward with those proposals and we'll look at those proposals.

"Councils are beginning to set out the approaches that they're taking, they will be considered and assessed by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education and will be tested to see whether or not these ideas can be utilised."

A total of 2,448 patients have now died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by one from 2,447 on Saturday.

Statistics show that 15,755 people have tested positive for the virus, up by 25 from 15,730 the previous day.

There are 964 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of 19 in 24 hours.

Of these patients, 15 were in intensive care, down by five from the previous day.