The Secretary of State for Education ()
With permission, I would like to make a statement regarding the
opening of educational settings, our plans to help children catch
up and the arrangements we have put in place for qualifications.
The Prime Minister announced on Monday a cautious road map for
the gradual relaxation of our current social restrictions. It is
not quite the end, but the end is very clearly in sight. As the
House is by now aware, the rates of covid infection have come
down enough for us to let children go back to school from Monday
8 March. Secondary and college students will be back from that
date, after being offered an on-site covid test. University
students on practical courses who need to access specialist
facilities can also return to campus from 8 March, and we will be
reviewing the timing for the return of remaining students during
the Easter holidays.
The Prime Minister spoke of a one-way road to freedom. For this
reason, we have issued detailed guidance about what we expect all
schools and colleges to do to welcome children and students back.
A robust testing regime will be in place that will be critical in
breaking the chains of covid infection. More than 4 million tests
have already been completed across primary and secondary schools,
colleges and universities. I know that staff have worked very
hard to set up testing sites in schools and have had time to get
used to supervising the testing that goes on. I know that the
whole House will join me in thanking every one of them for the
incredible efforts they continue to make to keep young people
safe and learning.
Primary school staff will continue to receive two home tests a
week, and this will be extended to private early years providers
and secondaries, and secondary school and college students will
be offered three tests in school and college when they return
over the first two weeks, to be undertaken three to five days
apart. Students will then be offered two home tests per week, so
that they can test themselves regularly. Schools will be able to
retain small on-site testing facilities for those who cannot and
have not been able to test at home. Staff and students at
independent learning providers and adult community learning
providers will also be able to test at home. On-site testing
facilities are already set up in universities, and staff and
students there can take two tests a week.
We are following public health guidance and advising that in
circumstances where social distancing cannot be maintained, face
coverings should be worn in secondary school classrooms as well
as in further and higher education settings. This is a temporary
measure to ensure the safe return of schools and will be in place
until Easter. All the other safety measures that are already in
place continue to be robust, including bubble groups, staggered
start and finish times, increased ventilation and strict hygiene
measures.
This has been a hugely challenging time for teachers, staff and
parents. The House will be well aware of the incredible work that
has already gone into minimising the effects of this pandemic,
but I know from research that we have been conducting that it
will not be enough. Many children are going to need longer-term
support to make up for lost learning. We want families to know
that there will be support for schools and for our children. Sir
, our education
recovery commissioner, will be working with parents, teachers and
schools on a long-term plan to make sure that pupils have the
chance to make up their learning over the course of their
education.
r As an immediate support, we are putting in place a range of
additional measures to help children and young people across
England to catch up. We are introducing a new one-off £302
million recovery premium for state primary and secondary schools,
building on the pupil premium to further support pupils who need
it most. We are expanding our successful tutoring programmes:
£200 million will be available to fund an extended national
tutoring programme for primary and secondary schools and tutoring
and language support in colleges and early years settings. Two
hundred million pounds will be available for secondary schools to
deliver face-to-face summer schools. Schools will be able to
target individual pupils’ needs. The package will build on the £1
billion catch-up package that we announced just a few months ago
and forms part of a wider response to help pupils to make up on
the lost learning that they have suffered.
I would like to update the House on the next steps after we
decided that GCSEs, AS and A-level exams, and many vocational and
technical qualifications, could not go ahead as planned this
summer. In January, we launched a joint consultation with Ofqual
on the best way to do this, so that the results for 2021 are as
robust and as fair as possible. I am very glad to say that we got
more than 100,000 responses from students, parents, teachers,
school leaders and other stakeholders as part of that
consultation, and we have considered all of them very carefully.
I assure right hon. and hon. Members that there was widespread
support for the approach that we are taking.
Our priority is and has always been to make sure that every
student has the best possible chance to show what they know and
can do, enabling them to progress to the next stage of their
education, training or employment. The most important thing that
we can do is to make sure that the system is fair to every
student. It is vital that they have confidence that they will get
the grade that is a true and just reflection of their work. This
year’s students will receive grades determined by their teachers,
with assessments covering what they were taught and not what they
have missed. Teachers have a good understanding of their
students’ performance and how they compare with other students
this year and from previous years. Teachers can choose a range of
evidence to underpin their assessments, including coursework,
in-class tests set by the school, the use of optional questions
provided by exam boards and mock exams. We will, of course, give
guidance on how best to do this fairly and consistently.
Exam boards will be issuing grade descriptions to help teachers
to make sure their assessments are fair and consistent. These
will be broadly pegged to performance standards from previous
years, so that teachers and students are clear what is expected
at each grade. Doing this with a rigorous quality assurance
process are just two of the ways that this system will ensure
that grades are fair and consistent. Quality assurance by the
exam boards will provide a meaningful check in the system and
make sure that we can root out malpractice. We will also set out
a full and fair appeals system. It will provide a process to
enable students to appeal their grades, should they believe that
their grades are wrong.
I can confirm that no algorithm will be used for this process.
Grades will be awarded on the basis of teachers’ judgment and
will only ever be changed by human intervention. There must, of
course, be as much fairness and rigour applied to vocational and
technical qualifications as there is to general qualifications.
For those qualifications that are most similar to GCSEs, AS and
A-levels, which enable people to progress to further and higher
education, external exams will not go ahead and results will be
awarded through similar arrangements as set out for GCSEs and
A-levels. Where students are taking VTQs to go straight into a
job, exams and assessments should take place in line with public
health measures. This is so that students can demonstrate the
occupational or professional standards that they need to enter
the workplace safely.
All our children and young people have paid a considerable price
for the disruption of the past year. It has knocked their
learning off track, put their friendships to one side and put
some of the wonder of growing up on hold. In short, it has caused
enormous damage to what should have been a carefree and an
exciting part of growing up. I am absolutely committed to the
view that, with this programme of catch-up measures and the extra
funds for tutoring, we can start to put this right. Together with
the measures that we have set out for a fair and robust
allocation of grades, young people will be able to look forward
to the next stage of their lives with confidence. Our approach in
the face of the worst disruption to education since the second
world war has been to protect the progress of pupils and
students. Ultimately, this summer’s assessments will ensure fair
routes to the next stages of education or the start of their
career. That is our overall aim.
In summing up, Mr Speaker, I am sure you would agree with my
assessment that, as a nation, we have perhaps never valued
education as much as we do today, and I commend this statement to
the House.
11:40:00
(Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement
and join him in paying tribute to all staff in our education
system.
We on these Benches want to see all pupils safely back in class,
where they can be with their friends and their teachers, and get
the structure and stability that they need. It is not enough,
though, simply to say that schools will reopen; there must be a
credible plan that will not only enable schools to open fully in
March, but will keep them open.
The Secretary of State has failed to use the period when most
pupils were not in school to put the necessary measures in place.
In January he said that he wanted school staff to be in the next
wave of vaccinations, so why has there still been no commitment
from the Government to prioritise school staff? Does he no longer
believe that they should be a priority?
Many schools have lost income or face higher costs because of the
pandemic. Why has the Secretary of State failed to review the
funding? One way to reduce transmission of coronavirus is to
allow schools to teach on a rota basis. Labour, school leaders,
and teachers have all asked him to consider this. He has refused.
Why? Ventilation has an important role to play in reducing
transmission indoors. Will he update his Department’s guidance to
ensure that it is clear, robust and specific enough for all
schools to implement it effectively?
Can the Secretary of State tell me why, months after Labour
called for it, he has not made any progress in providing
Nightingale classrooms so that more pupils can study in smaller
groups? It is welcome that he has finally caught up on Labour’s
call to expand the wearing of masks in schools, but why is this
measure only temporary? I worry that, in taking one small step in
the right direction while leaving a great many others issues
unaddressed, he is failing to do all that can be done to keep
schools open and failing to work with, not against, school staff
and their unions.
This year’s exams were cancelled 52 days ago. For seven weeks,
pupils, parents, and staff have faced damaging and utterly
unnecessary uncertainty. The Secretary of State could have
avoided that by listening to Labour and putting a plan B in place
months ago; instead he was once again slow to act, with millions
of young people paying the price. Now he claims to have solved
the problem, but guidance from exam boards will not be available
until “the end of the spring term”, meaning more weeks of anxiety
for young people and their teachers. He blamed a “rogue
algorithm” for last year’s fiasco, but the real cause of the
chaos was not an algorithm; it was his incompetence. Now, for the
first time, he has said that he trusts teachers. I cannot help
wondering why he only trusts teachers when there is a chance to
make them responsible for what happens with exams, rather than
his Department.
I am glad that a wide range of evidence will be used: assessment
materials will be available for schools; there will be guidance
from exam boards on how to award grades; and individual schools
will not be responsible for appeals. Is he confident that grades
will be fair and consistent between and across schools? Why has
he not used the past seven weeks to provide appropriate training
to teachers? Is he not concerned that the lack of common evidence
and of a link to an existing grade distribution both puts
pressure on schools and colleges and creates huge challenge in
ensuring fairness? Finally, on assessments can the Secretary of
State update the House on functional skills and end-point
assessments.
It was nearly six months ago that Labour first called for a
national strategy to help children to catch up and to close the
attainment gap, and I welcome the appointment of Sir to lead
education recovery work. I hope this means that the Secretary of
State is breaking from the great Conservative tradition of
finding work only for friends and donors. Can he confirm,
however, that yesterday’s recovery announcement amounts to just
43p per pupil per day over the next school year, and that just
500,000 pupils—fewer than one in three of those eligible for free
school meals—will benefit from summer schemes? Can he tell the
House why there was no mention whatsoever of the hard-working
staff who will deliver this summer support, why there is no
specific support for children’s mental health and wellbeing, and
why there is only limited support for college students?
This has been a challenging year for children, parents and
education staff, and it has been made more challenging by the
Government’s incompetence. With schools set to open their doors
to more pupils in a matter of weeks, there is a final chance to
put things right. The Secretary of State must do so.
I thank the hon. Lady for her questions. She raises the question
of vaccinations for staff. She will have seen in the road map
that the Prime Minister launched on Monday that the Joint
Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is to look at two
strands. The first involves people who are most vulnerable to
either being hospitalised or sadly passing away as a result of
catching the covid virus, and we will be making sure that that is
one of the strands that needs to be vaccinated out of those
groups. Also, the committee will look at those jobs and
professions—not just teachers but transport workers, supermarket
staff and the many others who do an amazing job in public-facing
roles—to see what the needs of those workforces are. I do not
want to pre-empt the independent work of the JCVI, but we look
forward to seeing what it says.
On the hon. Lady’s suggestion on moving to rotas, that is not a
route that we want to go down. We on this side of the House want
to have all children back in full-time education. We think that
school is the best place for children to be, and we think it is
important for them to have full-time education in the classroom.
That is why we felt that, when we were able to do so, it was
better to welcome all children back into the classroom every day
of every week.
The hon. Lady briefly touched on testing. Testing will be an
important part of keeping classrooms covid-free. The roll-out of
testing that has been happening over the last seven weeks has
been incredibly successful. We have had some of the highest rates
of uptake in testing of any workforce area and in any individual
setting. Not unsurprisingly, schools have readily adapted to the
testing regime. So far, out of all the asymptomatic testing
stations that we are hoping to set up across schools, colleges
and special schools, 97% of those settings have set up
asymptomatic testing centres, and obviously there are 3% that we
are targeting resources and focus on, to ensure that they are
ready to do testing for welcoming children back on 8 March.
Testing is important for keeping covid out of the classroom.
I note the hon. Lady’s comments on exams, and we will work with
the exam boards and do everything we can to ensure that there is
the absolute maximum amount of guidance, training and support for
all teachers on giving the grades out and making the assessment
of the correct grade. We have been working closely with the exam
boards to ensure that this is done swiftly to support teachers. I
know that they will be offering a broad range of support to all
teachers and schools to ensure that teacher-assessed grades are
done fairly right across the system. The hon. Lady makes an
important point about having as much consistency as possible in
the awarding of grades. That is why we have been working with
exam boards to ensure that there is random sampling across
schools and colleges across the country—both state schools and
private schools—as well as ensuring that where there are clear
anomalies and uncertainty, there are proper checks to ensure that
there is no malpractice within the system.
(Harlow) (Con) [V]
I thank my right hon. Friend for the £1.7 billion for catch-up.
It is a remarkable achievement that I hope will make a difference
to our children. On exams, the decision to adopt centre-assessed
grades for the second year in a row highlights the severity of
the damage that school closures have done. Although I accept that
it is the least worst option that the Government have come up
with, my concern is not so much about having one’s cake and
eating it but baking a rock cake of grade inflation into the
system.
Will my right hon. Friend confirm what the Government’s plan is
to ensure that we will not have a wild west of grading, and that
these grades will be meaningful to employers so as not to damage
children’s life chances? When and how will we reverse the grade
inflation? What is the rationale for not tethering this year’s
grades to last year’s, or somewhere between 2019 and 2020? Why do
we not embed quality assurance more broadly, rather than relying
on random sampling or spot checks?
I thank my right hon. Friend for his comments in relation to how
we deliver catch-up. I also appreciate some of his thinking and
ideas, which, as he can see, have been embedded into some of the
policy work that we have been doing on catch-up. He raises an
important issue about grade inflation. That is why we have been
doing so much work with the exam boards and with Ofqual to ensure
that there are proper internal checks as well as proper external
checks.
We did not feel that it would be possible to peg to a certain
year because, sadly, doing that would probably entail the use of
some form of algorithm in order to best deliver it. That is why
we have put a much greater emphasis on those internal and
external quality assurance checks. We will work with exam boards
and schools to ensure that there is consistency, but my right
hon. Friend raises the important point that the best form of
assessment, as I know he also believes, is examination. We want
to move back into a position to bring exams back, as they are
ultimately the fairest and most equal way of assessing all young
people.
(Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab) [V]
Does the Secretary of State plan to issue specific guidance on
how factors such as the number of rooms in a child’s home, the
number of siblings sharing that home, and the level of access to
IT equipment will be taken into account when assessing?
Otherwise, how can any pandemic grades be judged as equitable?
We believe that, when we are not in a position to be able to run
exams, the best way of assessing the work and the progress that
the child has made is for that assessment to be done by a
teacher. The teacher’s assessment and judgment is the best one to
be guided by.
(Dudley
South) (Con) [V]
Like me, the Education Secretary married into a teaching family,
and I know that he will join me in recognising the phenomenal
work done by teachers and school staff in Dudley South throughout
this pandemic, but the messages coming from medical professionals
differ from those coming from teaching unions about the risk of
teachers and other staff being infected if they return to the
classroom. What scientific evidence can he share regarding the
level of risk that teachers are at, relative to the wider
population?
I would very much like to join my hon. Friend and neighbour in
paying tribute to the amazing work of teachers not just in Dudley
South but right across the country for the work that they and
support staff have been doing, keeping the doors of schools open,
welcoming the children of critical workers and vulnerable
children all the way through this pandemic and delivering
brilliant online learning and remote education for so many of our
children.
My hon. Friend raises a really important point. When stands at the
podium and makes clear the need for children to be able to return
to school, it is incredibly powerful, and it is something that
the British people will listen to and that parents, teachers,
children and all staff in schools will take real confidence from.
There is an enormous amount of evidence to show what a safe place
schools are. I point to the evidence and data produced as part of
the road map released on Monday, as well as the further
information that the Department released as part of the guidance
that we set out on Monday, which makes clear the importance of
children being back in school and enjoying their education, and
of school being a safe environment to learn in.
(South Shields) (Lab) [V]
Contrary to what the Secretary of State just said, the scientific
consensus tells us that we need to wait for cases to be extremely
low and have a phased return of children to schools, yet he is
sending 10 million children back into classrooms en masse. Staff
have contacted me, scared for their health and their pupils’
health and worried that the Government have not put in place the
measures needed to make our schools safe. If he was on top of his
brief and engaging with the profession, he would have used his
time this morning to allay their fears. Will he take that
opportunity now?
It is disappointing that the hon. Member shows off the
instinctive reaction of many people in her party that they do not
want children to be going back to school. That is certainly not
the case on the Government Benches. We have set out clearly a
system of controls, working with Public Health England. That is
why we have taken the difficult decision to introduce covid
testing for not just staff at primary schools but staff and all
children in secondary schools and colleges, to make sure that we
keep classrooms covid-free and, working with Public Health
England, to make sure that the system of controls is robust and
strong to keep our children safe, keep our workforce safe and
keep our families and communities safe.
(Waveney) (Con) [V]
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Further education
colleges such as East Coast College are preparing for and will
arrange a return on 8 March, although organising three tests on
site during that week for 5,000 students and 650 members of staff
before moving to home testing will present a significant
logistical challenge. I would be most grateful if he could
confirm that his Department will work with colleges in a
collaborative and flexible way to address this and any other
obstacles that may arise.
We absolutely will work with colleges and schools to support
them, and we are not just putting the equipment at their disposal
but providing the financial resources for them to roll out this
massive testing programme. Colleges will have two weeks to
conduct the three tests, and we have given colleges and schools
the flexibility to allow students and children to come into
college and school to take the tests before the official
reopening on 8 March.
(Keighley) (Con)
It is great to hear that all schools and all year groups will be
returning on 8 March. Teachers across Keighley and Ilkley have
been working exceptionally hard over the past months to ensure
that children’s learning has remained as unaffected as possible,
and they deserve all our thanks and support, but some schools in
my constituency are raising concerns about the roll-out and
logistics of testing for students. Will my right hon. Friend do
all he can to provide support for those schools?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight that point. We
have made a substantial financial package of support available to
schools in case they need to bring in extra resources to roll out
the testing programme. We have the one-week period starting from
the 8 March, where schools can bring in those year groups so that
they can get tested and straight back into class, but we have
also given them the flexibility to enable students to come in
earlier than 8 March if they wish to, so that they can get tested
prior to the official start of the new term.
(Twickenham) (LD)
The pandemic restrictions have caused much damage to our children
and young people across the country. The Secretary of State has
made bold assertions in the last 24 hours that no child’s life
shall be blighted, and says we have
“never valued education as much as we do today”,
yet his spending commitment to children’s recovery is the
equivalent of between 3% and 4% of the annual schools budget.
Compare that to the spending on the discredited test and trace
system, which was almost half the annual schools budget. Why is
he not being more ambitious for our children by putting forward a
more generous, longer-term package that focuses on their
wellbeing and emotional, as well as educational, recovery?
That is very much part of our overall plan for raising standards
in education. We wanted to give schools a sense of what they will
be able to do and to plan for over the coming weeks and months;
we wanted to give them that immediate notice. We saw over £1
billion being funnelled into helping our schools and students
straight away, topped up by a further £700 million. As I said,
our ambitions do not stop there. We want to go much further,
making sure that we deliver the reform and change that is so
crucial to ensuring that children get the very best of everything
in their education and that it is focused on them. That is what
we are going to be delivering not just over the coming months,
but over the coming years.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
Before I call the next speaker, just a gentle reminder that I
want to try to get everybody in, so I ask the questioners to be
brief—and obviously those answering as well.
(Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con) [V]
About 7% of children in England go to fee-paying schools. Those
pupils also face pressures in learning at home, and many of their
parents’ incomes have been severely impacted by the consequences
of the pandemic. What discussions has my right hon. Friend had
and what guidance does he propose to give to that private sector
to see what can be done to ensure that children in those schools
also benefit from appropriate catch-up provision and good
practice to that effect?
It is important that we do everything we can to help all
children, right across the country. That is why, especially
through working with the Education Endowment Foundation, the
guidance and the evidence is freely available and exists to
support all schools, whether they are state schools or private
schools. We will always ensure that that evidence, information,
and very best guidance and best practice are available for
schools in the private sector as well as the state sector.
(Salford and Eccles) (Lab) [V]
We have seen a road map back to education done on the back of an
envelope, and today—only weeks from exam season—it appears that
detailed exam guidance will not be available until the end of the
spring term. There is nothing concrete to account for
differentials in lost learning, no details on the quality
assurance process, nor any on how schools and colleges will be
supported with the grading process at the same time as helping
pupils to catch up. Will the Secretary of State recognise that he
needs to bring forward detailed guidance this week so that pupils
and teachers can adequately plan? If he does not, I fear that he
is walking us into yet another shambles.
It is always lovely to hear from the hon. Lady; I thank her very
much for her comments. We have set out a comprehensive plan for
the return of pupils to education, which is, let’s face it,
something that she will always be opposed to. She seems to think
that the only thing that a school should do is be shut. In her
time on the Front Bench and on the Back Benches, she has never
taken up the baton for children in order to campaign for them to
be in school. She seems to take the view that they are best at
home. That is not the view of Government Members.
(Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con) [V]
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. As he will know, in
November last year I published a report with Onward advocating a
shorter summer break, as statistically that would help prevent
the attainment gap from widening—especially important for
disadvantaged pupils. Does my right hon. Friend agree with my
idea, particularly as we help children who have lost face-to-face
learning in classrooms due to the global pandemic to catch up?
I remember reading my hon. Friend’s report, which reached much
more broadly than just the issue that he raised. He is right to
raise the important issue of how we look at the structures in
education. I very much encourage him to sit down with me and Sir
to discuss
some of his thoughts and ideas. We will always be very keen to
talk about the whole breadth of what can be done to really drive
attainment for children, especially those from the most
disadvantaged backgrounds.
(Birmingham, Hall Green) (Lab) [V]
I have been contacted by a number of concerned parents and
teachers from my constituency, who have expressed worry about the
safety of schools opening on 8 March. Will the Secretary of State
assure us that he is doing all in his power to work closely with
parents, teachers, the trade unions and communities to ensure
that, when schools return on 8 March, sufficient resources and
support are in place for every school to ensure that school staff
are prioritised for the vaccine, to prevent further disruption to
children’s learning? The Secretary of State himself has
previously said he believes that education staff should be
prioritised for vaccination. Why is that not happening now?
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
I remind the House again that questions need to be fairly brief
if I am going to get everybody in.
I will try to give a brief answer, Madam Deputy Speaker. We
always want to give assurance to those who work in schools, as
well as parents and the children themselves, about the safety
measures that we have put in place. That is why we have developed
the current set of controls for safety in schools with Public
Health England, taking on the very best public health advice.
(Scunthorpe) (Con) [V]
Children’s experiences over the last year will no doubt have
varied greatly, but I am particularly worried about children with
extra challenges such as dyslexia. Can my right hon. Friend tell
me how we will ensure that all children who learn differently
will receive the extra support that they need to catch up and
reach their potential?
That is why we felt it was so important to give some flexibility
to schools and teachers, who will obviously understand their
children and their individual learning needs best of all.
Obviously, we rightly often look at some of the challenges of
children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, but learning
needs and challenges can vary regardless of what parents earn or
the background they come from. That is why we need to give
teachers the flexibility to target that support most
appropriately to the child.
(Leeds East) (Lab) [V]
On Monday, the very day the Prime Minister announced his “big
bang” school return, the minutes of SAGE scientific advisers were
published. They recommend a phased reopening of schools. Another
group of Government scientific advisers warns that full school
reopenings could increase R by up to 60%. The devolved
Administrations are listening to that evidence and taking a
phased approach. Just last month, the Prime Minister called
schools “vectors of transmission”. Why are the Government now
ignoring the advice of the scientific advisers? Is that not a
reckless gamble that unnecessarily risks a spike in community
transmission of the virus?
At every stage we put the wellbeing of our children and those who
work in schools very much at the heart of everything we do. We
believe that children benefit from being in school. That is why
we are very pleased that, by taking this cautious approach, we
are able to welcome all children back.
(West Bromwich West) (Con) [V]
We have made much of schools, but we should not forget that a
significant number of young people and children are in vocational
education and on apprenticeships. I have recently been contacted
by BCTG Group in Oldbury in my constituency, which is very
concerned about the large number of apprentices who have not been
able to carry forward their qualification because they have not
been able to access functional English and mathematics courses
during the pandemic. What work is my right hon. Friend doing to
ensure that apprentices across the Black Country and more widely
can access these vital functional skills courses, so that they do
not get locked in and can finally achieve the qualifications for
which they have worked so hard?
My hon. Friend raises a very important point, and apprentices
will be able to access these courses online so that they are able
to complete their studies and their training.
(Sefton Central) (Lab) [V]
Yesterday, the Education Secretary said that schools could hire
more staff with £6,000 from his Department. Can I just ask the
Education Secretary: how much does he think a teacher gets paid?
I very much hope the hon. Gentleman got the copy of the skills
for jobs White Paper that I sent him, which he had obviously not
read when he asked his last question. He will also be aware that
I am fully aware that teachers are not paid £6,000. Thankfully,
as a result of this Government’s interventions, starting salaries
for teachers are going to be hitting £30,000 a year for newly
qualified teachers very shortly. What we are doing is giving
schools the ability to use that extra resource to bring in and
pay for extra support for a few weeks to boost the learning and
the education of children in lots of different settings. That
might be on English, it might be on maths, it might be for sport
or it might be for a whole different range of areas. It is odd to
see a Labour politician not seeming to welcome the fact that we
are putting more money into education, but maybe it betrays his
true colours.
(North Devon) (Con) [V]
For the students at the excellent FE college Petroc in my North
Devon constituency who were due to sit their vocational and
technical exams, today’s announcement will provide much welcome
certainty. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, in continuing
with exams and assessments in cases where students will need to
demonstrate their knowledge to a professional standard, we can
help them progress into a good job more rapidly?
The point my hon. Friend raises is incredibly important, because
we must ensure that those youngsters, and people of all ages
doing those technical and vocational qualifications who need the
ability to demonstrate their professional competency, are able to
do so. So it is absolutely vital that we open up our college
system and open up our training providers to ensure that they can
continue to progress.
(Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab) [V]
Following on from the question from the hon. Member for North
Devon (), FE colleges such as West Thames have had years of
underfunding, yet they work hard to ensure that young people get
the skills they need. September’s new students will have had
almost two years of disrupted learning and limited time in
school, so can the Secretary of State tell the House what
additional support the Government are making available for FE
colleges?
This was an important part of the £700 million extra funding that
we have made available, making sure there is funding for FE
colleges to be able to deliver and expand the tutoring and
catch-up programmes they already have, but this is against a
backdrop of increasing funding for our amazing further education
colleges that we value so highly.
(St Ives) (Con) [V]
I welcome the statement from the Secretary of State. However, I
am concerned that we are asking children to wear face coverings
in the classroom. Can I ask the Secretary of State to confirm
that adequate consideration has been given to understanding the
impact this will have on a teacher’s ability to interact and
engage with his or her class, and what consideration has been
given to the impact on a child’s ability to learn and concentrate
effectively? Will he set out the scientific evidence that
demonstrates the need for secondary school-aged children to wear
a face covering in the classroom?
We always work incredibly closely with Public Health England at
every stage. Obviously we, and I know my hon. Friend also, want
to see the opening of all schools for all pupils at the earliest
stage, and one of the key elements in assisting that smooth
return was the advice that Public Health England gave us on the
wearing of face masks.
(Warrington North) (Lab) [V]
There has been a lot of talk today about children and the
apparently reduced risk in schools due to the age profile of the
students, but alongside overlooking staff in those schools, I
worry that we are also overlooking the urgent issues of safety
and loss of education for adult learners in further education
colleges like Warrington and Vale Royal College in my
constituency, especially those on trade courses that really
cannot be delivered remotely. How will the Secretary of State
ensure that there is adequate catch-up support in place for
further education?
I refer to my answer to the hon. Member for Brentford and
Isleworth () on the extra support that is being made available to
further education colleges.
(Romsey and Southampton North) (Con) [V]
May I put in a plea for this year’s year 10 cohort, who will be
taking their GCSE examinations in summer 2022? We have plenty of
time to consider what those exams might look like. Will my right
hon. Friend set out the details of that as soon as he possibly
can to reassure young people and, indeed, their parents?
I can very much reassure my right hon. Friend that we are
currently working with Ofqual and the exam boards on that exact
piece of work right now, and we would hope to be able to share
that in the not too distant future.
(Coventry South) (Lab) [V]
University students have been treated appallingly. They were
encouraged to return to campuses in September with the promise of
a normal university experience, only to be fenced in, fobbed off
and unable to access rooms they had signed for. They have paid an
estimated £1 billion for empty, unused accommodation, and the
impact on their mental health has been dire. Students at more
than 50 universities, including Coventry and Warwick in my
constituency, are now on strike. Will the Secretary of State
listen to the rent strikers and offer rent refunds and rent
reliefs, and finally put an end to fees and the marketised higher
education system that has driven this injustice?
The hon. Lady is probably aware that my hon. Friend the
Universities Minister laid out a set of packages of support for
university students as part of a £70 million hardship fund. I
would be happy to get her to write to the hon. Lady with the
details of that.
(Bexhill and Battle) (Con) [V]
I thank the Secretary of State and the ministerial team for
getting our schools reopened for 8 March and for his statement.
Notwithstanding the lack of national coursework benchmarking, is
he confident that there are sufficient assessments in place to
stop teachers being pressured by parents for grades and to
prevent grade inflation? May I also urge him to ditch face masks
in classrooms by Easter, as that is absolutely essential?
My hon. Friend has always had strong views on face masks, and I
very much note his comments. This will be reviewed during the
Easter holidays. He is right to highlight the concerns about
teachers being under pressure from parents. That is why we have
put in an extensive and robust internal quality inspection system
where the head teacher has to sign off and verify the results
that are given by the teachers, as well as external assessment by
the exam boards to ensure that the grading is in line with where
it should be.
(Oxford
West and Abingdon) (LD) [V]
May I ask the Secretary of State for clarification on the use of
fines, particularly in the case of parents who are
immune-compromised and worry about children bringing coronavirus
into the home? As he will know, we still do not have evidence on
whether the vaccine works for this group. The all-party
parliamentary group on coronavirus was given horrific evidence by
a parent who was told that she had had her life and should put
her daughter’s education first. Does he agree that that kind of
language is unacceptable and that a compassionate approach needs
to be taken in these extreme circumstances?
I very much agree that that sort of language is absolutely not
acceptable, and it genuinely surprises me that it would have come
from any school or educational establishment, as they are usually
so incredibly good at showing compassion and understanding. My
right hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards would be
happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss this in more detail. We
saw, from September onwards, schools showing a sensible level of
discretion in terms of saying, yes, school is quite clearly
mandatory and fines can be applied, but also showing some good
sense in working with families to ensure that their children were
attending schools and making sure that all risk was minimised.
