Coronavirus: Lockdown widening the education gap between privileged and deprived pupils, experts say

Lockdown is causing a widening education gap between privileged and deprived children, according to education experts.

One student is so frustrated he wrote to Sky News to complain that the government is not doing enough to "mitigate for the months of lost learning".

Aaron Billingsley, 15, from Sutton Coldfield, said: "A lot of people my age, including myself, feel the government isn't doing enough regarding 2021 exams as we feel we are having to teach ourselves multiple subjects, around 10 altogether, without any face-to-face interaction or Zoom video calling."

Noting that some of his school friends have no internet access, Aaron added that if they return to school in September many "will not have done any learning at home for six months", and he called for the government to introduce measures to help.

Aaron's concerns are shared by teachers. A study of teachers shows that under lockdown hundreds of thousands of children from disadvantaged families are experiencing less than an hour of home schooling a day, while wealthier children are more likely to study for several hours a day.

Research by survey company, Teacher Tap, found that 43% of secondary school teachers in deprived areas said their pupils studied for less than an hour a day under lockdown.

That compares to just 4% of private school teachers, and 14% in state schools in more affluent areas.

This gap is even more pronounced in primary schools where 55% of those teaching in the most disadvantaged schools said their children were doing less than an hour a day versus 26% in state primaries with the most affluent intakes.

The initial study was conducted in March but a review in April found the gap widening as the lockdown continues.

Secondary teachers believe the main reason for children falling behind during this time is where they already have a long-standing poor attitude to school and a general lack of self-discipline.

However, lack of parental supervision was the second highest consideration and half of teachers also sighted lack of access to technology as a factor.

The Office for National Statistics found in 2018 that 700,000 pupils do not have access to devices such as laptops or tablets for online learning.

Joyce Kimzambi, a single mother of four children aged three, 11, 13 and 16 living in Liverpool, said she cannot afford internet access or computers for the children so remote learning is a real challenge.

She told Sky News: "It's been difficult for the two teenagers.

"They can't work online, they don't have phones so they can't communicate with their friends.

"The libraries are closed. Before the virus they always did their homework on the computers at school - now everything is closed."

Robert Halfon, chair of the education select committee told Sky News: "I think this coronavirus exposes a deep digital divide in our country - the digital haves and the digital have nots.

"We are still ignoring all these children who don't have access or the right supervision.

"We must have summer schools. We must offer these left-behind pupils a chance to catch up.

"We need a nationwide alliance of charities and tutoring organisations, a volunteer army, similar to what happens in the National Health Service, of retired teachers, Ofsted inspectors who aren't deployed at the moment and graduates helping these young people catch up.

"The government should introduce a special catch up premium."

Sky News spoke to a number of students in different educational settings. While many in the state sector believed they were falling behind, some year 10s in fee paying schools said they were keeping up with their studies.

Independently educated Samual Ganderson, 15, says he has a full timetable of online streamed lessons at St Edwards Senior School and he is not worried about the impact of lockdown on his studies.

He said: "There are six lessons in a day. Normally lessons are supposed to end at 4pm, I manage to drag it out until 5.30. It's fine because I normally get homework.

"The teacher's camera is on and so it makes you feel like you are properly in school, although it's different it gets you into that mindset."

Aaron Billingsley, who goes to Fairfax Academy in Sutton Coldfield, said he has had no online face-to-face interaction with his teachers.

"Every teenager has different abilities, skill sets and motivation levels," he told Sky News.

"When we return to school, whenever that be, we will be at different stages of our course and we are due to have mock exams starting at the start of year 11, so this September.

"It's almost impossible to expect every year 10 student to do mock exams and GCSE exams next year without any system in place to mitigate the months of lost learning."

Fellow pupil, Lily Cole, 15, said she felt "unprepared" for her mock GCSEs next term, and had also no digital face-to-face contact with her teacher.

She said: "The government should encourage schools to put us on Zoom calls more and utilise all these things that we could be using.

"At the moment, we're just messaging the teachers and hoping for a response. Then there's people without the internet - the school could just send them work, just for a bit of help."

Debbie Bunn, head of Fairfax Academy, said: "I am enormously proud of our students and staff for the commitment they have shown during this period.

"We have maintained five lessons a day for all years and kept in touch with children through online surveys, phone calls and video.

"I am sure that with this level of support all our children will be well placed to resume normal schooling and education."

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The government promised to send 200,000 laptops to help the most disadvantaged children during lockdown.

The Department of Education did not say how many have been received, but said deliveries began in May and will continue into June.

It is prioritising the delivery of devices to children with a social worker and care leavers.

This will be followed by devices for disadvantaged Year 10 children who do not have access to a device through other means.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "We will do everything possible to make sure no child, whatever their background, falls behind as a result of coronavirus.

"We have provided over £100 million to boost remote education, including providing devices to those children who need it most, and technical support for schools to access and effectively use Google and Microsoft's education platforms."

Next week from Monday to Thursday, Dermot Murnaghan will be hosting After the Pandemic: Our New World - a series of special live programmes about what our world will be like once the pandemic is over.

We'll be joined by some of the biggest names from the worlds of culture, politics, economics, science and technology. And you can take part too. If you'd like to be in our virtual audience - from your own home - and put questions to the experts, email afterthepandemic@sky.uk