The ministerial statement today from the Secretary of State for Education may be of interest:
In the statement, the Secretary reiterates the statutory requirement for schools in England to provide remote education, and announces that parents will be able to report schools to Ofsted if they don’t receive sufficient remote teaching. The key quote is below:
"We have set out clear, legally binding requirements for schools to provide high-quality remote education. This is mandatory for ALL state-funded schools and will be enforced by Ofsted. We expect schools to provide between three and five teaching hours a day, depending on a child’s age.
If parents feel their child’s school is not providing suitable remote education they should first raise their concerns with the teacher or headteacher and failing that, report the matter to Ofsted.
Ofsted will inspect schools – of any grade – where it has serious concerns about the quality of remote education being provided. I can confirm that
The Secretary has also confirmed we’ll be moving to teacher assessments for exam grades this year, with more details to follow from Ofqual.
GCSEs and A and AS Level exams will not go ahead this summer. This year we are going to put our trust in teachers rather than algorithms.
The department and Ofqual had already worked up a range of contingency options. While the details will need to be fine-tuned in consultation with Ofqual, the exam boards and teaching representatives, I can confirm now that I wish to use a form of teacher-assessed grades, with training and support provided to ensure these are awarded fairly and consistently."