SUFFER THE CHILDREN
Devastating Mail audit shows how school closures left poorer pupils struggling to cope
THE devastating impact of lockdowns on disadvantaged children is laid bare today in research showing they were twice as likely to struggle with home schooling.
In the week of the anniversary of the first Covid school closures, the figures show one in five poorer pupils did not cope and many spent some days doing no work at all.
A Daily Mail audit of studies during the pandemic shows children have lost at least six months of normal, in-person lessons, translating to an estimated £40,000 loss in lifetime earnings if they do not catch up.
All youngsters are behind in their learning by at least one month, with primary school pupils lagging in maths by an average of three months.
The damning picture of a year of squandered education sparked an impassioned intervention from former Ofsted chief inspector Michael Wilshaw.
He told the Mail: ‘ Youngsters realise that they’ve lost out. And they believe that they’ve been dealt a very bad hand by fate, and that they will not have the same opportunities as previous generations. That’s how they feel.
‘They are extremely worried and some are very angry and depressed by what’s happened.’
Sir Michael, who is volunteering at a London academy trust to help pupils recover from the pandemic, added: ‘It’s really incumbent on schools to make up for lost ground. Some will, and some won’t.
‘It’s really important that Ofsted checks that the catch-up money is being used well.’
The analysis comes after this newspaper revealed yesterday the huge impact of lockdowns on the nation’s health and economy.
Schools were ordered to close on Friday, March 20, last year. Three lockdowns were imposed over the following 12 months, meaning children had to try to learn at home.
Many schools were slow to lay on adequate online lessons and, at the start of the pandemic, more than a million youngsters did not even have a laptop or tablet.
In response to the crisis, this newspaper launched a campaign to raise money for the Mail Force charity to ramp up the provision of refurbished and new laptops for struggling pupils. Businesses, philanthropists and generous readers donated more than £13million in cash and computers.
Despite these efforts, a survey of families in January and February found 18 per cent of those living in poverty struggled to cope with online learning. This compared with just 9 per cent of betteroff children.
One snap poll found one in ten poor pupils had done no work that day – compared with just one in 20 better-off pupils. By this February half-term, a third of poor parents rated their experience of home schooling as ‘low’, compared with just a quarter of other parents.
Three in five deprived parents ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ had trouble understanding home learning tasks, compared with only two in five other parents.
The study, involving 1,200 households across 75 primary schools, is called the Big Lockdown Learning Parent Survey, and is funded by the Education Endowment Foundation.
Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and the EEF, said: ‘ In the latest lockdown, schools were much better equipped to deliver online teaching. But poorer children still faced barriers to learning, including access to a device, an internet connection and a space to learn.
‘Now that they are fully reopened, the immediate priority for schools is to assess their pupils’ academic needs and wellbeing, so they can target their resources to their pupils’ specific needs.’
Our audit of academic studies during the pandemic has also exposed the wider impact of Covid-19 on education.
Last month the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated children lost at least half a year of normal, in-person schooling by the February half-term. It said the average child could lose £40,000 from their lifetime’s income unless they are helped to catch up. Elsewhere, the Education Policy Institute found all children are at least one month behind in their learning because of the pandemic.
A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘ Schools have been open to vulnerable pupils throughout the pandemic, and getting all children back into the classroom – as they are now – has been the department’s number one priority. We have invested over £2billion into schemes to provide pupils with devices for remote education and ambitious catch-up plans –with funding targeted at disadvantaged children.’
‘Dealt a very bad hand by fate’