Page 74 - SEN114 September/October 2021

Autism
Back to school...
What kind of catching up
are we catching up on?
Lynn McCann argues that catching up needs to include much more than just English and Maths attainment.
74
Our children have been put under enormous pressure during the pandemic. They are the ones going back into crowded classrooms long before their parents were able to go back to the offices and workplaces.
Children have had to work at home at a moment’s notice as bubbles burst. They have had to cope with the challenges of online learning, and some have been in school without many of their peers during the January to March lockdown, or isolated at home for much longer than most because of medical vulnerability.
The government is now intent on a ‘Catch Up’ agenda with some money (not as much as was asked for or promised) provided for a national tutoring system and a catch up curriculum focussing on English and Maths in schools. There is talk of longer school hours. Newspapers are talking about lost generations and children being damaged in their future careers, not having the education they need to succeed in life.
“Catch up should also focus on the disadvantage gaps”
But let’s take a reality check here. Just what are children losing? What are they catching up to? And is it catching up if all children have had the same loss of education? What about the hard work schools have been doing and will continue to do to cover the work they were unable to do in the lockdown?
Paul Duckworth a Primary Advisor with Blackburn Diocese Board of Education says; “...schools are good at assessment, adjusting the curriculum and addressing those gaps – focusing particularly on the things that are crucial for progress.”
Teachers know what their job is and can do it. But he also says that schools know that the catch up should also focus on the disadvantage gaps that have only been made more prominent through lockdown.
“School closures have led to widening of the disadvantage gap particularly in primary years, where those most affected included males, pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, EAL pupils and SEND pupils, who experienced less catch-up compared to the average.”
(Understanding Progress in the 2020/21 Academic Year Complete findings from the Autumn term. Renaissance Learning, Education Policy Institute)
The Council for Disabled Children surveyed SEND children and their families and found that; “Three quarters (71%) of disabled children have seen their progress managing their conditions reverse or regress due to the pandemic, and disabled children, their parents and their siblings remain more isolated than the
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