Let’s focus on what children have learned this year, rather than what they’ve missed

Let’s stop and think for a moment about what could be in the Covid-19 curriculum. What are the things we should all acknowledge, applaud, and accredit, before we return to bad habits?

There is an opportunity to put recent wellbeing and mental health rhetoric into practice; and truly support this generation to make sense of the year and be supported to recover appropriately.  We should not cause even more harm through our own poor choices. 

At the best times, children’s education can feel like an unstoppable treadmill. One full of pressure, urgency and the inevitable build up to exams. This year, much of the public and political focus has been on a deficit model; the things that haven’t happened in children’s learning. But I argue the past 12 months have been a rich learning environment – good and bad. We should be awarding GCSEs for all the learning Covid-19 has brought.