Earlier this month, I spoke to BBC Radio Kent about train strikes disrupting children taking their GCSE exams. I spoke as a parent, whose daughter, along with hundreds of children who regularly commute into Tonbridge station, was trying to complete their exams. These are a cohort of children who have faced the most significant disruption to their education for generations. Two exams were disrupted, including physics and combined science - a compulsory subject in many schools.
There is no doubt that the strikes added to the anxiety of taking exams. A longer journey with more uncertainty, is not the ideal way to start an exam day. And continuing strikes will hurt those children who are still recovering from learning lost during the pandemic, something that the Educational Endowment Foundation, a national independent education research charity, finds has hit children from disadvantaged backgrounds harder. https://d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net/documents/guidance-for-teachers/c…
For those who say only a tiny number of children commute nationally by train, please come to Tonbridge and see just how many children commute to school via this station and are impacted by ongoing strike action. Let's hope we never see strikes repeated when they can have such a significant impact on exams for our children.
If you believe your child was negatively impacted when taking exams, due to the train strike, please let me know.