Covid-19: Educational Settings

Lord Watson of Invergowrie Excerpts

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, we are here today because of the latest in a long line of government U-turns on education, often just days after a denial that any such change of policy would happen. As an avid reader of Schools Week, I imagine the Minister will have been somewhat embarrassed by Monday’s edition which, under the headline “The back-to-school debacle: a week of blundering U-turns”, outlined a total of five in the previous six days alone. That will take some beating, although I do not doubt that the Government are up to that challenge.

The Statement is welcome, although it poses a number of questions, the first of which is why there is no plan B for exams ready and waiting. It is hardly a surprise that we find ourselves in this position, and there is an urgent need to avoid a repeat of the intolerable situation in which so many young people and their parents found themselves last year—a fiasco that dragged on into August. On the replacement for school and college exams, when does the Minister expect that the alternative arrangements will be announced? There is a need for speed to confirm what the alternative arrangements are for allocating final grades; anything other than a short delay cannot be acceptable.

I pay tribute to everyone who has made it possible to keep pupils learning online: school leaders, teachers and support staff, plus of course parents, who are having to cope as best they can with home schooling, often while juggling childcare or employment. It is essential that every pupil who is not in school be able to continue their education, and the Statement says that the Government are “better placed” to deliver online learning than they were last year. That remains to be seen. The Government need to adopt a plan to get every child online and every school enabled to deliver the necessary digital support. Despite the number of laptops already rolled out, Ofqual has said that as many as 1.75 million children still do not have access to a device. Will the DfE be redeploying officials to help identify those children and ensure that their technical support needs are met?

To the surprise of many MPs, the Secretary of State told them yesterday that children who did not have access to digital devices would be able to return to school, irrespective of their vulnerability or their parents having key worker status. Will this not place an intolerable burden on schools and their staff in delivering online lessons, as well as undermining the effect of the lockdown?

When the Prime Minister announced the cancellation of summer GCSE and A-level exams on Monday he did not even mention BTEC students taking exams this week. Once again, these students, who have missed out on lots of core practical teaching this year, are an afterthought for the Government. They have experienced the same kind of disruption as their peers but, because most have more coursework, it would be easier to grade them reliably without exams.

Today I received an email from a BTEC student who made the point that BTECs are studied in schools as well as colleges and that they involve courses that are an alternative to A-levels—something the young student pointedly said the Secretary of State seems to have overlooked. She is right. Her fellow students due to sit A-levels have had their exams cancelled; yet, worryingly, she was given the choice by her school whether to sit her BTEC exam this week. I do not believe the Secretary of State intended that when he said that each school and college could decide. It seems unfair for such an important decision to be offloaded by the school on to their students.

I turn to early years settings, which are being kept open to all children, not just those deemed vulnerable or with parents with key worker status. How can it be deemed unsafe for schools, colleges and universities to remain fully open and yet it is safe, apparently, for early years settings? When asked if he could explain this, Professor Calum Semple, a member of SAGE, said, “No, I can’t … it may be that a political decision has been made here that nurseries are essential. But it’s not a scientific one”. I hope the Minister can throw some light on that. It is another blow to the early years sector after funding support was removed, while the job retention scheme was extended. That vital support should be reinstated as soon as possible.

Finally, the Statement says that regular Covid testing will take place as a means of reopening schools as soon as possible. Will staff be prioritised for vaccination, and is the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation working on a strategy to vaccinate all education staff to keep them safe?