The House of Commons education select committee continued its inquiry into left behind white pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The committee took evidence from children’s charities and policy experts, focusing on the impact on early years.
The committee chair, Robert Halfon MP, started the session by asking about the impact of school closures on young children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Dr Javed Khan, CEO of Barnardo’s, said that there has been a significant impact; ‘we have seen from our range of services across the UK that it has a dramatic effect on children’s self-esteem, mental health and wellbeing, and on parents’ ability to cope’. Additionally, he pointed towards digital poverty, and that catch up was going to take a long term.
Claire Smith, who leads TALK Halton at Halton Borough Council, discussed the impact lockdown was having on children’s language and communication development. She noted that although early years settings are now open, children have already missed out on a lot this past year, such as the normal socialisation that allows for practising emerging language development. Louisa Reeves, Head of Impact and Evidence at I CAN highlighted these issues as well, saying that those in areas of disadvantage are in particular lacking the ‘ability to build vocabulary and have those external experiences that help you build your language’.
In Schools North East’s Manifesto for North East Education, which we released in 2019, one of our recommendations was greater support for early years. The disadvantage gap opens up early on, and the lockdown risks increasing this gap as well as impacting basic skills. It is crucial that quality early years provision is supported as we move out of lockdown.
Robert Halfon then went on to ask whether the panel supported schools opening. Sonia Shaljean, managing director of Lads Need Dads, said that while she would like to see schools reopen, this could only be done when it is safe to do so. She went on to say that ‘this is an ideal time for schools to take a good look at whether they are meeting the needs of all their children, and not just offering one particular learning style’.
Dr Javed Khan said that schools now need a clear plan for reopening, and this would include ‘prioritising teachers for vaccination, giving them access to reliable testing, appropriate notice for schools and families, and no last-minute, knee-jerk reactions to public opinion or politics’. Additionally, he said that schools will need support for mental health; ‘there is little point in driving children towards traditional academic learning when you haven’t helped them to cope, or given them the support for the trauma that they’ve experienced’.
This week we sent out a survey to North East schools to get feedback on how schools would like to reopen. It is clear that school closures have had an enough impact on children and young people, both on their academic progress and their mental health. However, schools can only open when it is safe to do so, and need clear guidance and advance notice. We will use the results from this survey to lobby the government to trust the profession and ensure that schools are supported and given the necessary flexibility to put in place relevant measures to open more widely.
