Commenting on the National Audit Office (NAO) report 'Support for
children's education during the early stages of the Covid-19
pandemic', Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of
School and College Leaders, said:
“Any government would have struggled with a situation in which
schools and colleges had to be abruptly closed to most pupils
because of a global pandemic. But, even in the most charitable
light, it has made far too many missteps - last summer's grading
fiasco, a sluggish response to the need for laptops, and
tone-deaf decisions over free school meals which then had to be
reversed - to name a few.
"The nadir came shortly before Christmas when the government
threatened schools with legal action if they switched to remote
learning a few days before the end of term to avoid families
having to self-isolate over Christmas.
"Throughout the pandemic, schools, colleges and staff have done
everything asked of them and more. They have taught vulnerable
and key worker children face-to-face while teaching everyone else
remotely, put in place and managed complex safety measures to
enable full reopening, and provided on-site Covid tests even
though this is a medical task. It has been a monumental effort -
but it hasn't been supported well by the government, and schools
and colleges deserved better.
"Nevertheless, we remain determined to work constructively with
the government on an education recovery programme and we are
looking to the future rather than what has happened in the past.
We are encouraged by the fact that the government appears to
recognise that education recovery needs to be about supporting
schools and colleges to do the detailed work of providing
tailored evidence-based support rather than about big
eye-catching policy flourishes.
"We are also encouraged by its acknowledgement that this will
need to be backed up with extra investment across the course of
this parliament.
"While there is much work to do and detail to work out, we
welcome the fact that the government appears to be listening more
and dictating less.”
