Bevan Foundation discusses impact of pandemic on education

Steffan Evans joined BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio Wales to discuss the impact of the pandemic on the education of children living in poverty.

Despite record GCSE and A Level results being announced this week, a complex picture emerges when looking at the attainment of children who are living in poverty. Whilst the results of children who receive Free School Meals did improve, the attainment gap between children who receive Free School Meals and children who don’t, grew. Steffan Evans was on BBC Radio Cymru’s Dros Frecwast and the Gareth Lewis show on BBC Radio Wales to discuss the issue. 

Steffan noted that the pandemic has affected the education of children living in poverty in a number of ways. Children living in poverty found it far harder to take part in remote lessons during lockdown, with children living in poverty being less likely to have access to essential materials such as a laptop, good internet connection or even pen and paper. Even after schools reopened schools in Wales’ most deprived communities were more likely to suffer disruption with the virus being more prevalent in these areas, whilst children living in poverty have not been able to access private tuition in the same way as children from wealthier households. 

You can listen back to the interview on BBC sounds or a clip can be found here.