Poorest students up to eight months behind peers in education
MPs warn of an “epidemic of educational inequality” due to Covid-19 pandemic.
A report from the Education Select Committee published Thursday 10th March, revealed disadvantaged pupils are falling behind their peers following the pandemic.
The report also criticised the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) administered by Randstad. The committee stated that if Randstad could not deliver the scheme effectively, it should be “booted out”.
In addition, the report said pupils were facing a “worsening mental health crisis” because of school closures and national lockdowns during the pandemic.
The report highlighted how during the pandemic, a fifth of pupils did no schoolwork at home or did less than an hour a day. Furthermore, the report highlighted the alarmingly high absences rate since schools have reopened. The report stated 182,000 pupils were absent for Covid-related reasons on February 10th.
The Education Select Committee said the government needed to take action on absences and ensure that no more pupils become “ghost children”. That is, pupils who have fallen off schools’ radar during the pandemic.
The committee also added that the Education Policy Institute said the progress made in improving education for the poorest pupils had been reversed.
Regional inequalities
The Government’s flagship National Tutoring Programme (NTP) scheme was heavily criticised by the Education Select Committee.
The committee said the NTP appears to be “failing the most disadvantaged”. The committee found the NTP scheme reached 100% of its target number of schools in the South-West in March 2021 but only managed 58.8% of targets in the North-East.
Furthermore, in December 2021, only 52,000 courses had been started by pupils through the tuition partners pillar. This is just 10% of Randstad’s target for the year.
The Schools Minister Robin Walker said that catch-up tutoring has been “slow in parts” but is “on track” to deliver its objectives this year.
The chair of the Education Select Committee, Conservative MP Robert Halfon, said, “the real questions that I have, given the importance of catch-up, is whether the catch-up programme is fit for purpose, the National Tutoring Programme particularly. And my view is that under the Randstad programme it's not working."