Commenting on the Sutton Trust’s report, ‘Learning in Lockdown’,
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, said:
“Schools have worked incredibly hard to develop remote education
and are in a completely different place than they were during the
first lockdown when they had to suddenly provide remote learning
for millions of children from scratch. This research from the
Sutton Trust shows the enormous progress that has been made since
then.
“However, remote education is simply not a substitute for
classroom teaching because of problems such as how much time
parents have available to help their children, and lack of access
to laptops. Often it is the most disadvantaged children who are
further disadvantaged.
“It is pretty clear from this research that there are still
significant gaps in laptop provision despite the government’s
programme to provide devices to disadvantaged youngsters. The
government was too slow to respond to this issue earlier in the
crisis, and we are not sure it has ever really got to grips with
the level of need. It has also been very poor on supporting
schools and colleges financially, handing out catch-up money with
one hand, while refusing to reimburse them for coronavirus safety
measures on the other hand.
“It must now live up to its refrain that education is a national
priority by providing additional investment to schools and
colleges to help support children following this latest
lockdown.”
