Education Return and Awarding Qualifications in 2021 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Triesman
Main Page: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Triesman's debates with the Department for International Trade
(3 years, 4 months ago)
Lords ChamberThat issue and others are precisely what Sir Kevan Collins will be helping us with. We are monitoring interim findings on the amount of learning that has been lost. That will inform some of the basis for assessing how those students are doing. We can really only assess things from Monday to know who has lost what time in education.
My Lords, I draw attention to my entry in the register as a member of the board of Bounce Forward, a charity concerned with children’s resilience. I agree with the Minister that we all want to see our children back in school. We all want to know that it is a safe process, that children will not be taking the virus home and that we will not be wholly reliant on flow tests that have been hardly reliable.
We have learned that any ambiguity in the advice given can be very counterproductive. The Statement says that with specific medical exceptions, school pupils will wear face masks in school at all times. But apparently, and confusingly, the Government have also issued advice that allows parents to opt their children out of this requirement. We know that many people and communities are sceptical about vaccines and are declining them, which I greatly regret. They may be likely to opt their children out of mask wearing. Will the Minister make it absolutely clear today that wearing masks in schools is mandatory, except where there is a medical reason not to do so?
My Lords, we have all got used to the fact that there are certain people for whom there is an exemption from wearing a mask, and it is clear that the matter of how mask wearing is enforced in a classroom, or wherever else in a school there cannot be social distancing, is a matter for the school. We do not believe that we should be dictating how schools respond to different situations. There may be a multiplicity of reasons and particular circumstances, so it is up to the schools, as with any other behaviour policy, to monitor the wearing of masks.