Wednesday January 26 2022
the timesTIMES EDUCATION
COMMISSION2
Interim ReportAn unparalleled
opportunity to
change course
for a digital age
the OECD. Technology is
one of the secrets of its
success. Estonia, or
e-Estonia as it likes to be
known, sees itself as a
start-up nation and
99 per cent of
government services are
delivered online. There
are electronic ID cards
as well as online voting
and the government
invested early to ensure
that all schools had
access to devices and a
good internet
connection.
The majority of pupils
use electronic timetables
and exams are gradually
being moved online.
Most homework and
school tests are set
digitally, reducing the
amount of marking for
teachers. There is also a
national online library of
more than 20,000
educational resources
called the “e-Schoolbag”.Case study
Lessons from
Europe’s best
school system
I
n Estonia children
learn robotics from
the age of seven and
teachers use virtual
reality to bring
geography, chemistry,
history and languages to
life. This tiny former
Soviet state has the best
education system in
Europe, according to the
Programme for
International Student
Assessment, run by the
Organisation for
Economic Co-operation
and Development
(OECD).
Despite relatively low
spending on education
Estonia is among the top
countries in the world in
all three areas on which
15-year-olds are assessed:
reading, mathematics
and science. Its schools
are also the best at
promoting fairness and
Estonian pupils are
among the happiest inskills of all its people. There’s something
about understanding the relationship
between education and the long-term
prosperity of our nation which we just
don’t seem to appreciate.”
The education system is still reeling
from the impact of Covid-19. Staff
shortages are acute. The consequences
of lost learning and grade inflation willO
n the day that The
Times Education
Commission began
its inquiry last June
Sir Kevan Collins
resigned. The
government’s
education recovery
commissioner had
been asked by Boris Johnson to draw up
a plan to help children to catch up on
the lessons they had missed during the
pandemic.
Only the previous week Collins had
been assured by Downing Street that
funding for a £10 billion package had
been approved: less than the £15 billion
that he wanted but still a significant
boost. Then the Treasury got involved
and over the course of a weekend Collins
found that the promised £10 billion had
been slashed to £1.5 billion.
He felt that he had no choice but to
quit. “My greatest fear is that the legacy
of the pandemic will be growing
inequality across our children and our
communities,” he told the Times
commission at an evidence session later
that month. “I’m very worried that we
might start thinking there’s some kind of
natural recovery and I don’t think the
data shows that at all.”
The coronavirus crisis had, Collins
warned, exposed profound underlying
flaws. “The inequality in education
wasn’t a product of the pandemic; it’s
been a feature of our system which has
been exacerbated by this event. The
wealth of a nation is represented in thecontinue to resonate for years to come.
Yet the pandemic has also created an
extraordinary opportunity. This should
be a reset moment, like the one triggered
by the Second World War. Rab Butler
described the 1944 Education Act, which
ushered in “secondary education for all”,
as the embodiment of “One Nation
Conservatism”. If the government is to
achieve its objectives of levelling up the
disadvantaged areas and creating a
buccaneering, entrepreneurial nation
after Brexit then there must be a similar
transformation now in how children
learn. Collins’s mistake was to focus on
the money; what is needed is reform.
Over seven months The Times
Education Commission has spoken to
more than 300 school and college
leaders, teachers, employers, scientists,
artists, writers, pupils, parents and
politicians, including 11 former education
secretaries and two former prime
ministers. A consensus has emerged
about the need for a radical reshaping of
an education system that is increasingly
seen as out of touch.
The school closures made many
reassess their priorities. Exams have
been cancelled for two years, raising
questions about the future of assessment.
Parents, forced to learn about fronted
adverbials as they home-schooled their
children, came face to face with an
outdated curriculum while also acquiring
a new admiration for teachers who have
too often been derided by politicians.
Employers, confronted with an acute
Continued on page 4Rachel Sylvester introduces the The Times Education Commission’s first report.
After seven months of evidence sessions, round-table meetings, interviews and
site visits it is possible to identify the key challenges and propose some solutions
About the
commission
T
he Times Education
Commission was set up in
June in the light of the Covid-
19 crisis, declining social
mobility, new understandings
of the brain and learning, the impact of
digitalisation and AI technologies and
the changing nature of work.
It has held fortnightly evidence
sessions, regional round-table meetings
and youth panels and visited schools,
colleges and universities around the
country.
It is the broadest inquiry into
education ever held in Britain and the
first to cross from early years through
to lifelong learning. It will draw up
recommendations for reform by June.
The commission is keen to hear from
Times readers and subscribers as well
as interested organisations. Evidence
and written submissions can be sent to
[email protected]