How can children make up for lost school time?
The government has asked secondary schools in England to consider offering face-to-face learning over the summer holidays this year. Many children have missed out on months of classroom teaching as a result of school closures. Here are some of the measures which could be used to help pupils.
1. SUMMER SCHOOLS
The government is to provide £200m to secondary schools to fund summer classes for pupils who need it most, especially those children moving up to Year 7 this year.
Summer schools with qualified teachers leading small groups can help children make up to four months of academic progress, according to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).
However, evidence suggests that disadvantaged pupils, who would benefit the most, are less likely to take up the offer.
Two summer school trials run by the EEF saw less than 50% attendance among students in the target group.
2. WEEKLY TUTORING SESSIONS
One-to-one tuition is seen as a proven method of helping children catch up.
Weekly sessions could help a student make three to six months of academic progress, with particularly large gains in literacy and numeracy among primaryschool pupils, according to four recent UK studies.
The government is pledging money to an expanded National Tutoring Programme (NTP) for primary and secondary pupils, and an extended tuition fund for 16 to 19-year-olds.
More than 100,000 disadvantaged pupils have accessed the service since it began, in November.
3. REPEATING THE SCHOOL YEAR
The practice of retaking a whole year is common in some countries, such as Germany and the US, but rare in the UK.
The Education Policy
Institute (EPI) think tank has suggested it could help pupils whose education has fallen behind. ut the Association of School and College Leaders says the idea would be practical for a small number of students only.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) estimates it would cost £6,000 per pupil per year in England. And pupils who repeat a year make an average of four months’ less academic progress than those at a similar level who continue on to the next school year, research suggests.
4. EXTENDING SCHOOL DAYS
Disadvantaged pupils can benefit from longer school days, US research suggests.
And Robert Halfon, who chairs the Education Select Committee, told BBC News he had suggested the idea as “a serious solution for the government to consider” in England.
The extra teaching time could be provided by “civil society instead of teachers”, he says.
After-school clubs cost about £7 a session, the EEF estimates.
But adding two extra weeks of school time a year would cost £260 per primary pupil and £360 per secondary pupil.
5. INCREASED WELLBEING SUPPORT
There have been calls for extra funding for mental-health support for schoolchildren, to help ease their return to the classroom and improve their chances of catching up.
Teaching staff trained to improve emotional wellbeing can help pupils make substantial attainment progress, EEF research suggests.
And the EPI has proposed £650m of extra funding for additional school staff and in-school counselling programmes in England.
“Remedial well-being work will be necessary to achieve [academic] catchup”, it says, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.