Education recovery plan condemned as inadequate

The Government has come under fire for announcing a £1.4bn catch-up plan for students, with its own education recovery tsar warning “more will be needed” to tackle the damage done by the pandemic.

After months of unprecedented school closures and disruption, the government announced today that £1.4bn will be spent in England on up to 100 million hours of tuition for students and extra training for teachers.

Under the new plans, which take effect from September, year 13 students will also be given the option to repeat their final school year if they have been badly affected by coronavirus.

There had been reports that a recovery plan could include a longer school day – but funding for any further catch-up proposals will depend on the next spending review.

According to the BBC, a much bigger and more ambitious plan costing just over £10bn was still under discussion between Government departments as recently as last week but this was rejected by the Treasury.

Boris Johnson said the plans “should give parents confidence,” but he is already facing a growing backlash from Labour, education leaders and his own education recovery tsar.

Sir Kevan Collins, the Government’s education recovery commissioner, was appointed in February to develop options to help children bounce back from the disruption caused by Covid-19.   

In an internal presentation leaked to The Times, he had advised ministers that the scale of intervention required is in the region of £15bn, to be delivered over the course of this parliament.  

The presentation had warned that if a catch-up was not delivered, the minimum impact on the economy from lost learning would be £100bn but could be as high as £1.5 trillion. 

Other organisations, including the Education Policy Institute think-tank and Labour, had also said a package of £15bn was needed. 

Commenting on today’s announcement, Sir Kevan said: “The investments in teaching quality and tutoring announced today offer evidence-based support to a significant number of our children and teachers. But more will be needed to meet the scale of the challenge.” 

Education leaders were quick to express their dismay at the funding announcement, which was branded as “disappointing”, “insufficient” and a “damp squib” by headteachers’ groups. 

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, said: “This announcement only confirms the Government’s lack of ambition for education. It’s a damp squib – some focus in a couple of the right areas is simply not enough… education recovery cannot be done on the cheap.”

The shadow education secretary, Kate Green, contrasted what she called Labour’s “bold plan” for breakfast clubs, mental health support, tutoring and teacher development with the commitments made by the Government.

She said: “This announcement makes a mockery of the Prime Minister’s claim that education is a priority. His own education recovery commissioner has all but said this plan is insufficient. Sir Kevan Collins told ministers that 10 times this level of investment was needed to help children recover.”