Education ministers faced MPs in the House of Commons on Monday during departmental questions, with most questions focused on the continuing impact of the pandemic on schools.
Chair of the education select committee, Robert Halfon, asked about student wellbeing, noting that wellbeing is a predictor of later academic progression, expressing concerns over rocketing mental health worries as a result of school closures. He called on DfE to put mental health counselors in all schools. The Secretary of State, Gavin Williamson, responded that action was being taken, and that these efforts extended to staff as well as pupils.
Several of the region’s MPs also questioned ministers. Jarrow MP Kate Osborne asked about what measures were being taken to ensure the financial stability of early years providers. Children’s minister Vicky Ford said schemes were in place to support early years during the pandemic, and that the situation was under constant review.
Early years provision is crucial to addressing the disadvantage gap, which opens before primary schools. Support here was one of our key recommendations in our Manifesto for North East Education, and so it is crucial support is provided to early years providers to ensure they can remain financially viable.
Paul Howell, MP for Sedgefield, asked about the effectiveness of the roll-out of laptops and other devices to disadvantaged pupils. Stockton South MP Matt Vickers also asked about remote learning, noting that while teachers are working hard to provide online learning, many students simply lack the support and resources at home for this to be effective. He asked what was being done ‘to ensure that when schools reopen, deprived youngsters can catch up and still reach their full potential’?
Although Gavin Williamson pointed towards the 1.3 million laptops and devices already provided, and the £400 million to support remote learning, it is not clear that this will be sufficient to address the learning loss, especially among disadvantaged students. Last week we conducted a survey of North East schools, and access to devices continues to be a significant challenge in delivery of remote learning. However, the critical issue is parental support and engagement. The disadvantage gap is likely to grow as a result of the pandemic, and much longer term thinking is required to reduce it.
In December and January we have been holding a series of MP roundtables, allowing the region’s MPs to hear first hand the issues from school leaders in their constituency. We have so far hosted 12 of the 29 MPs in the North East, including Matt Vickers in December, and Paul Howell this week. We plan to continue these roundtables throughout this year.
