In George Orwell’s novel 1984, the manipulation of information is a central theme. By dumbfounding the population, those in power make fact fiction and fiction fact. 

In real life, in 2021, it seems that manipulation of information is also becoming a key theme. 

Blindly pursuing an agenda with no firm evidence - or, in fact, any knowledge of the difficulty of implementation - is madness, but it feels like that is exactly what is happening with regards to the education recovery plans. 

Boris Johnson has said that extending the school day “is the right thing to do” to help pupils catch up after Covid disruption to education. 

I’m unclear exactly what is meant by “the right thing”. Moralistically? Educationally? But what is certainly clear is that he doesn’t want to fork out £15 billion on it. 

It’s as though they were saying that they want to extend the school day - but not to make it longer. Sound familiar? 

Covid catch-up: Is an extended school day ‘the right thing to do’?

Extending the school day remains a key suggestion in the government’s (half-baked) recovery plan for education, regardless of the fact that it was omitted from the package announced by the Department for Education last month. This led to the resignation of education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins. 

When questioned on extending the school day during a meeting of the Commons Liaison Committee, the prime minister said that the evidence that had been assembled “was not as good as it could have been”. 

The prime minister went on to say that the evidence collated suggested that other approaches were more effective. But the fact remains that the government thinks that an extension of the day is necessary - in fact, Boris Johnson explicitly stated, “I do think it is the right thing to do. The question is how you do it.”

That’s my question, too. How, realistically, does the PM think that extending the school day is a feasible and robust solution to ensuring that learners are able to overcome the effects of Covid? 

Teachers are exhausted, students are exhausted and we all know that “thinking” something and having evidence to support intuitions are two very different things. It seems the £15 billion price tag wasn’t too appealing, but the PM is hoping to get a bargain in the sales. 

Finding the evidence to fit the agenda

Does Johnson understand the knock-on effects of ramming this agenda through? He must do. How on earth will schools feasibly facilitate a longer school day without numerous negative impacts - and the appropriate funding? 

Is more time at school what the students really need? Another bolt-on addition to say that a box has been ticked? 

And when is it supposed to begin (assuming we’ll actually be given more than a week to begin to implement it)? No one knows. Nor do we know if the focus will be extracurricular or academic. 

Seemingly short-sighted thinking is something we have become accustomed to over the past 16 months. However, there is a dangerous Orwellian undertone emerging. 

The PM said a review was underway “to get the evidence that we want”. To me, that sounds highly biased. It feels like the government is going to sell teachers short again, and put into place a haphazard plan that once more increases stress, pressure and workload. 

Worst of all, it is going to market it using the evidence it “wants” and not the original findings - because, well, the findings don’t fit the agenda. 

If an extended school day is, in fact, the best option for educational recovery, then so be it. But I’m not sold. 

As a teacher, a parent and a normal-thinking person, I feel that children need to be put at the centre of this recovery plan, and the government needs to stop and listen to those in schools.

Adam Riches is an assistant principal and senior leader for teaching and learning, specialist leader in education and head of English. He tweets @TeachMrRiches