School leaders warn it could take 'months and years' for school children in Wigan & St Helens to catch up
It's as the Education Secretary is due to appear before MPs later for questioning
School leaders in Wigan and St Helens are warning it will take months and years for pupils to catch up on lost learning because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is due to appear before MPs later for questioning over his catch up programme for school children.
Pete Middleman, regional spokesperson for the National Education Union said teacher's are dealing with a situation that's hard to control: "School leaders are having to react to a third of students being absent from self-isolation, from not knowing which students are going to turn up on any given morning or need to be sent home on any given day...that means that the approach to providing education to those students is ad-hoc and sub-optimal.
"It's going to be a matter of months and years"
"The impact has been huge and it won't be caught up any time soon. It's going to be a matter of months and years rather than days and weeks.
He added schools need more clarity on how to react to outbreaks: "Just how bad the situation in schools has to get, how high the infection rates need to be, how many outbreaks need to be attributed to a school setting before they're willing to provide clear advice to school leaders about what restrictions in terms of attendance are necessary or desirable?"
Mr Middleman said the budget announced for the catch-up programme was a tenth of what was recommended.
Shadow education secretary Kate Green asked Education Secretary Gavin Williamson why he "failed to persuade'' the Chancellor to spend the money Sir Kevan Collins, the education recovery tsar, recommended was needed for the schools catch-up programme.
She said in the Commons: "Why did the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister fail to persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to invest in what Sir Kevan Collins said is needed to secure children's futures? Or does he in fact agree with the Chancellor who said - and I quote - that the Government have maxed out on support?''
Responding Mr Williamson said: "The Prime Minister and myself have outlined a clear plan in order to be able to roll out tutoring to 6 million children right up and down the country.
"We recognise what an important role that small group tutoring has and how it can benefit every child. That is why we have set out our ambition, that is what we're going to deliver on. It's already been an incredibly successful programme.''