Education: Standards

(asked on 28th February 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that pupils not in school due to industrial action are supported in catching up on missed learning.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 8th March 2023

The Government has made a serious offer to the leaders of the National Education Union (NEU) to pause the planned strikes and to engage with the Government on talks about pay, conditions and reforms.

This same offer has been accepted by unions representing nurses, ambulance workers and physiotherapists, all of whom have agreed to pause their strike action and meet for talks.

The Department is disappointed the NEU has thus far refused this offer and has not called off strikes.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that it is in the best interests of parents, children and teachers up and down the country for the NEU to take up the offer, like the health unions, and put an end to this dispute.

The Department knows that the best place for pupils to be for their education, physical, and mental health is in schools with their friends and teachers.

The Secretary of State wrote to every school in January setting out the additional funding each school in England would receive following the £2 billion of additional funding announced for schools in the Autumn Statement 2022. This additional funding will support schools with increased costs and was a request from unions, which the Government delivered. The Secretary of State also wrote to union leaders on 27 January, asking the NEU to encourage their members to inform their head teachers if they intended to strike, and on 21 February, requesting the NEU call off future strikes in order to proceed with formal talks on pay, conditions, and reform.

Alongside engaging with unions, the Department has taken steps to mitigate the effects of any disruptive strike action on pupils’ education and wellbeing. In the Department’s updated guidance on handling strike action in schools, the Department confirmed that if a headteacher needed to restrict attendance as a last resort, they should prioritise school places for vulnerable children, children of critical workers and pupils who are due to take public examinations and other formal assessments. Headteachers have also been asked to do all they can to ensure pupils continue to have access to education on strike days, including through online teaching. The Department has also provided advice to schools through bulletins, and to parents through the Department’s Education Hub. To further support pupils not in school due to industrial action, the Department has updated its remote education guidance.

The Department has also made almost £5 billion available to support pupils’ education recovery from the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department is funding what it knows works, such as teacher training and evidence based support, including tutoring and extra education opportunities.

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