Pupils: Coronavirus

(asked on 3rd March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of covid-19 lockdowns on the attainment gap between boys and girls in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 12th March 2021

Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 disruption on the attainment and progress of all students is a key research priority for the Government, and we have commissioned an independent research and assessment agency to provide a baseline assessment of catch-up needs for pupils in schools in England and monitor progress over the course of the year. This research is based on assessments that schools are already using over this academic year. Initial findings from the research were recently published on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupils-progress-in-the-2020-to-2021-academic-year-interim-report. The next stages of the research will enable us to break down impacts on different subgroups of pupils, including analysis of how boys’ and girls’ attainment may have been differentially affected by time out of school due to COVID-19.

The Government recognises that extended school and college restrictions have had a substantial impact on children and young people’s education and are committed to helping pupils make up learning lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. In January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister committed to work with parents, teachers and pupils to develop a long-term plan to help pupils make up their learning over the course of this Parliament.

In February 2021, the Department appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to advise on the approach for education recovery and the development of a long-term plan to help pupils make up their learning over the course of this Parliament. As an immediate step, we have made available a further £700 million to support education recovery measures. This builds on the £1 billion from last year and brings total available in education recovery to £1.7 billion. Funding will support pupils across nurseries, schools and colleges and provides an additional one-off ‘Recovery Premium’ for schools, expansion of tutoring in schools and colleges, summer schools in 2021 and early language support.

Reticulating Splines