Education catch up plans across all UK nations 'do not go far enough'

All four nations have put in place measures to help schools recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and boost attainment among disadvantaged pupils.

But an Education Policy Institute report says none of the plans fail go far enough to support pupils.

• Related news: Sir Kevan Collins named as education recovery tsar

• Lockdown response: how services deliver vital support for children

Scotland and England’s school catch up plans are “poorly targeted” and not focused at supporting the most disadvantaged pupils, the report states.

While Wales and Northern Ireland’s per pupil investment is significantly lower, although the EPI does acknowledge it is better targeted at poorer pupils.

Among the hardest hit amid the pandemic have been pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), especially in adapting to home schooling. However, the EPI warns that “all nations have failed to provide adequate guidance on supporting vulnerable pupils who have special educational needs with remote learning”.

The EPI concludes that “all current catch-up plans are insufficient” adding that the UK government and devolved administrations need to ensure their school catch up programmes are long term to “address the scale of learning loss”.

The research found that the UK government’s catch-up programme for England is the most generous, at £174 per pupil. This totals £1.2bn for schools and £96m for colleges.

Meanwhile, Wales’ investment is £88 per pupil, totalling £40m and in Northern Ireland investment is £82 per pupil (£28m).

Half of Wales and Northern Ireland’s catch up funding is targeted towards poorer pupils. However, the proportion is just 30 per cent in England.

Since the report was released the Scottish Government announced an additional £60m to the £80m already pledged for education catch up.

This takes per pupil catch up spend in Scotland from £114 to £200. But while this uplift means Scotland is investing the highest amount of funding per pupil, there are no indications that the proportion targeted at disadvantaged pupils, of around 20 per cent, will increase.

Education catch up: our new report finds big differences in the policies of UK nations to support pupils with lost learning.

Scotland offers the most per pupil, followed by England, Wales and NI.

However, we conclude all plans offer insufficient support: https://t.co/6JV6vEnEXT pic.twitter.com/rfH7fA8vMn

— Education Policy Institute (@EduPolicyInst) February 18, 2021

Report author and EPI research fellow Luke Sibieta said: “All four UK nations have faced common challenges following the massive disruption to education, but this analysis shows that despite this, their approaches to academic catch-up programmes contrast significantly. 

“The Scottish and UK governments have so far committed the most catch-up funding, however the programmes for both Scotland and England are poorly targeted. In comparison, we find that the programmes of Wales and Northern Ireland have lower funding in total, but focus more resources on the poorest pupils, who we know have been hardest hit. 

“We know that the adverse effects of the pandemic will persist well beyond this academic year, so policymakers across the UK must look at providing additional catch-up funding over multiple years, with far greater levels targeted at the most disadvantaged pupils. Only then will we begin to meet the scale of the challenge posed by this crisis.”

EPI executive chairman David Laws added: “It is very clear that current education catch-up proposals offer only a fraction of the support that is needed to deal with the huge amount of lost learning time.”

The report notes the differences across the four UK nations in the opening of the early years sector amid the pandemic during 2020.

Early years providers reopened the quickest in Wales and Scotland than in England. Government support for the early yeas sector has been the most generous in England and Northern Ireland, where some funding was over and above demand for places.

But the EPI warns that “since January 2021 England has reverted to allocating funding based on registered places”.

National Day Nurseries Association chief executive Purnima Tanuku called for practical and financial support from the government” to cope with the impact of the pandemic on early years providers.

“From PPE and testing plans to changing the funding arrangements at the start of this latest lockdown private and voluntary providers have been left to face these challenges unsupported,” she said.

“The decision to only fund places in England on headcount from January has taken a source of funding support away from providers at a time when they have needed it most. With the majority of settings worried about whether they will make it to Easter without having to close their doors for good, impacting on sufficient childcare being available in the future.

"It’s clear that ministers must rethink funding and identify more support to providers.”

Early Years Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch added: “While there is currently much focus on the planned reopening of schools, it is vital that the early years sector, which delivers both vital childcare to parents and critical early education to young children, is not forgotten.

"With demand for early years places likely to remain much lower than normal for some time, the government simply must provide the urgent financial support that the sector needs - or risk losing quality providers from the sector for good."