MPs question the Secretary of State on the impact of Covid on education
Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson took questions from the Education Select Committee about the impact of Covid on schools. MPs asked questions covering a range of issues, such as attendance, mental health, testing and vaccinations, and ‘catch-up’, all of which have been the focus of Schools North East’s lobbying activities throughout the Autumn term.
Throughout the session, Gavin Williamson emphasised the important role schools play, both during the pandemic and more generally. As such, he said that he wanted to ensure schools would only be ‘closed’ for the shortest possible time, pointing towards the importance of mass testing in schools.
The Secretary of State was questioned about the roll out of mass testing, with the decision on this leaving little time for schools to prepare. He argued that the pandemic meant that events were moving at incredible speeds, and pointed towards the £78 million to support schools in supervising testing of students. When asked about primary school pupils, he acknowledged that while they also needed testing, however it would not be right or appropriate for school staff to administer these tests, but rather that they would take place at home.
He was further questioned about whether the numbers of students currently in schools would mean the transmission rates would not be reduced quickly enough to prevent longer lockdowns. Gavin Williamson said that the most recent data showed that 14% of students were attending school, however this is not universally spread which Gavin Williamson acknowledged, with the numbers in secondary schools being usually below 10%, but in primary schools this figure was around 20%.
Schools North East this week surveyed schools on attendance, and this variation was replicated in the North East. The numbers were even higher for special and alternative provision schools, and above 80% for early years settings.
Robert Halfon, chair of the committee, asked if the focus should now be on a vaccine roll out. Gavin Williamson said that it was right that vulnerable groups have been prioritised, but that in the next wave he would be a strong advocate for including all school staff. In November, we wrote to the Secretary of State about prioritising school staff for a vaccination, but we are yet to receive a response.
A key policy focus for Schools North East during the crisis has been staff wellbeing. The issue of mental health was discussed during the select committee meeting, both of pupils and staff. Gavin Williamson said that despite the huge challenges, important work is now being done locally across sectors, between education, health, and social care.
Gateshead MP Ian Mearns asked directly about staff wellbeing and workload, and Gavin Williamson made it clear that he recognised the hard work school staff have been doing, especially Head Teachers and SLTs who have been working without respite and often during holidays. It is welcome that the Department for Education is aware that staff wellbeing needs supporting, and Schools North East will continue to campaign to ensure that support is delivered. Concerns around staff wellbeing were highlighted in our survey we sent out this week, with almost 70% of responses saying staff wellbeing was worse or much worse than it was in September.
Finally, MPs asked what assessments had been made about the impact of the pandemic on the disadvantage gap and wider learning loss. Encouragingly Gavin Williamson emphasised that this would be one of the greatest challenges over the coming years, rather than it simply being an issue for 2021. Additionally, he also said that any approach to addressing the learning loss and disadvantage gap would have to be evidence based. He pointed towards the catch-up funds, investment in laptops, and the national tutoring programme in supporting schools.
However, these measures do not adequately address the longer term issues that he had said he recognised, and don’t always allow flexibility for schools to tailor the best approaches for their students. Despite the laptop offer, in our survey this week two thirds of responses are concerned that the digital divide will negatively impact the learning loss at their school. Recognition of the regional and local contexts schools work in was key to our manifesto for North East Education, and it is clear that this is increasingly relevant as the longer term impacts of the pandemic start to become clearer. It is important for the Department for Education to trust the profession if we are to address the disadvantage gap.