The Department for Education has warned that its own Covid recovery plans may be insufficient “to adequately respond to lost learning” pupils have experienced during the pandemic.
This outcome is one of the key risks listed in the department’s newly published annual report for 2021.
The report describes this risk as “critical” and “very likely” to happen.
It warns that the risk has worsened over the course of 2021 following the second national lockdown involving schools and says that it is likely to remain “one of the department’s principal risks for a sustained period”.
The DfE’s annual report measures risk in terms of both the impact it will have and the likelihood of an event happening.
The risk of its response to lost learning being inadequate is described as being “very likely” - the highest category in terms of impact - and also as “critical”, the second-highest category.
Its new report describes the risk as follows: “The department’s approach to addressing lost learning and the implementation of education recovery, digital strategy, and remote education, at school/college level may be insufficient to adequately respond to the lost learning that has occurred during the pandemic.”
The report said: “The risk was escalated from a directorate level risk in December 2020, to reflect the increased risk in lost learning/catch-up as a result of lockdown and a significant period of school closures.
“Now schools have re‑opened, the challenge to remote education will revert to limiting differential lost learning as some pupils are required to self‑isolate or are away from school for other Covid‑19 related reasons.”
The report said mass testing in schools may lead to an increase in the number of positive test results among both pupils and teachers - and it warns that this could have implications for schools with children and teachers needing to isolate.
Sir Kevan was appointed as education recovery commissioner by Downing Street earlier this year but resigned over the level of funding the government had committed to education recovery.
He had put forward plans that involved extending the school day to help pupils’ education recover from the impact of the pandemic. His plans were said to have cost around £15 billion.
However, a major DfE announcement on catch-up earlier this year committed to only £1.4 billion of spending on education recovery and did not include extending the school day.
Tes revealed Sir Kevan had resigned after this announcement.
The DfE has subsequently committed another £1.8 billion in the most recent government Spending Review, bringing its total commitment to education recovery to around £5 billion.
The DfE’s new annual report says that it has introduced remote education to enable children to continue to learn when not in school and mitigate learning loss.
It highlights the creation of the Oak National Academy as an example of this work.
The report also highlights the temporary continuity direction that places a legal duty on schools for state‑funded school‑age children unable to attend lessons because of Covid‑19 to be able to access remote education.
The DfE introduced this in 2020 and it has been extended into 2021-22.
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