England’s school catch-up tsar resigns in protest

I N FEBRUARY THE government appointed Sir Kevan Collins, a former teacher, council boss and head of an education charity, to advise it on how to help children catch up on learning lost as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. Boris Johnson, the prime minister, said he was “absolutely determined” no child would be held back by the crisis. Just four months later, on June 2nd, Sir Kevan resigned as “education-recovery commissioner” because of a lack of ministerial determination.

He stepped down hours after the government announced details of its plans, which included an additional £1.4bn ($2bn) on top of the £1.7bn already set aside for school catch-up programmes. Most of the new money will boost efforts to provide struggling pupils with tutors. Schools will also be able to use some of it to pay for extra instruction from existing teachers and for staff to go on training courses. The government says its investment will allow England’s pupils to share an additional 100m hours of tutoring over the next three years, mostly bundled into courses lasting 15 hours each.

Although the announcement almost doubles the government’s spending on catch-up, it was nonetheless a shadow of the grand recovery plan that teachers, parents and education wonks had expected. Hopes had been raised by the appointment of Sir Kevan, who is widely...