The Social Mobility Commission has outlined its concerns over
contingency plans for pupils affected by the global COVID
pandemic.
It said: ‘We, like teachers and parents across the country, share
with the Education Secretary his concerns over young people
missing out on education, and deeply regret that schools and
colleges are now closed.
The loss of a normal exam season is also unfortunate.
‘But exams are only the test of knowledge – the bigger issue is
the huge and growing learning loss during a year of massive
disruption.
‘Allow pupils to retake a year’
‘We need to think far more carefully, moving beyond sticking
plaster solutions, and consider options such as allowing some
children to retake a year, funded with extra resources.
‘The lesson of the pandemic has been that delay is costly. This
is as true in education as it is in healthcare. The plans put
forward in the statement yesterday are adequate – but they are
late, and they are incomplete. In future, we would hope that
government and the teaching profession can come together, with
mutual trust, to plan effectively and holistically for all
eventualities, so that plan A can switch to plan B with the
minimum of fuss.
‘It is unfortunate that the Education Secretary has not chosen to
share with schools the contingency plans he states he has already
made so they could move seamlessly to delivering the necessary
teaching, remote or otherwise.
Risk of losing motivation
‘And it is a significant problem that these plans are still not
at a stage where teachers can get on with engaging year 11 and 13
students with a deliverable assessment process at the critical
point when they are most at risk of losing all motivation.
‘All of this was foreseeable - in fact, we, like many others,
called for a clear system of gathering centre assessed grades to
be published at the beginning of the academic year- and it is not
enough for the secretary of state to say the contingency plans
are in operation when they so clearly are not ready yet.
‘When it comes to securing the futures of our most vulnerable
children, we support the government’s efforts to ensure quality
remote learning. But this needs to be backed up on the ground by
speedy distribution of technical resources - both laptops and
broadband access.
‘The initiative to make access to education sites free is
welcome, as is the content being delivered by the BBC. The use of
Ofsted to monitor remote learning, however, must be managed very
carefully to avoid either the fact or the impression of being
punitive - it has a role, but only to support and share best
practices.
‘It is good that pupils without access to devices, functioning
high speed broadband, or lack of learning space within the home
are now considered vulnerable and are free to go back to school
during lockdown. ‘Unfortunately, government has failed to
communicate this effectively either to parents or schools and
teachers. Efforts must be made quickly and loudly to rectify
this.
Inequality gap widening by the day
‘The challenge now lies in two things – the speedy delivery of
these promises, and the long-term support of the young people for
whom this last year represents a catastrophic disruption in their
lives. The inequalities in our schools are widening by the day –
not just for those labelled as disadvantaged, but also for those
who have huge struggles, both socially and economically, even if
they don’t fall into limited and blunt categories like free
school meals.
‘Vital steps must be taken now:
• The system for teacher assessment must be communicated to
schools as a matter of absolute urgency. • Those whose learning
loss is too significant to make up must be offered the
possibility of resit years - and schools and colleges must be
funded properly to provide this. • And Government must convene a
new body to plan educational recovery and reassessment over the
next five years.
‘We cannot look away from the disaster that will unfold if we yet
again do not learn our lesson, and yet again fail to plan for the
long term. ‘
