Educational Settings

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

The noble Baroness is correct: the reassurance that we need to give will be given in the guidance regarding exams tomorrow. All the qualifications, including, for instance, the independent training providers and the apprenticeship training that goes on, are up for consideration and we recognise that they are all affected in the same way.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the mother of a teacher at Graveney School, a secondary school in south London. She is working hard with her A-level students to see that they get the best support possible. However, she and other teachers I know well have expressed concern that the IT equipment they have to provide distance learning if they have to work from home is not necessarily of the order that you would expect, for example, a university lecturer to have been given. Will the Government consider emergency help for schools to purchase up-to-date IT equipment for teachers to work effectively, certainly over the next six months?

[Baroness Berridge]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. I will take that specific request back, but I know that we intend to do everything we can to support remote learning and teaching.