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There is no doubt that Covid-19 has caused significant disruption to children’s lives and there is understandable concern about their educational progress. This has only been exacerbated by the recent outcry about the level of funding announced by the government to support their “catch-up” plans, which resulted in the resignation of Sir Kevan Collins. In addition, the current narrative around “catch-up” does not take account of children’s social and emotional needs as we move forward, focusing primarily on educational outcomes. Moreover, the Government “catch-up” plan is not clear about its long-term view. We don’t know what the ongoing impact might be, and children will need a prolonged period of additional support to avoid falling through the net.
The Covid-19 pandemic has served to further highlight the vital contribution of schools in society, not just with respect to learning and education, but also the much broader role they play in children and young people’s lives.
Expected impacts from the disruption to children’s education as a result of the Covid-19 crisis have been a recurrent theme since the start of lockdown, particularly for children from more disadvantaged backgrounds. Children in Reception and Year 1 are among the first being encouraged to return to school from 1 June. At the same time, early years and childcare settings are also being asked to welcome more children back. This focus on getting the youngest back to educational settings acknowledges the critical importance of learning in the early years for future outcomes.
The immigration debate continues to be dominated by arguments for and against freedom of movement, but what does immigration means for our schools and what are schools doing to promote integration? Our new research funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation on integration of new migrant students and their families, has collected evidence on what schools around England are doing to facilitate integration by creating a welcoming and inclusive environment and improving the performance of pupils.
On Sunday Italy will go to the polls, at the end of a bitter and at times violent election campaign dominated by the issue of immigration. Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers have frequently been the scapegoats of a society facing a prolonged period of economic discontent post financial crisis, with poor job opportunities especially for young people.
As we have seen in other European countries, an increased hostility to migrants was fed by public discourse, politicians’ statements and media representation.
