There’s been a huge outcry today after the government announced that primary school children – as they’d promised – will not be returning to education before September. Doubt has also been cast about whether senior schools will go back in September, with Education Secretary today only saying the government is 'working towards' all children being back in September.
To many parents, the failed promise (which always seemed pie in the sky to anyone who thought about the flatplan of your average school for longer than 30 seconds) might seem yet another inevitable letdown from the government this week voted the worst in the world for handling coronavirus. To some it will come as a relief. To others, it will seem like justification for the concerns they've been flagging for months.
But it's a serious problem. As many experts in education have pointed out, it's serious for children. But it’s also serious for the parents of this country who are struggling to keep it together and now are facing even more uncertainty from a government that has again bungled this issue, while countries around Europe have managed to open their schools with little issue.
To recap, the government had hoped to get all Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 children back into school from June 1. This plan was plagued with problems, with schools and unions claiming they’d not received enough guidance or help from the government and were mostly left to their own devices to figure out how to manage social distancing and magic up the three times as many classrooms they needed to carry this out. As we wrote about, the issues around this left many parents concerned about whether it was safe to send their kids back. Schools in other parts of the UK and in various cities with a high R rate eventually did refuse to open and many parents have kept their children home, which created an intensely difficult and guilt-ridden series of decisions for parents.
Exhausted parents are looking down the barrel of a whole summer trying to juggle like maniacal clowns… very, very tired clowns.
The plan had been for all other primary years to return to school before the end of term in July, giving parents who’ve had to balance work (which, by the way anecdotally parents have told me is busier than ever, only enabled by them working before and after their children sleep) and childcare for months some respite. Now, those exhausted parents are looking down the barrel of a whole summer trying to juggle like maniacal clowns… very, very tired clowns.
Mr Williamson today confirmed the government would not be able to keep their pledge to get all primary pupils back for a month before the summer, but called on any that were able to bring back as many as possible. And while he said exams will take place in 2021, stopped short of guaranteeing children would return in September. He said from June 15, Years 10 and 12 were going to get some face-time with teachers, a quarter at a time to allow for social distancing.
As influencer Alison Perry pointed out, this means for many parents, they're only half way having their children at home and off school.
As is the case in most parenting issues, most people will first and foremost be worried about their children. While we’re not education experts, a whole raft of those who actually are, have this morning spoken out about the issues of children missing yet more school.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield said education had not received the attention or priority from the government of other areas.
‘Children's education does matter as much as the economy and we need to invest in it. Otherwise there's a risk that childhood is just going to be furloughed,' she said, adding: ‘I think that children are in danger of being forgotten in lifting the lockdown. We're seeing a situation where theme parks are going to be open in a month's time, shops, pubs and restaurants - but still children not back in school.’
Matt Hancock yesterday said it would take ‘ingenuity’ to return secondary pupils to school in September – a statement that is sure to infuriate parents. Who does the government think is responsible for this ingenuity? Are they going to try and ask Dyson to sort it like they tried with ventilators?
As Ms Longfield stated this morning, the government has managed ‘ingeniuity’ in other areas. ‘We’ve seen the great things that can be achieved when everyone puts their mind to it – you know the job scheme, the business continuity scheme, the Nightingale hospitals,’ she said. ‘It’s of this scale of challenge, and it’s this level of determination that I think government now really needs to focus on.’
We're seeing a situation where theme parks are going to be open in a month's time, shops, pubs and restaurants - but still children not back in school.
Beyond issues of exhausted parents and uncertainty for pupils (telling kids 'I don't know' is never fun), there is also the serious issue of children in difficult situations falling between the cracks while schools are closed, missing out on meals, safe spaces and the education they need.
Education committee chair Robert Halfon told the Today programme, ‘I think that too many disadvantaged children are not getting an education. We could have an epidemic of educational poverty and be damaging the life chances of hundreds of thousands of young people.’
It comes as the government confirmed they would not continue a free school meals scheme over the summer holidays, saying it had 'always been clear' it would end in July.
Mr Halfon suggested a number of things, including summer schools, catch-ups helped by a ‘national army’ of retired teachers and students and a national broadcasting service that could offer education – something especially vital for those without wifi or access to computers. Or those whose parents are using their computers for work, of course, and don't have a few spare.
In a statement this morning, the children’s commissioner noted this has been the biggest disruption to educations since the Second World War and that disadvantaged children in particular were going to be affected.
‘Previous research has suggested that up to two thirds of the gap between economically disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers is accounted for by the six-week summer holidays,' it said. 'This is a period when no children are undertaking formal education, but where gaps still emerge in children’s skills and abilities. School buildings have been closed to most pupils for over two months now and many pupils will not be physically returning until September – making this a six month gap.’
And while education is key, especially for older pupils, parents are also worried about the way their children are missing out on opportunities to learn to socialise and see friends.
‘My son is only four, so I’m not so worried about the educational side of things, but the socialising does really worry me,’ one mum told me. ‘Our child accidentally met a friend in the park when lockdown easing began and I have never seen him so happy as when he returned home. He was buzzing, like he was on drugs. From then on we’ve let him play with friends while the mums and dads have been socially distancing and he’s just so happy doing that. Siblings just aren’t the same, even if they’re close in age.
‘We’re lucky because we can walk to several parks where I know lots of kids his age will be, and he just runs off and plays with them – but it must be impossible if you don’t have that. We try our best to play and entertain the children, but not all parents are so involved or simply don’t have the time and just let their children watch TV. Which is fine for a couple of weeks but we’re now talking about months of very little active, as opposed to passive, stimulus. And it really isn’t the parents, or the children’s, fault that it has come to this.
‘I was very much on the fence about sending kids back to school but now think the Government should relax social distancing in schools, if nowhere else, since everything kids are missing out on could genuinely be detrimental to their mental health.’
With the health and mental wellbeing of children and parents on the line, the fury around the issue towards the government then, is understandable. Yet again, it seems like the government has other priorities beyond working parents who have been left to figure it out with little or no thought. We wonder if that will be the same come election time when MPs love nothing more than to harp about education, education, education.
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