Covid-19: “Honey, we forgot the kids”; Why many children in England have lost out in the current crisis and how educational provision needs to change

Dadomo, Christian; Whewell, Emma

Abstract

In 1918, influenza swept across the world and is estimated to have killed between 50-100 million people in one year. Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, historians and public health specialists alike warned of our vulnerability to a new and devastating virus, yet the political response in England has been woeful not only in terms of delayed and/ or inadequate medical and economic provision but also a lack of focus on children’s education and wellbeing.

In this paper, we will consider the role that schools play in our society and the quality of State and independent education in England before and during the pandemic. We will look at the critical decisions that were made between March and July 2020 and argue that the Government’s handling of the crisis and, in particular, its failure to provide a coherent and co-ordinated response has compounded existing disadvantage and inequality caused by an unduly complicated educational system and a decade of austerity.

We will appraise the impact of these issues on the hundreds of thousands of children who have been denied a vital school meal each day, access to a computer and the internet, public examinations and to social contact with friends and teachers.

We will also consider how parents have been affected. Many have struggled to educate their children at home at short notice or at all. In England, work and child-care are essential given that most parents, including lone parents, are ineligible for means-tested welfare benefits as soon as their youngest child is 5 years of age. Most parents now face difficult decisions about the start of the new academic year owing to the risk of increased exposure to the virus. Some will also be concerned the choice of school given doubts about the State’s ability to compete with the independent sector in the midst of an ongoing pandemic.

We will examine the legislation governing school standards and regulation and the role of Ofsted not least its decision to suspend all routine inspections during the pandemic and its conclusion that it could not monitor online provision of education. Was this the only decision open to Ofsted? Was it the right decision?

The current attainment gap cannot be permitted to widen. We will try to assess how the pandemic should provide the impetus for change in educational provision in England in order to achieve better outcomes for every pupil’s wellbeing and life chances, not least in terms of school standards, regulation and enforcement to ensure a fairer and better system of education for all.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: International Society of Family Law (ISFL) 17th World Conference (‘Family and Crisis: Going through the Pandemics’)
• Start Date: Aug 26, 2020
• End Date: Aug 28, 2020
• Deposit Date: May 27, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 27, 2021
• Keywords: Pandemic; education rights; family rights; School standards, regulation and enforcement; attainment gap; impact on children
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7426784