Education: Standards

(asked on 29th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the gap in provision between state and private schools after the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 2nd July 2020

We are committed to ensuring that all pupils continue to learn remotely where they cannot attend school due to COVID-19. The Department has published guidance to support state-funded schools in providing online lessons, and using high quality digital and printed curriculum resources.

To support state schools to provide education online, the Government has committed over £100 million to boost access to remote education. This includes providing laptops and tablets and internet access for those who need it most, ensuring every school that wants it has access to free, expert technical support to get set up on Google for Education or Microsoft’s Office 365 Education, and offering peer support from schools and colleges leading the way with the use of education technology.

The Department is also supporting sector-led initiatives such as Oak National Academy. This new enterprise has been created by 40 teachers from schools across England. It will provide 180 video lessons for free each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to year 10. By 21 June, 3.9 million unique users had accessed the Oak National Academy website and 13.2 million lessons had been viewed. Additionally, the BBC has developed resources for families as part of a comprehensive new education package, which is now available on TV, BBC iPlayer and online at BBC Bitesize.

We expect all pupils to return to school in September, and the Department published guidance on Thursday 2 July. Given the possibility that groups of pupils need to self-isolate, such as for a local lockdown, all schools will be expected to have remote education contingency plans in place. The guidance sets out what is expected from schools for their remote education provision.

We are also providing a package of support worth £1 billion to support catch up for all pupils in state schools next academic year, including extra support for the most disadvantaged.

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