Education News

The number of pupils learning in class sizes of 31 or more has surged over the past decade in England, new analysis from Labour suggests.The party said the figure has risen from one in 10 secondary school students in 2010 to almost one in seven. The analysis also found there has been a 43 per cent jump in the number of secondary school pupils in classes of 31 or more over the last five years. “Under the Conservatives, the gap in learning between disadvantaged pupils and their peers had not narrowed for five years even before the pandemic,” Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, said. Schools moved online to all but vulnerable and key worker children in early January for the second time over the course of the pandemic, as England was sent into lockdown.One school leader toldThe Independent this week’s return was a “ray of sunshine in quite a gloomy picture”, while students said they were excited to be back on 8 March.It comes amid a push to help pupils catch-up on missed learning caused by school closures and pupils having to self-isolate over the past year.Labour has warned larger class sizes could create challenges for teachers trying to give pupils individual support and attention as they return to school.The analysis of figures from the House of Commons Library suggested the number of secondary pupils in class sizes of 31 or more increased by more than 130,000 between 2016 and 2020 – a rise of 43 per cent.Meanwhile, the number of primary school pupils in class sizes of 31 or more rose by nearly 20,000, or 3.7 per cent.The figure has increased from one in nine in 2010 to one in eight pupils, the analysis found.Statistics from the Department forEducation (DfE), published in June last year, showed that the number of pupils in state secondary schools in England had risen by 81,300 to 3.41 million.In January last year, the average class size in all secondary schools was 22 pupils, up from 21.7 the previous year.Geoff Barton, from the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The reason that the number of children in large classes has risen is simple: lack of money.”Over the past five years the number of children in our schools has increased and government funding has been insufficient. The result is that there are fewer teachers and more children.”Mr Barton, the union’s general secretary, added: “Schools have worked very hard to ensure that funding pressures do not impact on the education of children, but it is obviously the case that larger classes make it more difficult to give struggling students individual support and attention.Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Clearly with such large numbers in any one class teachers and support staff have a far harder job in ensuring every child gets the attention they need.“Government needs to address this problem to ensure every child gets the best education they possibly can. Having a teacher and support staff dividing themselves between 30 plus children is not acceptable.”A DfE spokesperson said average secondary school class sizes “remain low” at 22 students, while the figure has “remained stable” in primary schools at 27. “This is despite an increase of almost 800,000 pupils since 2010 which is more than ever before,” they said.The spokesperson added: “Last year most pupils were offered a place at one of their top three choices of secondary school, while between 2010 to 2019 we created one million additional school places overall, with many more in the pipeline.”We know disadvantaged students have been most heavily affected by the pandemic so we are targeting the majority of our £1.7bn catch-up plans towards those most in need, we have also appointed Sir Kevan Collins as the education recovery commissioner to oversee a long-term plan to tackle the impact of lost learning.”Additional reporting by Press Association More

The University of Manchester has terminated a research project with a state-owned Chinese company with alleged links to human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims.It comes after a parliamentary committee accused China Electronics Technology Group (CETC) of providing technology and infrastructure used in the persecution of the ethnic minority group.Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, had written to the university over its Department of Physics and Astronomy’s research partnership with the company.“According to credible reports from both Human Rights Watch and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, CETC is one of the main architects of the Chinese government’s surveillance state in Xinjiang, China, providing both technology and infrastructure that is being used for the identity-based persecution of more than one million people, predominantly Uyghur Muslims,” the MP said in his letter.The Chinese government has been accused of widespread abuse in the northwestern Xinjiang province, including mass internment, slave labour and allegations of forced sterilisation.China at first denied the existence of the internment areas. It later acknowledged them, but denied any abuses and says the steps it has taken are necessary to combat terrorism and a separatist movement.The Foreign Affairs Committee is attempting to determine the extent of British involvement with organisations who are implicated in the situation as part of an inquiry.In his letter, the chair asked the University of Manchester about its partnership with CETC, including whether staff had raised concerns and the university knew about alleged links with Uighur persecution when the relationship was agreed.Professor Martin Schroder, the university’s vice-president and dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, said the institution has “now taken steps to terminate the current agreement” with CETC while it assesses the relationship.He said the university had already been reviewing the relationship, after a licence application for a joint project was rejected.“I also confirm that, as far as I am aware, the university had no prior knowledge of any credible reports stated in your letter, or from any other source, linking CETC’s technology with the persecution of Uyghur Muslims. Your letter is the first to do so,” he told the committee in a letter. He added: “I confirm that as I am aware no members of staff at the University have raised concerns about the collaboration with CETC38, and no desires have been expressed or steps taken by the University or CETC38 to develop collaboration between these two organisations in the areas of artificial intelligence, big data or advanced materials.”Mr Tugendhat said he was “pleased” that the university “has decided to suspend its relationship with CETC” following the committee’s intervention.  “Although we welcome the university’s move to withdraw from any further projects with CETC, it is surprising that the university had not been made aware that CETC’s technology was being used to aid the atrocities taking place in Xinjiang detention camps. Our letter was apparently the first they knew of it,” the Tory MP said.  He added: “It remains imperative that British institutions, educational and otherwise, are fully informed of who it is they are working and sharing research with.“A lack of curiosity could inadvertently lead to some of our most well-respected businesses and universities entering into a relationship which – inadvertently or otherwise – sees them complicit in the systematic abuse of the human rights of the Uyghurs and other minority groups.”The university said their research collaboration with CETC aimed to “significantly advance the field of radio astronomy”.“The projects worked towards an objective of disseminating research results in the public domain through publication in academic journals and as is standard in collaborative research projects, results of the work undertaken were shared between the parties in accordance with the terms of the agreement,” Mr Schroder said in his letter to the commitee.They had already completed one project, had a licence application rejected for a second, and have now withdrawn a third application for a project, he said.A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “The University is reviewing its collaboration with China Electronics Technology Group Co. Ltd (CETC38) following the rejection of a licence application by the government’s Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) in relation to a specific project with the company.“This took place in January and predates any correspondence with the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Since then, we have taken steps to terminate the current agreement with CETC38 whilst assessing the relationship.”The spokesperson said the university had recently undertaken more work to address “the potentially complex risks and issues” arising from international research partnerships. “One of the aims is to provide a strengthened degree of assurance about potential new research partners with the University’s guiding principles, values, missions and goals,” they said. Additional reporting by agencies More

The mayor said this was “simply not good enough” as he called for the government to ensure all students out of school have access to a device.Schools moved online in early January to all pupils except vulnerable and key worker children due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Speaking about uncertainty over when all children will be allowed back to school, the Greater Manchester mayor said: “If we can’t give schools a start date, they have to put in place the equipment to get kids online.”“It is just not good enough to do this half-hearted job they have done so far.”Mr Burnham said: “I understand why you can’t set a date, but for goodness sake, you have to put in place an arrangement that allows every child to learn.”We estimate that in Greater Manchester there are around 20,000 young people who are out of school and do not have online access and that simply isn’t good enough.”The government laptop scheme – which has faced criticism over delays and device quality – is providing devices for disadvantaged children in certain year groups who do not have access to a device at home and whose face-to-face education has been disrupted. The government has committed to giving 1.3 million laptops and tablets to schools to support pupils in need, with around 800,000 of these delivered by mid-January.After the total figure pledged rose by 300,000 earlier this month, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said it was “pretty poor that nearly a year after this crisis began we are only now inching up to the number of devices that are needed”.According to estimates from Ofcom, between 1.14 million and 1.78 million children in the UK (9%) do not have home access to a laptop, desktop or tablet, and that more than 880,000 children live in a household with only a mobile internet connection.In the wake of lockdown and the majority of pupils moving to remote learning, tech companies have been urged to do more to support disadvantaged families who lack access to a reliable internet connection and network operators moved to offer free mobile data to those who need it.A government spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to reopening schools as soon as the public health picture allows, and right through the pandemic have taken every step to ensure schools stayed open as long as they could.“We will set out plans for schools, parents and pupils as soon as possible, providing as much notice as we can.” More

Speaking in parliament, Labour’s Wes Streeting slammed the government for “having to be dragged to do the right thing” over free school meals in the past and last year’s exam results controversy – which initially saw tens of thousands of grades initially downgraded by an algorithm before a government U-turn.Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, earlier said his record during the coronavirus pandemic had been “shambolic”, as her party said there had been a “litany of government mistakes” over children and education.“We cannot praise staff in schools and school leaders in one breath and then in the other defend the leadership they have been subjected to under this secretary of state for education,” Mr Streeting told parliament on Monday evening.“If the prime minister had any judgment, he would have sacked the secretary of state, and if the secretary of state had any shame, he would have resigned.”Labour reiterated the call for Mr Williamson to go in a statement on Tuesday, saying there had been a “series of failures” – including over free school meals and laptop provision.“Despite being shamed into providing free school meals over the summer and Christmas holidays the government is again refusing to provide support for children now over February half-term,” the party said. It also accused the government of “failure to keep children learning either in school or from home” with pupils still lacking devices. The DfE and Downing Street has been approached for comment.Labour’s Ms Green called for Gavin Williamson to resign for the first time last week, after images of food parcels handed out to families were heavily criticised. Mr Williamson said he was “absolutely disgusted” after seeing a picture of a meagre food parcel delivered to a disabled mother-of-two.The education secretary also said companies will be “named and shamed” if they fail to deliver against food standards, and has urged schools to cancel contracts where necessary. The party used an opposition day debate in the Commons on Monday afternoon to say that eligible families should be guaranteed to receive the full value of free school meals throughout the year, including during the holidays.Downing Street accused Labour of pulling a “political stunt” over planned debates on Universal Credit and free school meals.“MPs are being told to abstain because today is not the day when we will be announcing our next steps on the £20 Universal Credit uplift,” the prime minister’s press secretary, Allegra Stratton, said.She added: “This is an Opposition day debate. It is them making families up and down the country concerned they will not be able to get the food they might need during the February half-term, when that is not true.”Labour is pulling a political stunt because they know that children who could go hungry during the February half-term will not go hungry because of the policy that is in place.” More

Pupils will receive a set daily number of hours of remote education during England’s new lockdown, the government has confirmed – adding that Ofsted will be able to inspect schools where it has concerns about the quality of education.As the country was plunged into its third national lockdown, schools moved online until at least mid-February for all students except vulnerable children and the children of key workers.On Wednesday, the Department for Education (DfE) said strengthened expectations for remote education would be put in place.Officials said schools will be expected to deliver a set number of hours for remote education for pupils, which will be an increase from what schools have been expected to deliver for students unable to go to class.Gavin Williamson told parliament on Wednesday that Ofsted would enforce legal requirements for state schools in England to provide high-quality remote education during the lockdown.The education secretary sparked anger from unions after saying parents can report schools to Ofsted if they are unhappy with their child’s remote learning provision during closures.“The last thing teachers and heads need right now is the spectre of Ofsted, which has been of neither use nor ornament throughout the pandemic,” Dr Mary Bousted from the National Education Union said. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said schools have spent the last 48 hours “working tirelessly” to put plans in place following the sudden announcement of closures.“It is therefore nothing short of disgraceful that the government should choose today to start threatening schools about the quality of their remote learning offer,” he said.The government said on Wednesday Ofsted will “play an important role in holding schools to account” for the quality of the remote education they provide during lockdown.  Ofsted can inspect schools where it has significant concerns about the quality of education being provided – including remote education – and parents can report concerns to the watchdog having first gone to the school, the DfE said. Ofsted will also carry out spring-term inspections of schools most in need of challenge and support – which will have a strong focus on remote education.“While schools and colleges are closed to most pupils, education remains a national priority”an Ofsted spokesman said. “There are clear requirements about remote learning and our monitoring inspections this term will focus on how well these are being met, to provide reassurance to parents”.Mr Williamson said on Wednesday closing schools was the “last thing” any education secretary wanted. “But the closing of schools for the majority of pupils does not mean the end of their education, and the outlook for schools, parents and young people is far more positive than the one we faced last year,” he said.“Schools and colleges are much better prepared to deliver online learning – with the delivery of hundreds of thousands of devices at breakneck speed, data support and high quality video lessons available.”Additional reporting by Press Association More

It comes after Michael Gove suggested end-of-year exams would be scrapped in favour of alternative styles of assessment following the new lockdown.On Monday evening, the Department for Education (DfE) said: “There is recognition that this is an anxious time for students who have been working hard towards their exams.”“The government position is that we will not be asking students to sit GCSE and A-levels.” The DfE said they will work with Ofqual, England’s exam regulator, to consult on how to award grades to pupils this year. Exams were cancelled last year over coronavirus and a new grading system set up, awarding students with calculated grades. Pupils were allowed to take their original teacher predicted marks, following backlash over the system.On Monday, Mr Gove was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether A-levels and GCSEs in England were cancelled for the second year in a row, and replied: “Yes.”The former education secretary said: “We will be putting in place alternative arrangements in order to make sure that the hard work that students have put in to acquire knowledge and develop their skills is appropriately assessed, recognised and awarded.”He also told Sky News that Gavin Williamson, the current education secretary, will address parliament on Wednesday to update MPs on how pupils will be assessed at the end of the year, following further disruption to their learning.Under England’s new lockdown, schools will move to online-learning only until at least the middle of February, for all students except vulnerable children and those of key workers. While schools remained open last term, more than half a million state school pupils were off school during the final weeks of term for coronavirus-related reasons, Department for Education (DfE) estimates show.The government faced backlash over how grading was done last year amid cancelled exams, when teachers submitted grades they estimated students would have achieved in exams for standardisation.Additional reporting by Press Association More

Boris Johnson has sparked dissent in Tory ranks by issuing a demand for all schools to remain open until the official start of the Christmas break on Thursday.The order came as councils in London switched to remote learning as coronavirus cases soared in the capital, with Islington advising schools to shut and Greenwich saying headteachers should move to online classes from Monday evening. Tory MP for Wimbledon Stephen Hammond rejected the No 10 ruling, saying schools in his south London constituency should have closed last Friday and should consider two weeks of online learning after Christmas.Mr Hammond was among a group of London MP briefed by ministers and officials this morning on the situation in the capital, which he described as “stark”.“Frankly, the government should not be stopping schools closing,” Mr Hammond told BBC Radio 4’s World at One. “I have been of the view for at least a week now, looking at my local area, that schools should have been closed last Friday. With only three days left till the end of the term we should make that decision today.“It’s not just what’s happening in schools but it’s the congregation of  parents of primary schools and congregation of pupils outside afterwards. I also think that we should think very carefully about how quickly they should open after Christmas and potentially two weeks of online learning.”However, Downing Street said on Monday all schools are expected to stay open until the end of term.“We’ve consistently said that not being in school has a detrimental impact on children’s learning as well as their own personal development and mental health,” Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said. “Which is why we expect all schools and colleges to remain open until the end of term on Thursday, as schools have remained open throughout the pandemic.”Asked whether action will be taken against councils that close early, the UK prime minister’s spokesman said: “Our regional school commissioner teams are working closely with schools and local authorities across the country and will continue to work with them and support them to remain open.”The move to online teaching in some local areas comes amid concerns staff and children in school during the final week could be told to self-isolate over Christmas. Mass coronavirus testing is going ahead for secondary school students in areas of London, Essex and Kent amid rising coronavirus rates in the run-up to the holidays.On Sunday, Greenwich Council told all schools in its area in southeast London to close from Monday and switch to online learning following signs of “exponential growth” in Covid-19 cases. Islington Council is advising schools in the north London borough to shut early ahead of Christmas – except for children of key workers and vulnerable pupils – and not to reopen until later in January.“This is a very difficult decision – however the public health situation in Islington and London is so serious that we have to do everything we can to stop this deadly virus spreading in our community and across London,” Islington Council leader Richard Watts said.Meanwhile, nearly all the secondary schools in Basildon have moved to full remote education, Essex County Council said on Monday.Schools have been warned they could face legal action if they allow pupils to learn remotely in the run-up to Christmas.New powers introduced through the Coronavirus Act allow the government to issue “directions” to heads around education provision during the pandemic.  If they refuse to comply with directions to stay open, the UK education secretary could apply for a High Court injunction forcing them to do so.Additional reporting by Press Association More