Chartered College of Teaching chief brands £1.4 billion of funding for education plan 'an insult'

2 June 2021, 16:03 | Updated: 2 June 2021, 16:10

Chartered College of Teaching chief brands education plan 'an insult'

Chartered College of Teaching chief Alison Peacock has branded £1.4 billion of funding for a Government education recovery plan "a real insult".

The plan launched by the Department for Education (DfE) includes £1 billion to support 15-hour tutoring courses for disadvantaged pupils as well as an expansion of the 16-19 tuition fund aimed at subjects like mathematics and English.

Meanwhile, a further £400 million has been allocated towards providing training to early years practitioners and school teachers.

In a statement on the plan, the DfE said: "It builds on the £1.7 billion already announced to help children catch up on what they missed during the pandemic, which includes summer schools and mental health support, bringing total investment to over £3 billion."

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Speaking of the £1.4 billion of extra funding, Mrs Peacock told LBC: "It's a meagre amount. It's a real insult, I think."

Mrs Peacock also said: "I think actually it would have been far better to allocate...[the] funding directly to school leaders to make the best decisions for their schools in terms of what needs to happen.

"And we need to embrace the arts, dance, drama, sport [and] all those things that make education irresistible for young people."