The Covid catch-up tsar’s blueprint for the government’s education recovery plan will be published “before the summer”, the schools minister has said.
Appearing before the Commons Education Select Committee today, Nick Gibb said Sir Kevan Collins will be “saying more” about his recommendations for “medium- and longer-term” action in the summer term.
Sir Kevan Collins: I’m here to ‘stop bad things happening’’
News briefing: What the catch-up tsar wants for schools
Background: Who is the new Covid catch-up tsar?
“The appointment of Kevan Collins was because we know that this catch-up will not be resolved within a short period - it is a longer-term project,” Mr Gibb said.
Covid catch-up ‘is a longer-term project’
“And so Kevan is doing a magnificent job in talking to the sector, talking right across government, to make sure that we have a very fundamental package of recovery.
Analysis by Tes reporter Amy Gibbons
The news that Sir Kevan’s recommendations for the government’s Covid catch-up plan will be published before schools break up for the summer holidays will be a relief to those keen to set in motion mitigations for the tough years to come.
While the government has said that its current recovery package, worth £1.7 billion, will cover summer schools and an expansion of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), there are still many unknowns relating to its medium- and long-term strategies.
The catch-up tsar has floated ideas of extending the “educational experience”, including increasing learning time for children. But he has stressed that teachers should not be asked to “do more for no more”.
Glimpses of his vision for recovery in committee hearings and interviews over the past few months point towards a holistic approach to post-pandemic education, including a focus on volunteering, sport, art and drama.
Sir Kevan has said that spending on the plan should be “in the billions”, and that he won’t “walk away” from a “fight” with the Department for Education in the event of a disagreement over his advice. One thing is for sure: whether they see eye-to-eye will become clear before the summer is out.
“And he’ll be saying more about that in the summer term, about what his recommendations are to government - about how we ensure in the medium- and longer-term, that every pupil is able to catch up from the education that they have lost as a consequence of the pandemic.”
Asked when the government will be announcing the contents of the “future programme”, Mr Gibb said: ”[Sir Kevan] will be making his recommendations to government and those will be made public as soon as he can, but it will be before the summer term is over.”
