As a teacher myself, one of the concerning side-effects of lockdown has been the closure of schools. Delivery of a full curriculum has been compromised for many children and young people, particularly those who did not have easy access to technology or a quiet space to work in their home.
My idea would be to set up a ‘catch-up’ service to be available to those who feel they need extra help to catch up with their education, as a result of gaps in learning during the pandemic. The service would be free at the point of delivery or for a nominal amount of money and it would be government funded.
Pupils could book an online session with a specialist teacher through an app or website for one or several sessions (potentially 30 minutes for primary age children; 45 minutes for Key Stage 3 and 1 hour for Key Stages 4 and 5). There may have to be a limit of say five sessions per half-term to allow fair access to the service but that would clearly be dependent upon the number of teachers available and demand for lessons.
A bank of teachers would need to be organised and they would be paid by the government, rather than parents of the pupils, to enable accessibility to all for the service. It also enables teachers to top up their income if they wish to take part in the enterprise.
An initial canvassing of teachers to assess willingness to contribute to the scheme would be necessary as healthy numbers would be crucial to the success of the scheme.
It is a real worry that so many pupils will have missed out some of the necessary building blocks during the Covid pandemic and this will inevitably hamper their future education and prospects. It is important to address this now and in view of the already considerable pressures teachers face on a daily basis within schools, this should be provided by an outside agency.
The crucial thing is that it is accessible to all, unlike a tutoring service, and would be a government initiative to plug the learning gaps caused by the lockdowns.
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