Some teachers will need “a complete break this summer” and will not be available to run summer schools, according to a prominent teachers’ leader.
Dame Alison Peacock, chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, said that while some teachers will “have the energy” to do it, others will “quite rightly” need a break.
She was speaking at a panel event at the annual Schools and Academies Show, which began online today, along with children’s commissioner Rachel de Souza and president of the NAHT school leaders’ union Ruth Davies.
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The panel was asked the question: “Is there any appetite from teachers for summer schools after the year they have had?”
This comes after the Department for Education announced that schools in England can now register to offer summer provision for pupils who experienced the most disruption to their learning during the pandemic.
Dame Alison said that some teachers will need a break and she warned that summer schools might not reach the children who could benefit most.
She said: “The children that politicians have got in the their minds [to take up summer schools] are not necessarily the ones who will step forward…typically they won’t be able to take up the opportunity or won’t chose to take up the opportunity.
“It may well be some of those more middle-class children, who’ve missed out on their ballet and tap and recorder and everything else every night of the week during the pandemic, who do want to do this, but it will be interesting to see.”
She added: “There will be teachers who will be desperate to be teaching their sport and haven’t been able to do it and [who] have the energy to do that, but there will be other people who, quite rightly, need to take a complete break…it depends on the staff, it depends on the circumstances.”
Ms Davies, a headteacher, said teachers needed to be mentally and physically ready for the job in September.
She said: “We do have to be mindful of this profession that we will continue to rely on heavily going forward in September, and we have to offer them some protection as well.
“And we have to remember, and I can only speak for my colleagues, I know those who didn’t take a February half-term last year worked for almost a year - in fact, in some cases, over a year - without a break.
“Now, that is simply not sustainable and this isn’t teachers having a moan about not being ready to roll up their sleeves.
“We have to be realistic about what we will be asking from schools’ staff teams from September, and making sure that they are mentally ready and physically up to the job in hand.”
She added that research had found that extending schools days and shortening holidays had “little impact on overall learning”.
She said: “What actually made learning grow faster is support for school services that allowed for small group teaching and one-to-one tuition.”
The Department for Education has set aside £200 million aimed at running summer schools.
It’s guidance states that teachers who volunteer to take part in a summer programme in a maintained school are eligible for payment, and that their participation is voluntary.
Secondary schools will be encouraged to bid for a share of the £200 million fund, which is predominantly being targeted towards incoming Year 7 students.
The government anticipates that a two-week summer school will give these students an opportunity to make up some lost academic ground before they start a new school, following a year of disruption caused by the Covid pandemic.
