Responding to the National Audit Office’s report on education
recovery in schools in England, Geoff Barton, General Secretary
of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Schools
and colleges have moved mountains to support students’ education
recovery and we are very pleased to see the progress being made.
This is in spite of education recovery funding falling so far
short of what the government’s own education recovery
commissioner recommended that he felt obliged to resign from his
post.
“The government’s initial delivery of the National Tutoring
Programme through private providers was overly complicated and
switching to a school-led system, something we suggested from the
outset, has been a big improvement. However, it continues to be
hampered by the fact that it is only a partial subsidy and
schools have to make up the rest of the money themselves. This
year the NTP allocation to schools covers only 60% of the cost of
tutoring and next year this will fall to 25%. With school budgets
already under enormous pressure, this is simply unsustainable.
“It was disadvantaged children that were hardest hit by the
pandemic, and government support for their educational recovery
has been inadequate. The extra funding has been undermined by
soaring inflationary costs for schools and colleges which have
put pressure on all areas of their provision. As we return to
more normal conditions, in a post-pandemic era there must be a
renewed emphasis and investment by the government in support for
disadvantaged children through from early years to post-16
education.”
