They really don't care

Sometimes I read something that deserves to be repeated, verbatum. Here is something I came across yesterday about how the Government has dealth with schools and schoolchildren during the pandemic:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1422864085494943751.html .

Ok so I know I tweeted out one of our stories already but this @instituteforgov report is so utterly mental I reckon it deserves its own 12-part TV series. Unfortunately I can't find anyone willing to play Gav. So here's a thread instead... (stories via @tes) (1/25)

Shall we take it in chronological order? Cool. Picture it: March 2020. I've just started Couch to 5k. Wait no, that's not it. Covid is happening. Schools are closing. The biggest moment of any education secretary's career, right? So... where is Gavin? (2/25)

Well, not in the room where it happens, according to the IfG. Today's report says he was not "directly involved" in any key meetings ahead of the mass school closures last March. tes.com/news/covid-wil… (3/25)

And it turns out this was a bit of a trend. Gavin was reportedly also overruled in the summer of 2020, when the government was debating how to reopen schools to more pupils. (4/25)

While No 10 wanted all primary children back in the classroom before the end of term, the IfG says school leaders and unions warned against this because younger kids could not be expected to social distance. This view was apparently backed by the education secretary. (5/25)

However the institute's findings suggest Gavin was left out of the loop when the final call on the June return was made by Downing Street. "In [the] end, according to both No 10 and DfE sources, the decision was taken without Williamson present," the report says. (6/25)

But that's not all. Let's pan out from the Gavin vs. Boris saga for a minute and turn to an example of one of the government's greatest strengths throughout the crisis: forward planning. I'm kidding. Don't come for me. (7/25)

The IfG says its "most important conclusion" – and that's saying something – is that the most "unforgiveable aspect of what happened" was the government's "refusal" to make contingency plans in the summer of 2020. tes.com/news/gcses-lac… (8/25)

"Lessons were not learnt from the first lockdown, with the result that, for both school closures and exams, the story from July 2020 to January 2021 was a case of 'pause, rewind, repeat'," the report says. Devastating stuff. (9/25)

Civil servants apparently received a "clear steer" from the PM "not to make contingency plans". "Schools were going to reopen. Exams would be held," the report says. (10/25)

It adds: "The view was that 'if you prepare for these things not happening, then the outcome is that they are far more likely not to happen…people will look for the easy way out and take it'." (11/25)

Hold the phone. So, don't make a Plan B because if you do so, it might... actually happen? Make Plan A the only option to avoid people taking "the easy way out"? But we were in a pandemic..! Surely there was no "easy way out"? (12/25)

The report says: "According to this insider, the prime minister's default is to bluff. To talk up things to such an extent that they will happen through the force of his own personality. Which is a very powerful tool. But the virus doesn't listen to those messages." (13/25)

Well, on that bombshell, let's jump forward a couple months to the new academic year. Enter the Kent variant. Oh God. (14/25)

Remember when the DfE went to war with local councils? This deserves a whole episode of its own. Here's a window into the chaos if you need to refresh your memory: tes.com/news/dfe-order… (15/25)

TLDR: Cases were soaring ahead of the Christmas break; councils wanted schools to move online to minimise spread; DfE said no, get stuffed, etc. (16/25)

Well, the report gives us fascinating insight into the strained relationship between central and local government, which helps us understand the strength of feeling behind the row. (17/25)

One DfE insider is quoted as saying: "My ministers absolutely hate local government. They hate it because far too much of it is Labour. They believe local government is stuffed full of progressives who do not believe in phonics... (18/25)

"...The role of local authorities in education is a very contested space, and the whole point of the academy programme is to get schools off councils. The idea that we would use local government to manage anything that we did not have to was complete anathema." Yikes. (19/25)

Sidenote: The IfG suggests an aversion towards local government control was behind the DfE's decision to take charge of free school meals distribution – even though the "obvious" choice was to enlist councils' help. Double yikes. (20/25)

So... how does the report conclude? I could paraphrase, but I don't think that would do justice to the real thing. (21/25)

"Many difficulties were to arise from the government's handling of schools during the pandemic," the institute says. (22/25)

"A highly centralised approach to dealing with 24,000 schools. Tensions between No 10 and DfE. A refusal to trust local authorities and a failure to engage effectively with them, and their directors of public health... (23/25)

"...in ways that might have allowed a more nuanced and better response. Dreadful communications. Repeated declarations that schools would open or close, or that exams would be held – despite the evident uncertainties – until reality struck... (24/25)

"The result was U-turn after U-turn, with pupils, parents and teachers left bewildered and floundering time and again." Will be pitching for the rights to the TV drama shortly. But in all seriousness, what a colossal mess. It'll take some doing to rebuild trust from here. (25/25)