Covid-19: Education Attendance

Debate between Baroness Fox of Buckley and Baroness Berridge

Thursday 1st July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, on the noble Baroness’s last point, we do not have medical advice at the moment to say that we should vaccinate young people of that age, except those who have serious neurological conditions. We are wating for the JCVI to give that advice. We will look at the data. Government departments are obviously working closely together and we will provide an update on step 4 in the near future.

[Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-Afl)]

What advice would the Minister give to parents if their child says that he or she has a tummy ache and does not want to go to school? Parents would usually reply, “You’ll be fine, darling, remember that education is so important”. Now, after months of forcing hundreds of thousands of pupils to stay isolated at home, even though they are well, surely the lesson is that school is not so important. Does she also have any advice for teachers in the future, chasing homework or confronting truancy after so long socialising pupils to think that school attendance is provisional?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, current attendance levels—despite those who are self-isolating—are at around 87%. One feature of the pandemic has been the appreciation for teachers and the workforce. On the importance of school, many young people now report that they appreciate it more than they did in the past. We have been clear that we wanted education settings to be the last to close and the first to reopen.

Education Return and Awarding Qualifications in 2021

Debate between Baroness Fox of Buckley and Baroness Berridge

Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, during the consultation period the department met with a number of stakeholders—in fact, with just over 100 organisations, including SEND organisations. The tests will be provided by exam boards but they are voluntary; schools will be able to set their own tests. There will be a list of assessment materials that they can use to form the basis of the tests. They can use coursework or something from the first year of GCSE, but they will then sign a declaration. The content of that declaration is being consulted on, but it will say that they have done the assessment process in accordance with the guidance and the outline given to them by the exam boards. However, they will be trained and assisted with grade descriptors and exemplar material so that we can have confidence that grades are as consistent as they can be across different centres.

[Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-Afl)]

Can the noble Baroness explain on what evidence the Government made the extraordinary decision to mandate that secondary pupils mask up in the classroom, especially as in August, the Prime Minister described such a policy as “clearly nonsensical”? As this means that children as young as 11 will spend the majority of their waking hours wearing a mask, can the noble Baroness tell us whether any research has been done on the health, educational or social costs of children wearing masks for such an extended period? Finally, can the noble Baroness allay the concern of teachers that wearing face masks in the classroom is not the return of face-to-face teaching, because they are antithetical to classroom engagement? How can the teacher read the room, see who is struggling and see who has understood? That would seem even more important as the Government are now advocating teacher-led assessment, but teachers cannot see whom they are assessing.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the wearing of face masks in secondary schools will be reviewed at Easter. This is a three and a half week period during which Public Health England has advised us to do this, and although it is not ideal—no one is pretending that—it is far outweighed by children not being in school and not having their education delivered face to face. Therefore, it is a compromise and it will be reviewed at Easter.

Covid-19: Educational Settings

Debate between Baroness Fox of Buckley and Baroness Berridge

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the Government have purchased more than a million laptops. The change in the formula to which I believe the noble Lord refers—the change in the allocations—was to get laptops to children already self-isolating at home, and not to have them delivered to schools by a numbers allocation. That was entirely sensible: those children needed those laptops there and then. As I said, by the end of next week, 750,000 will have been delivered. The portal on the DfE website is open to all secondary schools and more than half of primary schools, and the latest response time I have for schools ordering and it being delivered is four to five days from that order. As I said, by the end of next week, we will have delivered 750,000 laptops. The Department for Education is one of the world’s leading purchasers of laptops. This was an enormous order to manufacturers to give our disadvantaged children access to technology.

[Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, to quote the Statement:

“I would like to reassure everyone that our schools have not suddenly become unsafe, but limiting the number of people who attend them is essential”


when Covid rates are rising. So schools have not suddenly become unsafe; it is about limiting numbers.

Some rather imaginative, frustrated and demoralised sixth-formers I know have a suggestion for the Minister, which is that they would happily meet in limited numbers if she requisitioned a whole range of buildings lying fallow in this lockdown and mobilised a volunteer army of ex-teachers, heads and any number of members of the community who are willing to help, to allow them to study in hotels, hospitality areas or wherever, so that they could have face-to-face teaching and then be able to do their exams.

No matter how much you get Ofsted involved, you will not improve the quality of online teaching. Ofsted could be all over this House, but it would still notice that it is sterile to have a hybrid form of debate. It is sterile to have online teaching, no matter how much Ofsted inspects it.

I have a quick final question. Early years education remains open, which is fantastic, as far as I am concerned, but why cannot primary school pupils aged four, five, six or seven go to school as well, even in small clusters, in a similar way? Surely the science does not stop at three or four. What basis is there for keeping early years open? I do not want it closed, by the way; that is not the conclusion. In other words, reassure us that it is safe and then find imaginative ways of making it safe for face-to-face teaching to carry on.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it is an ingenious suggestion and I am grateful to the noble Baroness for giving me advance notice of it. However, it is one of those things that is easier said than done. It is very difficult to expect schools to operate, even in small groups, over multiple sites. There are issues with health and safety, et cetera, and the logistics of running provision. You are not just running remote provision but running a school over a number of geographical sites. Although it is not the same as face-to-face teaching, it is easier at that age for them to engage online.

The evidence is that the level of the disease in the early years population group is the lowest of all the age groups. Therefore, the decision for early years provision to stay open was made on that basis. For the reasons that I have outlined, and because we are at the other end of the age spectrum for that age group, one cannot deliver that kind of education remotely at all. In terms of numbers, the decision was made to limit primary schools provision to small clusters of vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. Referring back, FE colleges in particular have made a good job of moving their provision online. Therefore, online provision for that age group is the best option at the moment, and follows public health advice.

Covid-19: GCSE and A-level Exams

Debate between Baroness Fox of Buckley and Baroness Berridge

Thursday 3rd December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, exams give students an opportunity to show what they know and to be assessed on it objectively. I pay tribute to schools and exam centres that, even during the recent lockdown, ran examinations for approximately 20,000 students. We are confident that exams can be run next year. As I have outlined, exams at 16 are important in England, because the majority of our students transition at that age.

[Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-Afl)]

The noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, brings us good news for once. That exams will go ahead is especially important when so many have opportunistically used the pandemic to lobby against exams per se—no U-turns, please. When the Secretary of State says that the most important thing is how young people progress to the next stage, does it not reduce exams merely to credentials on pieces of paper? What are the Government doing about the knowledge gap to compensate for what is not being taught, beyond exams? While I commend creative special measures, generous grading and so on, some teachers say that exam aids and crib sheets are an official endorsement of cheating. Can the Minister comment?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, we are confident that schools—as will be shown when they are inspected by Ofsted, which will not happen until at least the summer term—are delivering a broad and balanced curriculum. The changes and reforms that have been introduced to GCSEs should be knowledge rich, so that students leave with a love of learning and not just exams to help them transition to the next stage.