Sir, – In an interview in September 2020, Taoiseach Micheál Martin acknowledged that the first period of moving to remote learning caused by Covid-19 would have a more acute impact on disadvantaged students than their peers and that a policy response would be required.
As we know, there have been further interruptions to normal schooling in the interim. Research has also identified that the Taoiseach’s concerns were well-founded.
It took quite a while for the Department of Education to respond to his promptings but in September of last year the Minister for Education announced the Covid Learning and Supports Scheme (Class) scheme.
It suffered from two notable defects. First, the level of resources provided was inadequate as we pointed in these columns (Letters, September, 17th) comparing very unfavourably with similar efforts in other jurisdictions.
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Second, in order to make best use of resources, a school principal needs to have a clear picture of what will be at their disposal well in advance of the forthcoming school year.
In those circumstances they can integrate the “catch-up” initiative into the wider school programme and ensure that experienced teachers are directly involved. Issuing the plan when schools had reopened was far from ideal.
While it would be wrong to suggest that the delay in supplying schools with details of this package resulted in these extra resources being wasted, anecdotal evidence would suggest that the potential benefits were not optimised as a result of the delay.
The Minister’s insistence that none of the planned additional resources could be used before October 11th exacerbated the problem. As a result, schools were empowered to deploy additional resources just at a time when the teacher supply problem was becoming most acute.
So, while a lot of useful initiatives have been undertaken, clearly the two-tier nature of the education system exacerbated by the pandemic, has not been addressed to any meaningful extent. As such, it is imperative that the Minister advise schools of their entitlements under her Class plan for the forthcoming academic year within the next fortnight.
Hopefully, the total funding package will be more realistic on this occasion.
– Yours, etc,
Prof JUDITH HARFORD,
Dr BRIAN FLEMING,
School of Education,
UCD.