IT’S CLEAR...FULL NEED AMBITIOUS
Never let them lose out
EDUCATION Secretary Gavin Williamson has defended the funding to help pupils recover lost learning, saying that “the investment should not be underplayed”.
Writing exclusively for the Sunday Express, Mr Williamson backed last week’s announcement of £1.4billion for the education recovery fund.
He insisted: “Helping our children recover from the impact of the pandemic will take time. Pupils, parents and staff have all experienced huge disruption and this government is under no illusion that an ambitious, long-term plan will be needed to help recover lost learning.”
He added: “We know complex problems rarely have simple solutions – and that’s the reason we’ve gone to such lengths to make sure that behind all the big sums of money and pledges we have a package that will give pupils the support they need.”
His comments come after Sir Kevan Collins resigned as education recovery commissioner, warning the support package
CRUSADE GENERATION LOCKDOWN
“falls far short of what is needed”. Mr Williamson has thanked Sir Kevan for his role but defended the Government’s approach to invest in pupil tutoring and teacher training. He also pledged to review “the benefits of a longer school day”.
Mr Williamson said: “This is our third major funding package in 12 months and it takes the money we’re committing to helping young people make up for the time they’ve lost to over £3billion. But we’ve been clear that there is more to do.”
He said tutoring is at the heart of the Government’s approach and the benefits of a longer school day – with more sports, music and activities – will also be reviewed.
Sir Kevan is said to have wanted £15billion for the recovery package and his calls for huge investment has been echoed by other education and child health experts.
Last night former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield said it is vital to “invest in children” if we are to level up the country and she warned it will take “years” for youngsters to recover from Covid.
She said the Government could not “afford to gamble” on “our doctors, nurses, factory workers and farmers of the future”.
However she said the Treasury is more interested in “harder issues” such as furlough or helping business bounce back, adding that we are behind other countries
on this issue. The UK is spending less on helping children catch up than other countries, claims the Education Policy Institute with £310-a-head over three years, compared to £1,600 in the US and £2,500 in the Netherlands.
Ms Longfield, who was children’s commissioner until February this year, said: “I was very sorry to see Kevan Collins go and have huge respect for him as a person who knows about children’s education and delivering what is needed. He recognised that the damage cannot be fixed in a few short months.
“We need years of work for children to catch up on the narrow academic subjects and help them recover socially, as well as giving additional support to those who fell behind.”
On average, children missed 115 days of school, Ms Longfield said, and in the poorest areas they
are five months behind. An estimated 200,000 pupils are set to move to secondary schools this year unable to read or write properly, she added.
The Government has promised to “level up” the country after the pandemic, bringing similar levels of wealth and opportunity to areas in the North and Midlands that have previously been less advantaged.
She added: “When it comes to discussions about money, however, it’s the harder issues like furlough and business bounceback that get a positive response from the Treasury. Levelling up and investing in the future should mean we invest in our children. These are our doctors, nurses, factory workers and farmers of the future and we can’t afford to gamble on this.
“We were slow compared to other countries, which are swifter to understand the damage that was being done to children.
“We cannot underestimate the damage. The scale of the challenge is
immense and