Molly Kingsley:

Making drastic changes to the school year without consulting those affected must never happen again

The advent of a new school year is always a significant milestone in the lives of children and their families. This year it carries more significance than most, marking as it does a return to school for pupils deprived, for near-on half a school year, of the chance to learn, to be socially and intellectually stimulated, and to work towards becoming the adults of our next generation.

Experts have written at length about the detrimental effect of lockdown on children’s mental health and future prospects. Research published by the Royal Society predicts a 3 per cent loss in future annual earnings for affected pupils: a scar across their entire working lives. Likewise, the working parents of school-aged children have been struggling with increasing desperation since March. Zero or very limited schooling since then, and an almost complete cancellation of summer holiday clubs have left many hamstrung. A significant but growing minority – predominantly women – have been forced to take reduced pay or, in some cases, to become an unemployment statistic.

Leave aside, for now, that for many, school will feel quite different to the version last seen in March, and let’s close our eyes, momentarily, to the concerns aired by many parents about a school regime that includes social distancing, face coverings and a restricted curriculum. Working parents could briefly rejoice that schools were definitely, unequivocally, going back, full time, from September.

But then, at 9.30pm on Friday night, the Government published its updated Guidance for Schools. All 25,000 words of it. Reading the new rules, I was gobsmacked. Most notably, they contained a “two week on, two week off ” rota system for schools in local lockdown areas. Both the timing and content of this document shows a callous disregard for just about everyone affected: school leaders, teachers, working parents and – most of all – children.

Let’s be clear: rota learning will be a disaster for children already so cruelly subordinated during lockdown. The evidence is unequivocal: online lessons are no substitute for school. We know that one fifth of children did less than an hour a day of schoolwork at home during lockdown and 71 per cent of state school children received no, or less than one, daily online lesson.

It is equally a disaster for working parents. The preamble to the guidance states that it “has been developed with input from school leaders, unions, sector bodies, PHE, and the HSE”. Not, then, those on whom the policy has the greatest impact: parents. The Government seems oblivious to the fact that for most working parents, school provides essential childcare as much as an education – we simply can’t do our jobs without it.

It is savagely ironic that this comes in the week the Government is briefing that we might lose our jobs if we don’t get back to the office pronto. Is it really any surprise given how this Government has behaved on schools that the British have been the slowest in Europe to get back to the office?

Continuity of schooling for this cohort of children should now be non-negotiable, but as the Government seems unable to guarantee this, and with no exit plan in sight, we must talk about the options for parents who reject this as the new normal. Frances O’grady, the general secretary of the TUC, says there must now be “increased childcare investment and strengthened rights to flexible working”. This is indeed urgent, but alone it is not sufficient.

Parents must be paid back their taxes for weeks of schooling missed. Legislation must be introduced to make parenthood a legally protected characteristic. Working parents should not be at risk in the workplace because the state has failed to provide schooling. The Better Regulation Framework, requiring government departments to consult with those affected by policy decisions that impact businesses, must be extended, so that changes like this can never again be waived through without a full and proper discussion.

Working parents are the backbone of this country and children are its future. We must decide whether or not we want a society that supports families in a meaningful and sustainable way. For the sake of all our futures, I hope we do.