Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 2
2
The Department must continue to establish the full effect of the pandemic on children and...
Conclusion
The Department must continue to establish the full effect of the pandemic on children and young people. This must consider the impacts felt by children from disadvantaged backgrounds and on the regional disparities of support offered. This must not be confined to solely academic factors but should also focus on understanding how children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing have been affected, as this is critical to academic attainment. All data should seek to identify where pupils with particular characteristics (including ethnicity, free school meals eligibility, or those with special educational needs) have been differentially impacted. The Department should utilise real-time data and the results of school and local authority assessments of pupils’ lost learning to better target catch-up and mental health support immediately, so education recovery is not ‘on hold’ or delayed while the latest data is being collated. Funding must be committed by the Government to tackle the digital divide and boost broadband infrastructure to ensure that all children have the support they need to catch up on lost learning. Where data already exists, significant funding must be committed to targeted catch-up interventions to tackle the growing educational inequalities that are leaving some children with worsening academic outcomes and life chances. (Paragraph 19) A spaghetti junction of funding
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
14. We recognise the need to ensure we understand the full impact Covid-19 has had on children and young people, including establishing the effect on attainment and mental health and wellbeing. This is why we have invested in research into academic progress over the 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years with Renaissance Learning and the Education Policy Institute. The latest findings from this research, published 28 March, include data from the first half of the 2021–22 Autumn term, and we launched, via the Research & Insights Marketplace, our invitation to tender for the first tranche of further research on 19 April to cover future terms. Our research with Ipsos Mori in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University and the Centre for Education and Youth is gathering evidence from schools to understand how they have responded to the impacts of the pandemic and what further support they believe they need. In January 2022, we published findings from the first year of research. The full report will be published in early 2023. We also collect and collate various management information, evaluation, and delivery data on a regular basis which informs our recovery work. Our data and research consider the impacts on pupils with particular characteristics including ethnicity, gender, free school meal eligibility, pupils with SEND, Children in Need, as well as considering regional disparities and area- level deprivation. 15. We understand that the pandemic and the associated public health measures and restrictions, including social distancing and school closures, has impacted on the mental wellbeing of some children and young people. Our State of the Nation 2021 report: children and young people’s wellbeing4 found that following a reduction in wellbeing in 2020, there were some signs of recovery in the last academic year, responding to improvements in pandemic conditions. Data also illustrates the rates of mental health problems in children and young people have not continued to increase from 2020; although they remained at elevated levels in 2021. The report supported the value of children being in school for their wellbeing. Evidence shows that older children and young people, females, those with existing mental health needs, those from disadvantaged backgrounds or SEND were more likely to show greater impacts. We continue to monitor emerging data and wider publications in this space.