Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has published for teachers and teaching assistants to ensure that they are aware that children who cannot access remote learning equipment will be classified as vulnerable children and will have the right to attend face-to-face education in the school environment during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.

During the national lockdown, schools should only allow vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers to attend. Guidance for this is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision. The definition of vulnerable children has been in place since March, has been consistent throughout our response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and includes those children who may be vulnerable for a reason at local discretion. Several examples of the sorts of factors that may contribute to vulnerability are included, but it is not an exhaustive or definitive list.

On 8 January 2021, the Department published updated guidance on remote education, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950510/School_national_restrictions_guidance.pdf. In this guidance, we refer to the definition of vulnerable children, which notes that some children who have difficulty engaging in remote education may be considered vulnerable and, therefore, eligible to attend provision. It is up to the child’s education provider or local authority to make this decision. The decision would be based on the needs of the child and their family, and a range of other factors, as set out in the following guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision#vulnerable-children-and-young-people.

The updated remote education guidance also sets outs that where pupils continue to experience barriers to digital remote education, the Department expect schools to work to overcome these barriers. This could include distributing school-owned laptops or supplementing digital provision with different forms of remote education, such as printed resources or textbooks. This should be supplemented with other forms of communication to keep pupils and students on track, or answer questions about work.

The Department has also published a good practice guide, which provides advice to teachers and school leaders to support effective delivery of the curriculum remotely. This is available here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/remote-education-good-practice/remote-education-good-practice. This is part of our broader package of support for schools, accessible via the following ‘Get Help with Remote Education’ page: https://get-help-with-remote-education.education.gov.uk/good-teaching-practice.html.