The Educator Magazine U.K. Sept-Dec 2022 - Magazine - Page 19
Early years
Read ‘Education recovery in early
years: summer 2022’.
Young children’s communication and
language development continues to
be affected. An increased number of
children have been referred for
additional support, but they are having
to wait months, sometimes up to a year,
for specialist help such as speech and
language therapy.
Many children still lack confidence in
social settings. Some have
taken longer to settle into
nursery or with a
childminder than would
have been expected
pre-pandemic.
During the pandemic,
children missed out on
going to playgrounds and
soft-play areas. As a result,
some have not developed
the gross motor skills they
need. To help children
catch up, many providers
have thought about how
they can use outside space
and encourage more
physical activity.
Fewer children are ready for the move
up to Reception than would otherwise
have been expected pre-COVID. Some
are still not where they should be in
terms of developing independent
self-care skills, such as using the toilet
and dressing. And because some
providers have focused on getting
children ready for Reception, it is
possible that younger children have
missed out on their own learning and
development opportunities.
Providers also told inspectors that the
take up of funded places for 2-year-olds
remains lower than usual. And they said
that financial pressures and staffing
constraints mean they were not actively
promoting places.
Staff recruitment and retention is a
persistent issue for the early years
sector. Many providers continue to
report difficulties in recruiting
high-quality staff due to the relatively
low pay the sector offers. In a few cases,
providers have had to recruit
unqualified staff to meet the legal
requirement regarding the number of
staff per children, per setting.
Despite COVID-19 restrictions being
lifted since February, most providers
have maintained some restrictions
because they do not want to risk staff
illness. Parents continue to drop off
and pick up at the doorstep, with some
telling inspectors they didn’t know they
could ask to enter the provider’s
premises. These restrictions potentially
create barriers between parents and
staff.
Schools
Read ‘Education recovery in schools:
summer 2022’.
Schools are continuing to work hard to
help pupils catch up. However, some
pupils are still not as ready for the next
stage of their education as they would
usually be, particularly children in
Reception who had limited pre-school
experience.
Inspectors also saw that the pandemic
has had a disproportionate effect on
some pupils with special
educational needs and/or disabilities
(SEND). Schools with strong systems in
place before COVID-19 are continuing
to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.
But the pandemic has delayed some
pupils receiving support
from external or specialist
services.
School staff noticed higher
levels of anxiety around
exams than in pre-pandemic
times, as pupils prepared to
sit external tests for the first
time in more than 2 years.
While inspectors saw good
practice in schools that
balanced helping pupils to
revise their subject
knowledge with preparing
them for exams, in some
schools the curriculum was
being overly narrowed to
focus on exam topics, which may affect
pupils’ readiness for the next stage.
More schools are using tutoring
programmes than in the spring and
autumn terms, with most opting for
the school-led route. Some schools are
using the National Tutoring programme
to fund their own staff to act as tutors,
rather than employing external tutors.
In the summer term, school leaders
said that fewer pupils were absent from
school because of COVID-19 compared
with the spring term. Although some
leaders have seen an increase in pupil
absence due to families taking
rescheduled holidays.