Responding to news that the Government has announced plans, including a tutoring scheme, to help pupils catch up on lost learning as a result of school closures during the COVID-19 crisis, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Layla Moran said: “These initiatives need to form part of a wider national plan agreed with teachers, experts, unions and others. The plan must be flexible and work for school leaders’ circumstances on the ground. Top-down initiatives with funding tied to them won’t make a big enough difference if schools are unable to fully reopen safely.
“Ministers must also guarantee that this is additional funding, and will not come at the expense of money for anything else. I very much hope the tutoring scheme will draw on the abilities and experience of existing supply teachers and recently retired teachers. They can deliver top tutoring at the scale we need through a Teach for Britain recruitment campaign.
“In addition, these measures need to come alongside more efforts to eliminate hunger amongst children, including an emergency uplift to child benefit during this crisis and the introduction of a catch-up premium for the most disadvantaged pupils.”