Please find below a statement from the Education Secretary
following the publication of the latest devices
and attendance
data this afternoon.
Education Secretary
said:
“We continue to provide devices at huge speed and scale for those
children who need them the most, with over 875,000 now delivered
to schools and councils. Over 300,000 of these have been
delivered since schools closed to most pupils, helping ensure no
child loses out while learning at home.
“I want to thank teachers, school staff and parents who continue
to work tirelessly to ensure vulnerable and critical worker
children can still attend school, while delivering remote
education for those at home.”
Additional background: devices:
- Recent research from Ofsted,
published yesterday, showed that:
- A large proportion of schools in
England feel that they are doing well at mitigating children’s
learning loss through remote education.
- Most teachers surveyed said they
were confident they were providing a high-quality remote
education when this was needed.
Additional background: attendance:
- We are taking every possible measure to
reduce cases in our communities, and so while many pupils remain
at home, schools still have measures in place to help protect all
staff as well as vulnerable and critical worker children, so that
they can remain in classrooms.
- Schools, colleges and early years
settings across the country worked extremely hard to remain open
throughout the autumn term, implementing safety measures and
providing remote education where children were self-isolating.
- There is no robust evidence to date to
suggest that teachers are at higher risk than other key workers
or other professions, but we are working with ONS to keep this
under review.
- Recent Office
for National Statistics (ONS) data published 25 January
shows that covid-related deaths among teaching professionals
are statistically significantly lower than among the general
population.
- We expect schools to work with families
to ensure all critical worker children are given access to a
place if this is required. If critical workers can work from home
and look after their children at the same time then they should
do so, but otherwise this provision is in place to enable them to
provide vital services.
- Schools have been closed to most pupils
during the lockdown not because they are unsafe, but because the
government is taking every possible measure to reduce cases in
the community and protect the NHS. It does not undermine the
lockdown to host vulnerable and critical worker children on site
during this period.
