No lessons were learned from the closure of schools and exams canceled in the first closure, the Government Institute found, leading to a case of “pause, setback, repeat.”
Ahead of next week’s A-level results and the GCSE figures at the end of the month, the report titled ‘Schools and Coronavirus: The Government’s Handling of Education During the Pandemic’ outlined the period after the closing of the schools in March 2020 as “ easily the most disturbing period ”. in the education of children since at least the beginning of the Second World War ”.
The report continues: “Its most important conclusion is that the most unforgivable aspect of what happened is not only the lack of contingency plans in the summer of 2020, but the refusal to do so, when it was already obvious that the closings of new schools may be necessary, and that exams may have to be canceled again.
“No lessons were learned from the first lockdown, with the result that, for both school closings and exams, the story from July 2020 to January 2021 was a case of ‘pause, rewind, repeat.’
Dr. Helen Rafferty, Acting Executive Director of the Leeds-based educational charity SHINE, said they are “disappointed” that the contingencies have not been implemented.
She told The Yorkshire Post: “Frankly, last year was pretty chaotic.
“The decisions were made quite late, and then the algorithms were shown to prioritize the schools that had the highest prior achievement.”
She continued: “We are disappointed that contingencies have not been implemented. The review that had to happen to account for the learning loss was not in place. “
Dr. Rafferty said that the pandemic has had “a great impact on disadvantaged children” that “they will carry with them throughout their lives a set of results that do not reflect their potential, their circumstances or their ability.”
The report comes as a University of Leeds report showing that a third of reception-age children tested in schools across the city did not make progress in math and literacy during the first shutdown.
Shadow education secretary Kate Green said the government “dismissed” Labor calls for contingency plans “resulting in a second year of test chaos for students.”
He added: “It is clear that the responsibility for this lies not only with the Secretary of Education, but also with the Prime Minister himself. Boris Johnson must acknowledge his failures and urgently establish the support that will be available to students, parents and teachers on Results Day to ensure that no young people miss out on future opportunities due to their failed response to the pandemic. “
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “The pandemic had a huge impact on society and especially on education. We want to thank the teachers, parents, and students for their resilience and flexibility over the past 18 months. Contrary to the claims in this report, contingency plans for school opening restrictions in the 21/22 academic year were first published in August 2020, and contingency plans for grades in 2021 were discussed by first time with Ofqual in October 2020.
“We have acted swiftly at all times to minimize the impact on the education and well-being of children and to help keep students in face-to-face education as much as possible. We provided 1.3 million laptops and tablets to underprivileged students, funded Oak National Academy to provide video lessons, and made sure students were able to receive test scores to help them advance to the next stage of education or work.
“Through the tutoring revolution that will see students receive up to 100 million hours of free tuition, summer schools, and our investment in the teaching profession, we are working with schools to deliver ambitious recovery plans for children to and young people who have been most disadvantaged during the pandemic have the support they need to catch up on missing learning. “
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-08-04 05:00:50
