The true cost of school closures – an interview with the Children’s Commissioner

Teaching unions have spent much of the past year campaigning with the social media hashtag #CloseTheSchools. It’s a reminder of the imbalance in debate over education. Unions represent the adults, MPs represent their constituents, but who in Westminster speaks for children?

In 2005 the Blair government sought to answer this question by creating a Children’s Commissioner, who would promote and protect the rights of children in decisions affecting their lives. Anne Longfield, the third to hold the job, is in the final few weeks of her six-year stint. She is spending those weeks campaigning for schools to re-open as soon as possible after the February half-term.

She believes she has more reasons to be optimistic now than she did last year when she was pushing for classroom tuition to resume in June. Back then, she says, parents and unions were reluctant. ‘Everyone was completely terrified of what was going to happen.’