In their study, they voiced concern that it might take ten years for the gap between disadvantaged children and other children to close to its pre-Covid level.
It recommended that the government act more quickly and effectively, for example, by increasing the uptake of a tutoring programme to help children catch up.
According to the government, £5 billion has been set aside for education reform.
In 2021–2022, the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) was not used by about 13% of schools in England. It was established in November 2020 to aid youngsters in making up lost ground after Covid lockdowns disrupted their education.
The NTP offers elementary and secondary schools funding to cover tutoring, including one-on-one and group sessions.
The Department for Education (DfE) initially covered 75% of the expenditures that schools incurred to provide the NTP, but this year’s subsidy was decreased to 60%, and next year’s will be reduced to 50%.
- One-third of £594 million post-lockdown tutoring funding was not used.
- Covid worsens disparities in education, says MPs
- School Covid’s catch-up funding is “so bureaucratic.”
According to the Public Accounts Committee’s report, the DfE should look into why certain schools weren’t participating and take action to increase uptake.
The report stated, “There is a risk that without this central subsidy, the National Tutoring Programme will wither on the vine.”
“We are not convinced that the department fully appreciates the pressures schools are under as they seek to help pupils catch up.”
More than £200 million designated for the programme was underutilised, the BBC reported in April.
The NTP will not be run in the upcoming academic year, according to Bellfield Junior School in Birmingham’s head teacher Nigel Attwood.
He claimed to have run into issues with capacity, cost, and bureaucracy.
“We have so many little bits of pots of money that are ring-fenced, and it can be really difficult to spend it because capacity is not there,” he told the BBC.
“What we need is the the money and the staffing to be able to give the children what they need.”
The study urged the DfE to make specific efforts to lower absentee rates among disadvantaged students as well as create a plan outlining how it will close the disadvantage gap.
According to Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, the government is “in denial” about the scale of the issues that schools are dealing with.
“The growing attainment gap with all its implications for children’s life chances can’t be allowed to continue, and the government must take immediate action,” he added.
The government must reply to the proposals within two months, but it is not required to act on them. Then, it should outline a schedule for putting them into effect.
- Student absences continue to be higher than before COVID
- England’s youth placed fourth worldwide in reading.
“We are conscious of the effect the pandemic has had on pupils’ education, which is why we have made £5bn available for education recovery.
“Despite the effect of the pandemic, England came fourth out of 43 countries that tested children of the same age in the Pirls international survey of the reading ability of nine and 10-year-olds.
“We remain committed to addressing the attainment gap, which is why the National Tutoring Programme is targeted at the most disadvantaged students and has had over three million course starts to date, backed by more than £1bn investment”, said a spokesperson of DFE.
