Leadership Focus journalist Nic Paton takes a close look at the government’s covid-19 education recovery package.
“A damp squib” (Paul Whiteman, NAHT). “A comprehensive failure of government” (Mary Bousted, NEU). “Falls far short of what is needed” (Patrick Roach, NASUWT). “A hugely disappointing announcement” (Geoff Barton, ASCL).
It’s fair to say the profession’s response to the government’s covid-19 education ‘recovery’ package announced in June was unanimous in its anger and dismay at the government’s lack of ambition, money and clarity.
It wasn’t just teachers and school leaders, of course, who felt kicked in the teeth after perhaps the two most challenging and turbulent academic years many of them will have ever experienced. The government’s education recovery commissioner for England, Sir Kevan Collins, dramatically quit following the publication of the package, with some harsh words of rebuke for prime minister Boris Johnson.
In his resignation statement, Sir Kevan criticised the government’s package as falling ‘far short’ of what was needed. “It is too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly,” he said, adding: “A half-hearted approach risks failing hundreds of thousands of pupils. The support announced by the government so far does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge, and it is why I have no option but to resign from my post.”
PAUL WHITEMAN, NAHT GENERAL SECRETARY
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, summed up the frustration for many within the profession as to why the government had even bothered to appoint such an influential and respected figure if only then to ignore his key recommendations.
“Sir Kevan Collins’ resignation tops off a truly awful day for the government and a deeply disappointing one for all those working in schools,” Paul said at the time.
“There is little point in appointing an internationally-respected education expert as ‘catch-up Tsar’ if you fail to listen to what they have to say. The Treasury has refused to respond to the education crisis in the same way as it has the economic one. It is completely understandable that Sir Kevan chose not to become a pawn in whatever game the government is playing,” he added.
Sir Kevan’s ambitious blueprint for recovery, it appears, got mashed in the cogs of the Treasury, with chancellor Rishi Sunak baulking at the £15bn cost of his plan, which had included 100 extra hours of teaching per pupil, with funding going directly to schools.
Whitehall turf wars and political spats aside, where does this now leave school leaders looking to the autumn term and (as we all hope) at the beginning of the process of picking up the pieces – academic, social and health – post-pandemic?
Financially, it is clear, this autumn’s planned three-year comprehensive spending review will become the next education-spending battleground, both inside and outside of Whitehall.
PAUL GOSLING, NAHT VICE-PRESIDENT AND HEAD TEACHER AT EXETER ROAD PRIMARY SCHOOL IN EXMOUTH, DEVON
“The worry I have is that they kick educational recovery into the long grass, and with time, it becomes less of a political priority. The nature of the problem gets forgotten about,” says Paul Gosling, NAHT vice-president and head teacher at Exeter Road Primary School in Exmouth, Devon.
“Anything else is just a sticking plaster,” he adds.
Yet, the financial arguments are just one part of the picture. As Paul Whiteman tells Leadership Focus, to an extent, all the current talk about and focus on ‘recovery’ is missing the point because the conversation – and vision – that is needed is much, much bigger.
“I think the language of ‘recovery’ is a mistake, to be honest. Recovery, to me, seems very short term; you recover from a shock, and then you just go back to what you had before. But we should never just go back to what we had before,” he says.
“Yes, of course, there will be a relatively short-term period where we need to do quick things for certain groups. So, for those going into the final year of their A levels or GCSEs now and taking their exams in 2022, we need to make sure we are prepared for that and do whatever we can in the background.
Naturally, part of this needs to be about equipping the country – and our children – for the future, giving pupils the education, skills and tools they need to thrive in a new, uncertain and fast-changing world. Crucially, however, that also means investing in the country’s future, so, if anything, the profession needs to be pushing for a totally new financial settlement for education, Paul contends.
“That [a new financial settlement] is absolutely essential,” he says, citing recent research from the Education Policy Institute, which calculated that £13.5bn would be needed for education catch-up and recovery, so not that far off Sir Kevan’s £15bn recommendation.
“A damp squib” (Paul Whiteman, NAHT). “A comprehensive failure of government” (Mary Bousted, NEU). “Falls far short of what is needed” (Patrick Roach, NASUWT). “A hugely disappointing announcement” (Geoff Barton, ASCL).
It’s fair to say the profession’s response to the government’s covid-19 education ‘recovery’ package announced in June was unanimous in its anger and dismay at the government’s lack of ambition, money and clarity.
It wasn’t just teachers and school leaders, of course, who felt kicked in the teeth after perhaps the two most challenging and turbulent academic years many of them will have ever experienced. The government’s education recovery commissioner for England, Sir Kevan Collins, dramatically quit following the publication of the package, with some harsh words of rebuke for prime minister Boris Johnson.
In his resignation statement, Sir Kevan criticised the government’s package as falling ‘far short’ of what was needed. “It is too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly,” he said, adding: “A half-hearted approach risks failing hundreds of thousands of pupils. The support announced by the government so far does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge, and it is why I have no option but to resign from my post.”
PAUL WHITEMAN, NAHT GENERAL SECRETARY
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, summed up the frustration for many within the profession as to why the government had even bothered to appoint such an influential and respected figure if only then to ignore his key recommendations.
“Sir Kevan Collins’ resignation tops off a truly awful day for the government and a deeply disappointing one for all those working in schools,” Paul said at the time.
“There is little point in appointing an internationally-respected education expert as ‘catch-up Tsar’ if you fail to listen to what they have to say. The Treasury has refused to respond to the education crisis in the same way as it has the economic one. It is completely understandable that Sir Kevan chose not to become a pawn in whatever game the government is playing,” he added.
Sir Kevan’s ambitious blueprint for recovery, it appears, got mashed in the cogs of the Treasury, with chancellor Rishi Sunak baulking at the £15bn cost of his plan, which had included 100 extra hours of teaching per pupil, with funding going directly to schools.
Whitehall turf wars and political spats aside, where does this now leave school leaders looking to the autumn term and (as we all hope) at the beginning of the process of picking up the pieces – academic, social and health – post-pandemic?
Financially, it is clear, this autumn’s planned three-year comprehensive spending review will become the next education-spending battleground, both inside and outside of Whitehall.
PAUL GOSLING, NAHT VICE-PRESIDENT AND HEAD TEACHER AT EXETER ROAD PRIMARY SCHOOL IN EXMOUTH, DEVON
“The worry I have is that they kick educational recovery into the long grass, and with time, it becomes less of a political priority. The nature of the problem gets forgotten about,” says Paul Gosling, NAHT vice-president and head teacher at Exeter Road Primary School in Exmouth, Devon.
“Anything else is just a sticking plaster,” he adds.
Yet, the financial arguments are just one part of the picture. As Paul Whiteman tells Leadership Focus, to an extent, all the current talk about and focus on ‘recovery’ is missing the point because the conversation – and vision – that is needed is much, much bigger.
“I think the language of ‘recovery’ is a mistake, to be honest. Recovery, to me, seems very short term; you recover from a shock, and then you just go back to what you had before. But we should never just go back to what we had before,” he says.
“Yes, of course, there will be a relatively short-term period where we need to do quick things for certain groups. So, for those going into the final year of their A levels or GCSEs now and taking their exams in 2022, we need to make sure we are prepared for that and do whatever we can in the background.
Naturally, part of this needs to be about equipping the country – and our children – for the future, giving pupils the education, skills and tools they need to thrive in a new, uncertain and fast-changing world. Crucially, however, that also means investing in the country’s future, so, if anything, the profession needs to be pushing for a totally new financial settlement for education, Paul contends.
“That [a new financial settlement] is absolutely essential,” he says, citing recent research from the Education Policy Institute, which calculated that £13.5bn would be needed for education catch-up and recovery, so not that far off Sir Kevan’s £15bn recommendation.
“Who is to say whether that is right or wrong, but it is a long way from the £1.7bn we have had from the government so far. We know we are talking about large amounts of money. My major worry is that if we fiddle at the edges, we will simply damage our recovery effort, damage the moment and the opportunity we now have,” Paul adds.
This articulation of a bigger vision for education post-pandemic is something NAHT has been attempting to bring to the table in the form of a new document, Education Recovery: a blueprint for a stronger and fairer system for all.
Published in May, so ahead of this summer’s ‘damp squib’, the document has aimed to set out a much broader landscape and agenda for ‘recovery’. This encompasses everything from the classroom to health and well-being (both children and the profession), technology, extracurricular activities and even challenges and priorities that need to be addressed beyond the school gate.
The document outlines 13 core principles that NAHT argues need to underpin the detail of any post-covid-19 recovery and then ‘seven pillars’ for educational recovery.
Please see the panel at the end of this article for an outline of what these are.
Critically, as Paul Whiteman emphasises, the document makes clear that any recovery agenda needs to go hand in hand with addressing the pre-existing, and all too familiar, problems of the profession’s recruitment and retention ‘leaky pipeline’, high-stakes accountability and spiralling mental health and well-being issues.
“Although this whole conversation comes out of a dramatic event, this isn’t, again, about ‘recovery’; this is about saying, ‘how do we set up the longer-term future of education that serves this recovery period but which also serves to keep people in the profession?’,” he tells Leadership Focus.
“For example, we’ve lived without the really poisonous aspects of the accountability system for two years, and we’ve probably delivered one of the most inspirational periods of education that we have ever seen. So, that must tell us something.
“Again, I strongly feel this isn’t just about ‘recovery’; this is about the future and making sure that, from this shock, we can build a much better one,” Paul adds.
This articulation of a bigger vision for education post-pandemic is something NAHT has been attempting to bring to the table in the form of a new document, Education Recovery: a blueprint for a stronger and fairer system for all.
Published in May, so ahead of this summer’s ‘damp squib’, the document has aimed to set out a much broader landscape and agenda for ‘recovery’. This encompasses everything from the classroom to health and well-being (both children and the profession), technology, extracurricular activities and even challenges and priorities that need to be addressed beyond the school gate.
The document outlines 13 core principles that NAHT argues need to underpin the detail of any post-covid-19 recovery and then ‘seven pillars’ for educational recovery.
Please see the panel at the end of this article for an outline of what these are.
Critically, as Paul Whiteman emphasises, the document makes clear that any recovery agenda needs to go hand in hand with addressing the pre-existing, and all too familiar, problems of the profession’s recruitment and retention ‘leaky pipeline’, high-stakes accountability and spiralling mental health and well-being issues.
“Although this whole conversation comes out of a dramatic event, this isn’t, again, about ‘recovery’; this is about saying, ‘how do we set up the longer-term future of education that serves this recovery period but which also serves to keep people in the profession?’,” he tells Leadership Focus.
“For example, we’ve lived without the really poisonous aspects of the accountability system for two years, and we’ve probably delivered one of the most inspirational periods of education that we have ever seen. So, that must tell us something.
“Again, I strongly feel this isn’t just about ‘recovery’; this is about the future and making sure that, from this shock, we can build a much better one,” Paul adds.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT’S PLAN INCLUDES
The government’s headline £1.4bn package over three years is on top of £1.7bn already announced for education recovery in the Budget back in March.
The Department for Education has confirmed that £1bn will be used to support up to six million 15-hour tutoring courses for disadvantaged school children, as well as an expansion of the 16-to-19 tuition fund, targeting key subjects such as maths and English.
According to Schools Week, the split for this will be £579m to help schools develop ‘local tutoring provision’, using new or existing staff.
Then £218m will go into a new national tutoring programme, which Randstad and Teach First are due to provide. A total of £222m will go into extending the existing 16-to-19 tutoring programme.
A further £400m will go towards training and support for early-years practitioners and schoolteachers. This will be split £153m for professional development for early-years practitioners and £253m to expand existing teacher training and development.
Aside from actual cash commitments, the government pledged to review the length of the school day, with findings expected to be published in this autumn’s spending review.
Schools will also receive funding from the Department for Education to allow some year 13 pupils to repeat their final year, although the details on this (especially the funding for it) remain sketchy.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said of the package: “This next step in our long-term catch-up plan should give parents confidence that we will do everything we can to support children who have fallen behind and that every child will have the skills and knowledge they need to fulfil their potential.”
Education secretary Gavin Williamson added: “The package will not just go a long way to boost children’s learning in the wake of the disruption caused by the pandemic but also help bring back down the attainment gap that we’ve been working to eradicate.”
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT’S PLAN INCLUDES
The government’s headline £1.4bn package over three years is on top of £1.7bn already announced for education recovery in the Budget back in March.
The Department for Education has confirmed that £1bn will be used to support up to six million 15-hour tutoring courses for disadvantaged school children, as well as an expansion of the 16-to-19 tuition fund, targeting key subjects such as maths and English.
According to Schools Week, the split for this will be £579m to help schools develop ‘local tutoring provision’, using new or existing staff.
Then £218m will go into a new national tutoring programme, which Randstad and Teach First are due to provide. A total of £222m will go into extending the existing 16-to-19 tutoring programme.
A further £400m will go towards training and support for early-years practitioners and schoolteachers. This will be split £153m for professional development for early-years practitioners and £253m to expand existing teacher training and development.
Aside from actual cash commitments, the government pledged to review the length of the school day, with findings expected to be published in this autumn’s spending review.
Schools will also receive funding from the Department for Education to allow some year 13 pupils to repeat their final year, although the details on this (especially the funding for it) remain sketchy.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said of the package: “This next step in our long-term catch-up plan should give parents confidence that we will do everything we can to support children who have fallen behind and that every child will have the skills and knowledge they need to fulfil their potential.”
Education secretary Gavin Williamson added: “The package will not just go a long way to boost children’s learning in the wake of the disruption caused by the pandemic but also help bring back down the attainment gap that we’ve been working to eradicate.”
THE VIEW FROM WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND
As in England, the main thing NAHT members in Northern Ireland are looking for as thoughts turn towards the autumn is clarity, argues Helena Macormac, NAHT(NI) director.
HELENA MACORMAC, NAHT(NI) DIRECTOR
“People appreciate that nobody really knows what this autumn will look like, but there is a lot that the Department of Education NI could be doing. It could be contingency planning or scenario planning around, for example, new variants and surges. There are actions the government could be taking now, but it’s not,” she points out.
“The government has said it does not have control over that, but we think it should be stepping in a lot more on these issues.
“There is a lot, too, that needs to be addressed around mental health and well-being. The workload of members is absolutely massive, so the health and well-being of members, but, of course, pupils as well; that has got to be crucial going forward,” she adds.
LAURA DOEL, NAHT CYMRU DIRECTOR
In Wales, the clamour – and priority – is simply for the Welsh Government and new Welsh education minister Jeremy Miles to see sense about the impossibility of imposing a new curriculum simultaneously as managing and working to recover from a global pandemic.
“There were a whole host of things already on the table before covid-19, and now we’re trying to deal with all of those, which are still up in the air, plus covid-19 recovery,” explains Laura Doel, NAHT Cymru director.
“It will be different for every school, never mind every learner.
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done by schools – and schools are the best places for this to happen – to look at things across the board and, perhaps, take a bit of time to assess where pupils are, academically and in terms of well-being and health,” she says.
“Second, while we understand and welcome education reform – our members recognise more than anyone, probably, how much it is needed for schools – we’re also arguing there needs to be an element of pragmatism here. For the Welsh Government to push ahead with its reform agenda, because four years ago it set a date and we’ve got to stick to that date come hell or high water, we think is a mistake.
“If you don’t get the recovery right, if you don’t have those foundations for schools in place and if you don’t make sure the children feel safe and secure – that their mental health and well-being are being looked after and also the mental health and well-being of the staff – then anything else you do is not going to be successful.
“We are currently looking at the rollout of a new curriculum that rips up the rule book. So, we’re arguing that there needs to be a serious conversation between the profession and the Welsh Government that looks at, ‘is now the time to be doing all of this when recovery is so crucial?’,” Laura adds.
THE VIEW FROM WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND
As in England, the main thing NAHT members in Northern Ireland are looking for as thoughts turn towards the autumn is clarity, argues Helena Macormac, NAHT(NI) director.
HELENA MACORMAC, NAHT(NI) DIRECTOR
“People appreciate that nobody really knows what this autumn will look like, but there is a lot that the Department of Education NI could be doing. It could be contingency planning or scenario planning around, for example, new variants and surges. There are actions the government could be taking now, but it’s not,” she points out.
“The government has said it does not have control over that, but we think it should be stepping in a lot more on these issues.
“There is a lot, too, that needs to be addressed around mental health and well-being. The workload of members is absolutely massive, so the health and well-being of members, but, of course, pupils as well; that has got to be crucial going forward,” she adds.
LAURA DOEL, NAHT CYMRU DIRECTOR
In Wales, the clamour – and priority – is simply for the Welsh Government and new Welsh education minister Jeremy Miles to see sense about the impossibility of imposing a new curriculum simultaneously as managing and working to recover from a global pandemic.
“There were a whole host of things already on the table before covid-19, and now we’re trying to deal with all of those, which are still up in the air, plus covid-19 recovery,” explains Laura Doel, NAHT Cymru director.
“It will be different for every school, never mind every learner.
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done by schools – and schools are the best places for this to happen – to look at things across the board and, perhaps, take a bit of time to assess where pupils are, academically and in terms of well-being and health,” she says.
“Second, while we understand and welcome education reform – our members recognise more than anyone, probably, how much it is needed for schools – we’re also arguing there needs to be an element of pragmatism here. For the Welsh Government to push ahead with its reform agenda, because four years ago it set a date and we’ve got to stick to that date come hell or high water, we think is a mistake.
“If you don’t get the recovery right, if you don’t have those foundations for schools in place and if you don’t make sure the children feel safe and secure – that their mental health and well-being are being looked after and also the mental health and well-being of the staff – then anything else you do is not going to be successful.
“We are currently looking at the rollout of a new curriculum that rips up the rule book. So, we’re arguing that there needs to be a serious conversation between the profession and the Welsh Government that looks at, ‘is now the time to be doing all of this when recovery is so crucial?’,” Laura adds.
NAHT’S VISION
NAHT’s report, Education Recovery: a blueprint for a stronger and fairer system for all, sets out, in the words of Paul Whiteman, a vision for recovery that is ‘unapologetically ambitious’.
It also – crucially and perhaps ominously in light of what happened to Sir Kevan Collins' recommendations – is one that, NAHT makes clear, ‘will also require significant investment’.
Nevertheless, as Paul makes the case: “If the government genuinely wants to take this opportunity to improve the life chances of all children, now is the moment to be bold. The question that the government now needs to answer is: just how ambitious is it prepared to be?”
What follows is an abridged outline of the report’s key recommendations.
THE ‘SEVEN PILLARS’ OF EDUCATIONAL RECOVERY:
Prioritise the early years.
The government must place investment in the early years at the heart of its educational recovery plan. One specific early years policy that should be urgently reviewed is the 30 hours’ ‘funded childcare’ for working parents. The government must revisit the funding early years providers currently receive to deliver the 30 hours’ childcare offer, as current levels remain insufficient.
Furthermore, the government should increase the early years pupil premium to achieve parity with the primary pupil premium so that early intervention can be prioritised. NAHT agrees with calls from the Sutton Trust that funding should be provided for continuing professional development (CPD) of the early years workforce.
Improve support for mental health and well-being.
Schools already play a significant role in supporting the mental health and well-being of their pupils. Schools need to be properly funded so that they can enhance and expand their contribution to promoting good mental health and well-being among pupils of all ages, identifying any emerging mental health needs and referring those pupils to health professionals for support and treatment where appropriate.
However, we need to be very clear that the role of school staff is neither to diagnose mental health needs nor to deliver treatment or therapeutic support. The pandemic has exposed the lack of ambition in the government’s current plans to improve mental health provision for school-aged children. The government must accelerate the urgent improvements and resourcing required for mental health services throughout the country so that pupils can access specialist support as soon as they need it.
Invest in the teaching profession.
An overview of evidence produced by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) in 2020 suggests that high-quality CPD has a greater effect on pupils’ attainment than many other school-based interventions, including performance-related pay and lengthening the school day. As such, teachers’ development should sit at the heart of an ambitious recovery plan.
Investment in the teaching profession is one way to ensure that longevity and sustainability are ‘baked-in’ to the plan. Such investment would benefit not only this generation of children but also future generations. A key recommendation in our 2020 report, Improving Schools, was that there should be a national commitment to a minimum CPD entitlement that is properly funded. Now is the time to ensure that all teachers have access to high-quality professional development based on their individual needs. Crucially, there must be freedom to choose the CPD that is right for individual teachers and schools.
Provide targeted academic support for pupils who need it.
Any child who needs additional academic support following the pandemic should be able to access high-quality, targeted intervention. Alongside existing tutoring programmes, schools should be funded to appoint and deploy tutors themselves, rather than rely on external providers to meet their particular needs and contexts.
Expand extracurricular provision and invest in extracurricular providers.
During the pandemic, children and young people have missed out on a range of formal and informal extracurricular activities. These play a vital role in enriching children’s lives and supporting their personal development and mental well-being.
Therefore, the government should look to harness and expand the work of existing extracurricular providers, investing in community facilities and resources so that all children have access to a wide range of funded activities. There is also an opportunity to rebuild and expand youth services, many of which have disappeared in recent years. Crucially, this is not about simply adding more hours to the school day but increasing access to a wider range of extracurricular activities and opportunities, including during evenings, weekends and school holidays.
Invest in school technology.
The pandemic has accelerated the pace of change in the use of technology to support learning in schools. There is an opportunity to build on the best aspects of the work that has taken place in the last 14 months. For example, there is an opportunity to repurpose and improve the online videos and resources created during the pandemic to support homework and home learning on an ongoing basis.
Such resources could help parents to support their children; there may be opportunities to improve alignment with in-class teaching and further improve the quality of feedback pupils receive. This could also have the added benefit of reducing teachers’ workload, linking to our second pillar.
As a bare minimum, the government must ensure that every child has access to an internet-connected device that allows them to engage with and complete work set by their school, with the necessary data allowances. Once again, there is the question of ambition here. If we are about to enter a new era in ‘edtech’ and online learning, the government must ensure that schools have the technology that’s up to the job.
Remove unnecessary burdens and distractions.
Most school communities have undergone an enormous shock because of the pandemic. As we move into a new school year, schools must be freed from unnecessary distractions and burdens to continue to meet the relentless challenges of the pandemic and focus on providing the vital support that pupils need.
It would be a mistake to rush to reimpose the accountability system that existed before covid-19. To do so would potentially hamper the work of schools at this crucial time and act as an unnecessary and unhelpful distraction. NAHT supports the Education Policy Institute’s (EPI’s) recent recommendation that “Ofsted should refrain from a ‘business as usual approach’ in 2021/22.”
It is our view that the education inspection framework (EIF) should remain suspended. We recognise that there might be a need for an alternative role for Ofsted during 2021/22, but this should be primarily focused on supporting schools with educational recovery and involve identifying and sharing best practice as schools recover from the disruption caused by the pandemic.
THE ‘SEVEN PILLARS’ OF EDUCATIONAL RECOVERY:
Prioritise the early years.
The government must place investment in the early years at the heart of its educational recovery plan. One specific early years policy that should be urgently reviewed is the 30 hours’ ‘funded childcare’ for working parents. The government must revisit the funding early years providers currently receive to deliver the 30 hours’ childcare offer, as current levels remain insufficient.
Furthermore, the government should increase the early years pupil premium to achieve parity with the primary pupil premium so that early intervention can be prioritised. NAHT agrees with calls from the Sutton Trust that funding should be provided for continuing professional development (CPD) of the early years workforce.
Improve support for mental health and well-being.
Schools already play a significant role in supporting the mental health and well-being of their pupils. Schools need to be properly funded so that they can enhance and expand their contribution to promoting good mental health and well-being among pupils of all ages, identifying any emerging mental health needs and referring those pupils to health professionals for support and treatment where appropriate.
However, we need to be very clear that the role of school staff is neither to diagnose mental health needs nor to deliver treatment or therapeutic support. The pandemic has exposed the lack of ambition in the government’s current plans to improve mental health provision for school-aged children. The government must accelerate the urgent improvements and resourcing required for mental health services throughout the country so that pupils can access specialist support as soon as they need it.
Invest in the teaching profession.
An overview of evidence produced by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) in 2020 suggests that high-quality CPD has a greater effect on pupils’ attainment than many other school-based interventions, including performance-related pay and lengthening the school day. As such, teachers’ development should sit at the heart of an ambitious recovery plan.
Investment in the teaching profession is one way to ensure that longevity and sustainability are ‘baked-in’ to the plan. Such investment would benefit not only this generation of children but also future generations. A key recommendation in our 2020 report, Improving Schools, was that there should be a national commitment to a minimum CPD entitlement that is properly funded. Now is the time to ensure that all teachers have access to high-quality professional development based on their individual needs. Crucially, there must be freedom to choose the CPD that is right for individual teachers and schools.
Provide targeted academic support for pupils who need it.
Any child who needs additional academic support following the pandemic should be able to access high-quality, targeted intervention. Alongside existing tutoring programmes, schools should be funded to appoint and deploy tutors themselves, rather than rely on external providers to meet their particular needs and contexts.
Expand extracurricular provision and invest in extracurricular providers.
During the pandemic, children and young people have missed out on a range of formal and informal extracurricular activities. These play a vital role in enriching children’s lives and supporting their personal development and mental well-being.
Therefore, the government should look to harness and expand the work of existing extracurricular providers, investing in community facilities and resources so that all children have access to a wide range of funded activities. There is also an opportunity to rebuild and expand youth services, many of which have disappeared in recent years. Crucially, this is not about simply adding more hours to the school day but increasing access to a wider range of extracurricular activities and opportunities, including during evenings, weekends and school holidays.
Invest in school technology.
The pandemic has accelerated the pace of change in the use of technology to support learning in schools. There is an opportunity to build on the best aspects of the work that has taken place in the last 14 months. For example, there is an opportunity to repurpose and improve the online videos and resources created during the pandemic to support homework and home learning on an ongoing basis.
Such resources could help parents to support their children; there may be opportunities to improve alignment with in-class teaching and further improve the quality of feedback pupils receive. This could also have the added benefit of reducing teachers’ workload, linking to our second pillar.
As a bare minimum, the government must ensure that every child has access to an internet-connected device that allows them to engage with and complete work set by their school, with the necessary data allowances. Once again, there is the question of ambition here. If we are about to enter a new era in ‘edtech’ and online learning, the government must ensure that schools have the technology that’s up to the job.
Remove unnecessary burdens and distractions.
Most school communities have undergone an enormous shock because of the pandemic. As we move into a new school year, schools must be freed from unnecessary distractions and burdens to continue to meet the relentless challenges of the pandemic and focus on providing the vital support that pupils need.
It would be a mistake to rush to reimpose the accountability system that existed before covid-19. To do so would potentially hamper the work of schools at this crucial time and act as an unnecessary and unhelpful distraction. NAHT supports the Education Policy Institute’s (EPI’s) recent recommendation that “Ofsted should refrain from a ‘business as usual approach’ in 2021/22.”
It is our view that the education inspection framework (EIF) should remain suspended. We recognise that there might be a need for an alternative role for Ofsted during 2021/22, but this should be primarily focused on supporting schools with educational recovery and involve identifying and sharing best practice as schools recover from the disruption caused by the pandemic.
Finally, looking beyond the school gates, we live in one of the wealthiest countries globally, yet the evidence suggests that the number of children living in poverty in the UK is due to reach five million this year. Schools do not exist in a vacuum, and school staff see first-hand the effects of child poverty daily.
Until we commit to tackling and ending child poverty in this country, schools will always be working with one hand tied behind their backs. It doesn’t matter how effective an academic intervention is if a child is too hungry or tired to concentrate.
While tackling this issue may not be within the immediate scope of the government’s educational recovery plan itself, it cannot be ignored either. If the government is truly committed to an ambitious, transformative plan that gives every child the best possible start in life, then it must look beyond the school gates and be prepared to address such fundamental and underlying issues.
The question is, as posed at the outset of this report, how ambitious are we prepared to be?
- For members in Wales, NAHT Cymru has brought out its version of this report. Visit https://www.naht.org.uk/RD/NAHTCymru-education-recovery to read Education Recovery: a blueprint for a stronger and fairer system for all in Wales
- For members in Northern Ireland, NAHT(NI) has also brought out its version of this report. Visit http://www.naht.org.uk/RD/NAHTNI-education-recovery to read Education Recovery: a blueprint for a stronger and fairer system for all in NI.
WHAT MEMBERS WANT PRIORITISED
In the wake of the government’s recovery plan debacle, NAHT over the summer carried out a snapshot poll of members to see where they felt the government should most be focusing any money for educational recovery post-pandemic.
The top three responses were as follows:
- One-to-one, small group tutoring run by the schools themselves (70%)
- Better support for pupils’ mental health and well-being (63%)
- Increased pupil premium allocations (42%).
By comparison, the government’s stated priority areas got the thumbs down. Just 3% felt the national tutoring programme needed to be a priority area for extra cash, and even fewer, 2%, felt ploughing money into extending the school day for additional learning had any merit.
NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said of the findings: “These results reflect what we have been hearing from our members directly – that rather than dictating how education recovery happens, the government needs to give schools the flexible funding and resources to get on with the job in the way they know works best.”
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