Children could suffer “lifelong effects” from the government’s failure to agree to a £15 billion education catch-up package, Sir Kevan Collins has warned.
The former education recovery tsar told the Times Education Commission that he feared decision-makers believed that there would be a “natural” recovery, but this would not happen.
Collins was speaking publicly for the first time since his resignation after the proposals he drew up were rejected by the Treasury. Instead the government has approved a £1.4 billion scheme to help children in England recover from lost learning during school closures.
Of the government declining to adopt his full plan, focusing on longer school days, tutoring and teaching training, he said: “As ever in England, one of our challenges is not the design of good ideas — we’re as good as anybody at that — it’s the implementation.”
