The government’s Children in Need review brings into “sharp focus” both the dire educational prospects of disadvantaged children and the current paralysis affecting much of Westminster and Whitehall, the children’s commissioner for England has said.
Anne Longfield has launched a strongly worded attack on government inaction after the Department for Education (DfE) published the findings of its Children in Need Review (DfE, 2019; SecEd, 2019a).
She attacked Westminster manoeuvring around Brexit and the Conservative leadership contest and said that the three years spent on Brexit have done nothing to improve the prospects of disadvantaged children, which remain “wretched”.
She said that out-going prime minister Theresa May’s most recent proposals to include a mental health component as part of initial teacher training (SecEd, 2019b) is nothing more than a “twiddle” when compared to the problems children in need are facing.
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