Disadvantaged school pupils missed out most during coronavirus lockdown

DISADVANTAGED school pupils missed out most at the height of the pandemic due to delays and poor policy decisions by the Government, a report suggests.

Support for pupils with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (Send) was “insufficient” across all UK nations during lockdown, according to an analysis by the Education Policy Institute (EPI).

The report compares how the governments of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland supported pupils’ education needs during the period of closures to schools earlier this year.

It concludes that England’s policy of a national free school meals (FSMS) voucher scheme was beset by implementation flaws, meaning many disadvantaged families faced long delays in accessing support.

Poorer pupils in Scotland and Northern Ireland had to wait months to access online learning materials amid delays to the delivery of laptop and internet routers ahead of the summer, the analysis suggests.

But the Welsh Government acted quickly to repurpose existing stocks of laptops and send internet routers to disadvantaged learners by the end of May, the think tank says.

Wales was the only country to give certainty to families early – with an announcement in April – that FSMS would be extended into the summer.

Scotland, England and Northern Ireland, on the other hand, performed policy U-turns in mid-june, following significant campaign pressure.

These delays in extending support will have likely hindered families’ ability to plan their finances ahead of the summer holidays, the report suggests.

But the research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, notes that England led the way in keeping the most schools open for vulnerable children.

David Laws, executive chairman of the EPI, said “While the period of school closures this year presented immense challenges, governments should have done far better in delivering policies to support children’s education.

“All too often, education policies during the lockdown period were poorly implemented and hampered by delays.”

He warned: “The education systems of all four UK nations will be tested once again over the next few months.

“Given that pupils will have already lost teaching time this year, we cannot afford any more costly policy errors.

“Governments must follow the evidence on what is proven to work.”

Report author Luke Sibieta, research fellow at the EPI, said: “Wales led the way with providing IT and online learning to pupils at home, while England was most successful at keeping schools open.

“However, we also saw on many occasions – such as with free school meals in England – that education policies were badly delivered, and were often marred by poor communication and guidance.”