![Gillian Keegan](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/08/16/TELEMMGLPICT000345938894_16922150267110_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqbSgFiUJ_XDOol7N-fnWsIxvwBZ-ohNEMUCPXwbb_SzE.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Come back to school, Gillian Keegan urges pupils demoralised by pandemic
Education Secretary speaks out ahead of A-levels results day on Thursday, with record drop in grades expected
![Gillian Keegan](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/08/16/TELEMMGLPICT000345938894_16922150267110_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqbSgFiUJ_XDOol7N-fnWsIxvwBZ-ohNEMUCPXwbb_SzE.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Absent children have been urged to return to school in September by the Education Secretary, as figures show more pupils than ever are missing from the classroom post-pandemic.
Speaking to The Telegraph ahead of A-level pupils collecting their results on Thursday, Gillian Keegan told children who “lost their confidence” during the pandemic to “dig deep” and come back to the classroom.
More than half a million pupils will receive their exam results on Thursday, with a record drop in top A-level grades expected as the Government seeks to bring the share of As and A*s down to pre-pandemic levels.
This year’s students had the highest ever GCSE results when grades were teacher assessed in 2021, but will be the first Covid cohort to experience pre-pandemic grading in England.
However, many secondary school pupils have continued to miss lessons regularly since the pandemic.
In the last academic year, a record 28 per cent of secondary pupils missed at least a month of school, according to a Telegraph analysis of Government data for England.
It comes amid growing concern that the Covid Inquiry is not planning to focus on children until at least 2025.
Mrs Keegan said getting children back to school was her top priority for the next academic year.
“I wouldn’t actually describe it as truancy,” she said. “I think what’s happened with attendance is that a lot of young people have lost their confidence.
“There’s a lot of people who maybe feel that they’re really quite far behind, and they’re very nervous and anxious about going back to school.
“It may feel like it’s tough. It may feel like you’ve really got to dig deep to be able to force yourself back to school. But what we will say is now is the time. Please come back to school, and we will help support you, to make sure that you do well and fit back in.”
The Education Secretary’s intervention comes after warnings from Britain’s leading social mobility charity that children who miss school will not “be able to do well, in your exams or anything else”.
Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, warned that pupil absences were a “disaster” for children and the economy. He told The Telegraph: “If you don’t go to school, you’re in deep trouble. You’re not going to be able to do well, in your exams or anything else. So it’s an enormous problem.”
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter said: “If we know anything in education it is that poor attendance predicts lower achievement: those students missing school will do less well in their exams and will fall behind their peers.”
A-level results are expected to show a widening gap in results between private school pupils and their state school peers, and Prof Major said: “Given how much hardship and disruption low and middle-income children have suffered it is likely that the state-private school exam gap will widen.”
An estimated 100,000 fewer UK entries will be awarded As or A*s compared to last year as the Government tries to rein in record Covid grade inflation.
Last year, 36.4 per cent of UK A-level entries were awarded A or A* grades, compared to 44.8 per cent in 2021 and 38.5 per cent in 2020. In 2019, the last summer before the pandemic, 25.4 per cent of UK A-level entries were awarded A or A* grades.
Around 250,000 school leavers will find out on Thursday if they have met their offer grades for a university place, according to an analysis by dataHE. Those who fail to make their grades face fierce competition to secure a place in clearing. Around 26,000 teenagers are already in clearing after failing to receive an offer.
Mrs Keegan said teenagers should not worry if they don’t get their offer grades, adding: “I think if you’re disappointed in your grades, the most important thing is first of all, don’t worry because it doesn’t signify that you can’t go on and have a very successful life and career. You will. You just need to work out what’s the next best step from there.”
The Education Secretary said she would encourage students to consider a degree apprenticeship, which offers students the opportunity to “earn while you learn” without taking on thousands of pounds in student debt.
“There’s so many different routes,” she said. “And the key important thing is actually we have a shortage of skills. So the workplace and everybody’s really waiting for you and encouraging you along the way. So there’ll be lots of opportunity for you.”
Harsh return to reality for pupils in England
Pupils in England face a harsher return to reality after exam boards were instructed to return grade boundaries to 2019 levels. In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators have said they do not plan to return to pre-pandemic grading until 2024.
Mrs Keegan defended the return to pre-pandemic grading in England. She said: “The reason we do all this hard work, the reason we put our efforts into getting these grades is so they mean something to an employer, to a university, to yourself, to your parents, to your cohorts, to your friends. So it is important that they hold their value.
“There’s been a lot of disruption. We’ve had teacher-assessed grades, but now it’s going back to normal, but also knowing that you will get exactly the same as you would have got in 2019 and you’ll get more importantly, the same access to opportunity.”
Mrs Keegan also responded to demands that the Covid Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Hallett, prioritises children instead of waiting for at least three years to assess how they have been affected by the pandemic.
“I think the inquiry chair sets the terms of the inquiry,” she said. “We’re not waiting for the Covid Inquiry... to focus on children. We’re very much focused on how we can help children get back into school but also to catch up, and we helped them during the pandemic as well.
“So we will not be waiting for a Covid Inquiry to really put children front and centre of everything we’re doing.”