Whole engine of government should be directed toward getting our schools open again, says Halfon

Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons select committee on education and MP for Harlow, is calling for schools to run “rocket-boosted summer holiday activities programmes” to help reduce the gap in children’s education exacerbated by the pandemic.

The £270 million that the government has proposed will go into existing holiday programmes offering meals, sports and some lessons – but he wants more done.

Last summer, there was a not so secret and botched government plan to open schools during the summer and invite pupils to education camps. Using the summer season for catch up programmes is on the cards once again and, for Halfon, this is a step in the right direction.

In the meantime he would also like to see the school day extended, and Saturday lessons explored. “Before I get trolled by teachers,” says Halfon, “I’m talking about getting civil society in.” His plan would be for teachers to keep their usual schedules and volunteers would come in for a couple of hours to teach subjects from sport to vocational training – “so the students can catch up with their wellbeing, mental health and educational attainment”.

The Prime Minister has reiterated that schools will not be opening after the February half term as hoped, but instead on 8 March, three weeks after the date when all four vulnerable groups should have received their vaccines. Halfon accepts this date on the condition that “March 8th really does mean March 8th”. The following few weeks should be spent formulating a plan to ensure a smooth transition to schools opening their gates again.

“Remote learning is no substitute for children being back in school,” he says. “Another delay or any form of push back to this latest date would be no less than catastrophic.

“We have the four horsemen of the education apocalypse galloping towards our children. Short term fixes are now not enough with long term damage to a generation already being predicted. The IFS have said that “children could lose up to £40,000 over their lifetime in wages due to the lost schooling”.

To counter this, Halfon has called for “a long-term plan for education”. In August, he laid out “targeted measures” to help the generation of children being left behind by the pandemic. His checklist included four key themes: social justice, skills, standards and support for the profession.

Some measures are starting to be implemented, but not to the extent Halfon would like. On social justice the focus needs to be on early intervention. Family Hubs, that house services from onsite GPs to careers advice, need more investment, he claims. The hope is for there to be one in “every town”. The £300 million the Prime Minister announced last Wednesday for catch up programmes, which offer one-on-one pupil intervention, was music to Halfon’s ears as demonstrates “recognition in theTreasury” of the scheme’s benefits.

Step two is to broaden educational skills. As a self-described “practical conservative”, he doesn’t agree with pupils narrowing their options. Pupils from disadvantaged areas often don’t apply to university as they don’t want to take out a loan. This is why “degree apprenticeships, so you earn while you learn”, should be invested in, according to Halfon.

Educational standards must also be addressed, says Halfon. The pandemic has forced a lot of projects to be dropped, including SATS and roll-out tests. The pupil premium, the grant given by the government to disadvantaged schools to narrow the attainment gap, should be spent on tutoring programmes, he says.

“Roughly a third of teachers leave after five years,” he says, which is why more support for the profession is needed. The government spends £100 million on disadvantaged “opportunity areas”, but Halfon is curious to see a breakdown of just how this money is spent. “From Harlow or Harrogate, if you have a good leadership team you are going to transform the school or college” – and that is precisely how Halfon would like this money used.

“The whole engine of government should be directed toward getting our schools open again. The health service had the Nightingales, the economy got the furlough scheme. The absence of an equivalent initiative in education is becoming conspicuous.”

“What we have been doing has been a national disaster for kids,” he says. “We just need passion, vision and a long term plan for education.”