{"id":263017,"date":"2021-08-04T05:42:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T05:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=1463731"},"modified":"2021-08-04T05:42:06","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T05:42:06","slug":"refusal-to-make-covid-school-contingency-plans-for-exams-is-unforgivable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/08\/04\/refusal-to-make-covid-school-contingency-plans-for-exams-is-unforgivable\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Refusal\u2019 to make Covid school contingency plans for exams is \u2018unforgivable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The government\u2019s \u201crefusal\u201d to make contingency plans for schools and exams in summer 2020 is the \u201cmost unforgivable aspect\u201d of its handling of education amid the coronavirus pandemic, a new report has suggested.<\/p>\n<p>Lessons regarding school closures and examinations from the first lockdown were \u201cnot learnt\u201d, leading to a case of \u201cpause, rewind, repeat\u201d, a paper by the Institute for Government (IfG) found.<\/p>\n<p>Coming ahead of this month\u2019s A-level and GCSE results, the report, entitled Schools And Coronavirus: The Government\u2019s Handling Of Education During The Pandemic, described the period following the March 2020 closure of England\u2019s schools announced by the Prime Minister as \u201ceasily the most disruptive period in children\u2019s education since at least the start of the Second World War\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START PA Quote --><\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"pa-embed\" data-type=\"quote\" data-quote=\"The most unforgivable aspect of what happened is not just the failure to make contingency plans in the summer of 2020 but the refusal to do so\" data-source=\"Institute for Government\"><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/content-embed.pressassociation.com\/embeds.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END PA Quote --><\/p>\n<p>It stated: \u201cIts most important conclusion is that the most unforgivable aspect of what happened is not just the failure to make contingency plans in the summer of 2020 but the refusal to do so \u2013 when it was already obvious that fresh school closures might well be needed, and that exams might have to be cancelled again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLessons were not learnt from the first lockdown, with the result that, for both school closures and exams, the story from July 2020 to January 2021 was a case of \u2018pause, rewind, repeat\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>It added: \u201cWell into March 2021, and indeed beyond, pupils taking GCSEs, A-levels and BTecs remained unclear about precisely how they were to be assessed. At times it felt as though the school system was in chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The report notes a \u201ccommendably swift decision was taken at the start on the definition of key workers whose children could be in school\u201d, adding that the \u201csupply of laptops for remote learning was, perhaps unavoidably, slower than anyone would have liked\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, it draws particular attention to the \u201chighly centralised approach\u201d to dealing with 24,000 schools and \u201ctensions between No 10 and DfE\u201d (the Department for Education).<\/p>\n<p>Education secretary Gavin Williamson, it adds, \u201cappears not to have been directly involved in any of the key meetings ahead of the original decision to close schools in March 2020\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START PA Quote --><\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"pa-embed\" data-type=\"quote\" data-quote=\"U-turn after U-turn, with pupils, parents and teachers left bewildered and floundering time and again\" data-source=\"Institute for Government\"><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/content-embed.pressassociation.com\/embeds.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END PA Quote --><\/p>\n<p>The report goes on to say there was a \u201crefusal to trust local authorities and a failure to engage effectively with them, and their directors of public health, in ways that might have allowed a more nuanced and better response.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDreadful communications. Repeated declarations that schools would open or close, or that exams would be held \u2013 despite the evident uncertainties \u2013 until reality struck. The result was U-turn after U-turn, with pupils, parents and teachers left bewildered and floundering time and again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The report includes claims from a Number 10 source over Boris Johnson\u2019s approach to contingency planning.<\/p>\n<p>It notes: \u201cA No 10 source says that \u2018the clear steer\u2019 that officials received from the Prime Minister was not to make contingency plans. Schools were going to reopen. Exams would be held.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe view was that \u2018if you prepare for these things not happening, then\u00a0the outcome is that they are far more likely not to happen \u2026 people will look for the easy way out and take it\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to this insider, the Prime Minister\u2019s default is\u00a0to bluff. To talk up things to such an extent that they will happen through the force of\u00a0his own personality, which is a very powerful tool. But the virus doesn\u2019t listen to those messages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START PA Quote --><\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"pa-embed\" data-type=\"quote\" data-quote=\"But the failure - indeed, the refusal - to make contingency plans over the summer and autumn of 2020 left pupils, parents and teachers facing a case of 'pause, rewind, repeat', not least over exams\" data-source=\"Nicholas Timmins, Institute for Government\"><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/content-embed.pressassociation.com\/embeds.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END PA Quote --><\/p>\n<p>IfG senior fellow and report author\u00a0Nicholas Timmins\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cMost countries faced a challenge over schooling that was unprecedented in modern times as the pandemic struck.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome early decisions in England were taken well. Some, which took longer than anyone would have wanted to implement, will have some lasting benefit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the failure \u2013 indeed, the refusal \u2013 to make contingency plans over the summer and autumn of 2020 left pupils, parents and teachers facing a case of \u2018pause, rewind, repeat\u2019, not least over exams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A Department for Education spokesperson said: \u201cContrary to the claims in this report, contingency plans for restrictions on schools opening in the \u201921\/22 academic year were first published in August 2020, and contingency plans for qualifications in 2021 were first discussed with Ofqual in October 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have acted swiftly at every turn to minimise the impact on children\u2019s education and wellbeing and help keep pupils in face-to-face education as much as possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe provided 1.3 million laptops and tablets to disadvantaged students, funded Oak National Academy to provide video lessons and made sure students could receive exam grades that helped them progress to the next stage of education or work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/author\/thecanary\/\">The Canary<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/uk\/news\/2021\/08\/04\/refusal-to-make-covid-school-contingency-plans-for-exams-is-unforgivable\/\">The Canary<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lessons regarding school closures and examinations from the first lockdown were \u2018not learnt\u2019, a paper by the Institute for Government found.<\/p>\n<p>By <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/author\/thecanary\/\">The Canary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1541,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11775,304,428,5688,26092,4,1395],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1541"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263018,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263017\/revisions\/263018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}