Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of the study funded by the Nuffield Foundation entitled A generation at risk: Rebalancing education in the post-pandemic era, published in April 2024.

Predicting GCSE results is very difficult as there are many drivers that can interact in unforeseen ways. However, as the Nuffield Foundation’s report indicates, the pandemic deprived children of the advantages of studying together within the safety and support of their schools.

The pandemic created a unique challenge for teachers, staff, students and families. Minimising its impact on education and tackling the challenges has been the department’s priority from the start. Almost £5 billion was made available specifically for education recovery, with support focussed on those who needed it most, while giving education providers as much flexibility as possible to tailor-make help for their own circumstances. This includes the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), which focuses on disadvantaged pupils and those who have fallen behind, and has seen nearly five million tutoring courses start since it launched in November 2020.

The department knows that disadvantaged children and pupils with a special educational need or disability were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The department continues to take a range of steps to give priority support and deliver programmes to help them, including improving the quality of teaching and curriculum resources, strengthening the school system and providing targeted support where needed. The department is also supporting disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium, which is rising to almost £2.9 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest in cash terms since this funding began.

Further to this, latest results from 2023 show that over 45% of pupils sitting GCSEs achieved a grade 5 or higher in both English and mathematics, which is an increase of more than two percentage points compared with pre-pandemic 2019 levels and almost three percentage points when compared with 2017.

England recently came fourth in primary reading out of 43 countries which tested pupils of the same age in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Despite disruption from the pandemic, England’s score remained stable and well above the international and European averages.

Furthermore, the department has committed to making schools safe, calm and supportive environments, which promote and support mental wellbeing alongside delivering an excellent education.

Enrichment activities can deepen children’s in-school experience while supporting them to develop their socio-emotional skills. The department is now delivering the vision set out in its Schools White Paper, which states that every child and young person will have access to high-quality extra-curricular provision, including an entitlement to take part in sport, music and cultural opportunities.

Monitoring and measuring wellbeing in schools strengthens this, which is why the department’s guidance on promoting a whole-school approach to pupil wellbeing includes this as one of its eight key principles. You can find out more here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/614cc965d3bf7f718518029c/Promoting_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_and_wellbeing.pdf.

The department is supporting all state schools and colleges with a grant to train a senior mental health lead. To date 15,100 settings have claimed a grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools.

Intervening early is critical. To expand access to early mental health support, the department is continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to schools and colleges. MHSTs deliver evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues, support the senior mental health lead (where established) in each school or college to introduce or develop whole school or college approaches and give timely advice to school and college staff, and liaise with external specialist services, to help children and young people get the right support to stay in education. The department is extending coverage of MHSTs to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.