Remote Education

(asked on 14th December 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure online home-learning options remain available for children who are unable to attend school for health reasons post the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Robin Walker Portrait
Robin Walker
This question was answered on 10th January 2022

COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with and the imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education remains. Our priority is for schools to deliver face-to-face, high-quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.

School attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age and it is a priority to ensure that as many children as possible regularly attend school. However, the department’s current guidance for remote education states that schools affected by the remote education temporary continuity direction must provide remote education for state-funded, school-aged pupils whose attendance would be contrary to public health advice or government guidance or law relating to COVID-19 during the 2021/22 academic year.

This means that from September 2021, schools should offer remote education to pupils who test positive for COVID-19 or present with COVID-19 symptoms, where they are well enough to be educated from home.

In terms of considering home education options for children who are unable to attend school for health reasons beyond the COVID-19 outbreak, the department is carefully considering the role that remote approaches could play in the education system longer-term, recognising the opportunities that remote education has presented, alongside the challenges.

The department recognises that technology in education has been essential for continuing to teach remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent school and college closures. We are building on the department’s significant investment in devices, platforms, training and digital services to develop a sustainable strategy for digital technology in education.

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