Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of potential discrepancies in examination and test performance between children who (a) have and (b) have not missed more than 20 days of schooling.

The Department recognises the challenges faced by schools, teachers, and students, and is aware that disruption has been felt differently across the country and between schools and colleges in the same area and between students within individual institutions.

The Department collects data from early years settings, schools and colleges detailing absences related to COVID-19. We are also conducting research to understand the learning lost by school aged pupils as a result of disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department has also confirmed the launch of an expert advisory group to consider the differential impacts of the pandemic on students and recommend mitigations for these impacts. Furthermore, Primary assessments in 2021 will be focused on those most important for schools, pupils and parents. The assessments that are going ahead will help assess the impact of lost time in education and ensure pupils receive the teaching that will best enable them to address any impact.

In recognition of the challenges faced by students, the Department has announced a package of measures that will ensure students have a fair chance of showing their knowledge and understanding of a subject in exams. The announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-support-the-summer-2021-exams.

These include grading that is more generous than previous years and adaptions to exams, such as giving students advance notice of topic areas and exam support materials. These adaptations will allow students to use the remaining time before the exams more effectively, which will be of particular benefit to those most affected by learning loss.