News Round-Up from 28th May – 6th June 2021

June 9, 2021

• Topical

28th May 2021 – Extending the School day to help children catch up will not improve results, Cambridge University says

Vaughan Connolly, doctoral researcher at Cambridge University has claimed that ‘Quality is
going to matter much more than quantity in the long run’ so extending the school day will
only have marginal benefits. Instead, re-evaluating how time in school with increases
sessions focusing on learning to learn skills could make a bigger difference. This is in part as
increased instruction time is also presents an increased burden to both pupils and teachers,
preventing them from being at their best for longer hours. This research is published in the
journal London Review of Education

2nd June 2021 – Pupils in England to be offered 100m hours of tuition in Covid catch-up plan

The government announced plans for a £1.4bn programme to support pupils adversely
affected by school closures. The programme consists of 6m 15 hour tutoring courses for
disadvantaged pupils, provisions to support teachers, and funding to allow some year 13
students to retake their final year if necessary. The plan has been heavily criticised as
insufficient with The Association of Schools and College Leaders characterising it as ‘hugely
disappointing’, as it ‘let down the nation’s children and schools at a time when the
government needed to step up and demonstrate their commitment to education’.
Internally, the government’s education and catch-up chief, Sir Kevan Collins has resigned
over the plans, which were significantly scaled down from his initial £15bn proposal.

3rd June 2021 – Schools should not send exam-year pupils home early, says Ofsted Head

Amanda Spielman, head of Ofsted and Her Majesty’s chief inspector of schools, has spoken
out that schools in England should continue to educate their exam year pupils till the end of
the year, rather than allowing them to end term early in lieu of exams. She commented that
Ofsted will ‘want to know’ how schools are using the remainder of the term and schools and
colleges should provide opportunities during the summer term to support students prior to
their progression into further education or the workplace.

4th June 2021 – Scottish exams body to be reformed amid grades row

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has announced that two of Scotland’s
education authorities, Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA),
are to be reformed due to criticism of the plans put in place to replace school exams. The
SQA, which is responsible for examining older Scottish pupils, has faced particularly heavy
criticism, with opposition politicians calling for its replacement. Ms Somerville stated in
Scottish parliament on Thursday that these reforms fit into a wider trend of government
plans for education recovery.

5th June 2021 – Black students often have to ‘work harder’ to connect with the curriculum, report
finds.

Research by the University of Leicester has found that due to a the ‘lack of a sufficiently
diverse or decolonised curriculum’, it is more difficult for black students to connect what
they are studying to their life experiences. Researchers found this limited students in
developing greater interest and understanding in their studies. Professor Graham Wynn, the
pro-vice- chancellor of the University of Leicester said the report ‘helps to broaden our
understanding of why there are outcome differences for specific assessment types for
undergraduate students from different ethnic backgrounds’.

6th June 2021 – Covid: Pupils urged to take tests after half-term

Gavin Williamson, Secretary of state for Education, has stressed the importance of
asymptomatic testing in breaking the transmission chain with pupils return to school after
half term amid concerns about the impact of the new Delta variant. Mr Williamson spoke of
his gratitude to the families, students and educational staff that are taking part in the
testing programme, which has now seen more than 50 million rapid tests taken by students
since January.