Schools offering lifeline to disadvantaged children during pandemic, say headteachers
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
A major survey into the role of education in the UK's recovery from Covid-19 says schools are a vital “lifeline” to disadvantaged students.
The National Education Union's (NEU) State of Education survey includes the views of more than 10,000 teachers and education professionals, and gathered views on how schools can best emerge from the pandemic and continue supporting disadvantaged pupils.
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Almost all (94 per cent) of respondents believe that poverty affects children’s learning and just over half (51 per cent) said poverty impacts pupils to a “large extent”.
One teacher surveyed recounts how they called at the home of a pupil after speaking to an older sibling “who was panicking” over details of their free school meal entitlement.
“It was the evening before a bank holiday weekend and there was no food in the house. I will never forget the panic in that girl's voice,” said the teacher.
“No school child should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.”
The teacher said: “We have had pupils and their families move into hostels during the pandemic when they were evicted”, adding “in 20 years teaching I have never seen the situation so bad”.
Support being offered by schools to children living in poverty has included free uniforms and breakfasts as well as access to school laptops.
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Recommendations to emerge from the survey, the results of which were published during the union's annual conference this week, include retaining smaller class sizes to better support pupils.
Reducing pressures on staff is another key theme. More than eight in ten (85 per cent) respondents called for government to take action to reduce high workloads. A similar proportion (77 per cent) want the role of Ofsted and performance tables in schools cut over the next school year.
Most respondents (98 per cent) do not want to see term times change or school days extended to help pupils recover from the pandemic. Instead, NEU members surveyed are backing new ways of working using technology, with a focus on closing the digital divide disadvantaged pupils are facing.
More than a third (37 per cent) want current flexibility around the school curriculum during the pandemic to be retained long term.
"It is now beyond doubt that child poverty is on the rise,” said NEU joint general secretary Mary Bousted.
“The effects can last a lifetime, and young people have one chance in education. There is no doubt, too, that schools and colleges have been going beyond the call of duty for them during this past year, as they always do.”