Teachers should run summer classes for children who have missed out, says former head of Ofsted

Teachers should work over the summer to run classes for children who need it most, the former head of Ofsted has said as a new front opens in the battle with the unions.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the former chief inspector of schools in England, has joined calls for summer schools to try to combat the impact that the coronavirus shutdown is having on the most disadvantaged pupils.

However, the idea of teachers running classrooms over the summer is being opposed by unions, who say they have been working throughout lockdown on online teaching.

It comes after Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, scrapped the Government's target of getting all primary school pupils back in the classroom before the summer holidays.

Downing Street also said secondary schools were expected to open to "more pupils", rather than all pupils, in the autumn.

Sir Michael, who led Ofsted from 2012 until 2016, said it was "absolutely critical" that plans are put in place to make up for lost time in education as a result of the delays.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "We've got to make sure that really effective recovery programmes are put into place over the summer holidays. 

"I speak not just as an ex-head of Ofsted but an ex-head teacher of a secondary school. What I would be doing is I would be appealing to staff to come in over the summer holidays and take classes for those youngsters who need it."

Ministers are understood to be considering summer schools for disadvantaged children, but any plan which involves teachers is likely to be opposed by the unions.  

After plans to return primary schools before the summer were dropped, Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said the Government "needs to have a plan to support disadvantaged children during the summer holidays".

However, he said a "real help" would be "play schemes, staffed by play workers, students finishing teaching courses etc". His co-chair, Dr Mary Bousted, has argued that teachers should not be expected to run the scheme as they "have been working flat out to provide education for children at home".

Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, also told the Today programme that you "can't turn education capacity on and off like a tap".

He said the priority now should be to plan for the new school year, adding: "We're not going to catch children up over a very short period over the summer – this is going to be a longer term catch-up that's going to be needed, and we need to plan that right now…

"The short-term solutions and the excitement around what can be done in the short term is very encouraging in terms of enthusiasm, but we need to use this moment now to plan for a much richer and deeper education beyond the summer. 

"Remember, children don't have any more capacity to learn than they did before, and we can't overburden them."  

It comes as Anne Longfield, the Children's Commissioner for England, called on the Government to signal its support for summer schools as soon as possible so planning can begin.

She said: "The risk I am most concerned about is that of a generation of children losing over six months of formal education, socialising with friends and structured routine.

"I'm also concerned about a deepening education disadvantage gap that could leave millions of children without education which they need to progress in life.

"The Government need to face-up to the scale of damage this is doing to children and scale up their response. The starting point for this needs to be rapid action to support summer schemes for this summer."