County Durham parents call for more support amid education funding row
Parents in Waterhouses, County Durham have told ITV News Tyne Tees they want more support for children to catch up with their studies following the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic.
The call comes as a political row rumbles on over government funding to help pupils in England catch up.
On Wednesday evening the government advisor on catch up learning, Sir Kevan Collins, resigned, claiming the investment announcement of £1.4 billion over three years "falls far short of what is needed".
He was calling for a £15 billion package, which would have included 100 extra hours of learning per pupil, including in subjects like sport, music and arts.
In total, the government's investment package is just over £3 billion and ministers say they are focused on delivering 100 million hours of tutoring to disadvantaged pupils and teacher training and development.
Children attended the Allotment Project in Waterhouses on Thursday, which is aimed at getting them active and eating healthily. The project is government funded and the teacher who runs it, Sol Walker, said they need to provide sufficient funding to allow pupils to catch up with their work too.
He said "we’ve got kids in today. This is part of the initial funding. It’s a good example. It’s a nice example and if the government are to pledge money, they’ve just got to make sure that they’re pledging the right amount of money and it’s logistically feasible.
"It’s just a case of the people at the top really are going to have to do the mathematics, otherwise it’s just an empty promise."
The parents of children attending the project said more support is needed from the government, with one woman saying "the teachers do their best, the parents have done their best and really it’s time for the government to step up and make sure that the money is there so that we can all come together and make sure that our children get to a point where they don’t feel pressured."
The National Education Union Durham Secretary said Sir Kevan was right to step down.
Emma Parker said "it’s like if you’ve got a family whose electricity has been cut off and they need £100. Giving them £10 is really not going to make much of difference, because they still can’t get it turned back on and that’s what it’s kind of like, you know, giving £1.4 billion sounds like a massive amount of money, but when you think that’s £50 per pupil and then you look at other countries and what they’re getting for their students, it’s just ridiculous, you know these children are our futures and what we’re doing is we’re setting them up to fail because we’re not giving them what they need to succeed."
When asked about the £1.4 billion funding, Victoria Atkins MP, the Safeguarding Minister told ITV News "this is one part of our work to draw children up to bring children back up to where they should be and so recommendations to extend the school day, we're very much looking into, but we've got to bring people with us, we've got to bring teachers and parents with us. For the time being we're focusing on one-to-one tuition because the evidence shows us it works."