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Panorama 2020 E41
Transcript
00:00I'm Cash Jones, I'm 25 and a journalist at the BBC.
00:07Growing up, I was taught that working hard was the way to get on.
00:12I feel like the majority of us are struggling.
00:15About seven months since Covid first put us into a national lockdown.
00:19There have been days where I've been just in my room, just crying.
00:22The virus itself doesn't seem to affect the young as badly as others,
00:26but the fallout's been devastating.
00:28No-one's telling us what's going on.
00:30Quite depressing.
00:33And the future for 16 to 25-year-olds now seems so uncertain.
00:38All I want is to learn and progress,
00:40but I don't think that'll be able to happen.
00:45Tonight on Panorama, I want to find out what the long-term impact of Covid
00:49could be on my generation.
00:51How am I supposed to compete with all of these people
00:54that have got more experience than me?
00:56On education...
00:58She's lost a year of her young life.
01:00Something has to be done.
01:03..employment...
01:04My heart just dropped because I knew
01:06the worst-case scenario is actually happening.
01:09..and on mental health.
01:11The three and a half weeks I've been in my flat
01:13have felt about three years.
01:15MUSIC PLAYS
01:24Good morning and welcome.
01:26Wash your hands, please.
01:29This is Roberta.
01:32We come from similar working-class backgrounds.
01:35She's 16 and just started sixth form.
01:39When schools were closed, she was revising for GCSEs.
01:43I remember Boris standing there and talking about
01:46how GCSEs and A-level exams were cancelled.
01:49My first reaction was, I think, disbelief.
01:52I think that moment when life for me really started to change.
01:57You didn't get that closure.
02:02Yeah, it was quite sad, yeah.
02:04Whatever you aspire to achieve in adult life,
02:07this is the place that will help you get there.
02:11In September, Roberta started at Harris Westminster School
02:15in the heart of London.
02:17So, many of us know the numbers in Spanish
02:21and these are similar.
02:23This selective sixth form was set up to provide
02:26what it describes as a life-changing education,
02:29giving priority to bright but discerning young people.
02:33Priority to bright but disadvantaged students.
02:40It has ten applicants for every place.
02:47Although she's now back in a classroom,
02:49Roberta feels like she's already struggling to keep up in Year 12.
02:55During the six months, it was just no education at all.
02:59I didn't really get any support from my old school
03:02regarding my education.
03:03Are you coping all right?
03:05It's been quite... A little bit stressful so far.
03:08I always had a dream of going to A-levels,
03:10prepared, focused and ready.
03:13That break of six months did so much damage.
03:16Usually, I'd be able to just, you know, be sitting for hours
03:19and be able to revise and really absorb it in my mind.
03:22Now, I get kind of restless after maybe one or two hours.
03:27In Roberta's year group, around a third of pupils
03:30are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
03:32There are pupils from every borough in London,
03:35including 20 who are privately educated.
03:38And they all come from different schools as well. Yeah.
03:41So, is there people in your classroom who had... Yes. Oh, my gosh.
03:44..who had, like, a good six-month period
03:46where they were still getting the right access to materials? Yes.
03:49I think, coming into this school,
03:51I didn't realise that aspiration would be this big in the classroom.
03:54There are people that don't know anything
03:56and there are people that know almost the whole content.
03:59You can tell who's going to do in their A-levels and who isn't.
04:03And where will I be? What bracket will I be in?
04:08Research given exclusively to Panorama
04:11shows that pupils in private schools
04:13were five times more likely to have had
04:15four online lessons or more a day during lockdown
04:18than those in state schools.
04:20And even those schools, including this one,
04:23are doing their best to make sure students don't miss out.
04:26Four in ten pupils across the country
04:28still aren't getting the same number of teaching hours
04:31as they did before lockdown.
04:35Ms Jimmen? Ms Jimmen? 56. Would you direct to...
04:38Staff here are trying to manage the impact
04:40of all that time without lessons.
04:43We've seen a massive increase in students with anxiety
04:47and not just anxiety about the future,
04:49but having things like sensory overload of being back in a situation
04:53where you're surrounded by people.
04:56We've seen a big increase in students with eating disorders this year
05:00and we've seen an increase in depression as well.
05:03So we've had to, where possible,
05:06direct them to the nursing and the counselling.
05:09But within the first two weeks,
05:11those two things were completely saturated, pretty much.
05:19And what have you got for me today?
05:21With COVID cases rising in London again,
05:24Kylie and headteacher James need to make sure
05:27their most disadvantaged students don't get left behind
05:30if they're forced to work from home.
05:32We've obviously got free school meal students
05:34who will also need to ensure that they're getting...
05:37They're getting lunch. Lunch. OK.
05:39So I need to make sure we've got finance to have that ready to go
05:43if we have to send students home.
05:45We have 30 students without a laptop.
05:4930 students without a laptop at the moment.
05:52So I've just put in an order
05:54for £8,000 worth of electronic equipment.
05:57Oof. This is getting a bit squeaky, isn't it?
06:00It is getting a bit squeaky.
06:02Harris Westminster has received an extra £13,000
06:05to cope with the pandemic.
06:07Roughly £21 per pupil.
06:10The Department for Education told Panorama
06:12they're giving every school more money.
06:15They said they provided £58 million
06:18to help schools with the extra costs of COVID.
06:20When you go home, do you have any support
06:22or guidance for you to help you?
06:24My sister did do A-levels, so I can ask her about certain concepts,
06:27but because she's resitting her A-levels,
06:30you know, due to the government fiasco,
06:32it's been... I can't really ask all the time.
06:35I do feel a guilt of, oh, she needs to advise herself.
06:38Roberta lives with her mum, Julie, and sister, Shannon.
06:43Yeah, see if you can come and sit in here.
06:47It's so cold outside.
06:49It's freezing.
06:51Shannon also went to her selected sixth form
06:54and would have been the first in her family
06:56to go to university this year.
06:59I had an offer for a university,
07:02but I didn't get it.
07:05I had an offer for a university
07:08and I was on track to meet that offer.
07:11What were you going to study?
07:13The degree was a five-year integrated master's in astrophysics.
07:17But Shannon was one of the thousands of students
07:20who lost their university place
07:22after the now-famous algorithm
07:24initially used to calculate their grades.
07:27My university offer was for AAB
07:29in three out of four of my A-levels,
07:32and then the algorithm gave me ACEE.
07:36I've never achieved grades that were that bad
07:39in any exam I've ever taken, so it was a shock.
07:43Where did they get their Es from?
07:45I truly don't know.
07:47Although just days later,
07:49the government decided to drop the algorithm
07:52and use teacher-assessed grades instead.
07:54Shannon's grades were lower than she'd hoped.
07:57All my hopes were dashed
07:59because all my future plans were reliant on me
08:01getting the grades that I was required to,
08:03to go to university.
08:04I was here through the night
08:06applying to so many different universities
08:08and none of them could take me
08:09because my grades were that bad.
08:11The government gave me terrible grades.
08:13I've never seen these grades ever.
08:17Now Shannon's applying to go to university next year.
08:22She's re-sitting her A-levels,
08:24though she never had a chance to sit them in the first place.
08:28I will do this October exam series
08:30and I will prove to myself more than anything
08:33that these are not even close to what I can achieve
08:36in terms of my A-level grades.
08:40Julie, a receptionist at a care home,
08:43is paying more than £100 for Shannon to take the exams.
08:48I would call that daylight robbery.
08:50That's what happened to her.
08:52She was taught a lot of what can she do,
08:54so she studied a lot.
08:55She actually could get in, but they really took the place away.
08:59That's the most frustrating thing for me.
09:01If I could have a meeting with...
09:03What's his name, the MP?
09:04Gavin Williams.
09:05It's Gavin Williams.
09:06He can come right here and we can have a chat.
09:08She needs to be compensated.
09:10She lost a year of her young life.
09:12It's not fair.
09:13It's not fair at all.
09:16Something has to be done.
09:20Following the A-levels U-turn,
09:22Education Secretary Gavin Williamson
09:24apologised for the distress it caused young people and their parents.
09:3211% of the students awarded higher grades
09:35after the algorithm was scrapped
09:37didn't find a place at their first choice university
09:40or its equivalent.
09:42But for those that did get their place,
09:45university life isn't what they expected it to be.
09:48Out of over 150 higher education institutions in the UK,
09:53at least 116 have Covid on campus.
09:57At the University of Leeds,
09:59there are over 38,000 students.
10:03But they're in lockdown and the campus is practically empty.
10:07Everyone says that the most important thing about uni
10:10is meeting new people, making new friends.
10:13It's just empty.
10:16Quite depressing.
10:20And it's like this in campuses across the country.
10:24I tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday.
10:29I tested positive for coronavirus last week.
10:32I tested positive on Monday.
10:34I've seen students panic to get food.
10:36No one's telling us what's going on.
10:38Learning, it's been an uphill struggle.
10:41There's no in-person contact hours.
10:44The three and a half weeks I've been in my flat
10:46have felt about three years.
10:48It's quite frustrating to think that you've been spending
10:51over £9,000.
10:53It's not like a normal uni experience as such,
10:56where you can go out all the time,
10:58there's all these activities and sports.
11:00And there's fewer people,
11:01and there's fewer people to talk to,
11:03and there's fewer people to talk to.
11:05First-year student Becky has a heart condition
11:08and had to shield for six months before she came here.
11:12I know what it's like to be on a ventilator and stuff,
11:15and I was just so afraid that that would happen again.
11:18So how have you been coping?
11:19Because it feels like it's a lot to process and handle,
11:23especially at a time like this.
11:25It's a lot of pressure.
11:26It's a lot of pressure.
11:27It's a lot of pressure.
11:28It's a lot of pressure.
11:29It's a lot of pressure.
11:30It's a lot of pressure.
11:31It's a lot of pressure.
11:32It's a lot of pressure.
11:33How have you been coping?
11:34How have you been coping?
11:35What kind of process and handle,
11:36What kind of process and handle,
11:37especially at a transitional stage in your life?
11:38It's difficult mentally.
11:40I would just panic and go into this weird mode
11:43of just being like, everything.
11:45Everything I touch is infected.
11:48I didn't think it would be this bad.
11:51I didn't think I would come here
11:53and immediately go into a local lockdown.
11:57Leeds is now a Tier 2 area,
11:59so Becky can't meet any friends and neighbors indoors.
12:02And although her flat is currently COVID-free,
12:04Becky's neighbours have tested positive for the virus.
12:08This is it.
12:09This is uni.
12:10This is everything from when I was in year seven,
12:13hoping for, and I'm sat by myself.
12:17This is my room.
12:19I've got a bed and a desk over here.
12:23As soon as you go into your room and shut the door,
12:25it's just so lonely.
12:28You just kind of spiral a little bit.
12:31There have been days where I've been just in my room,
12:33just crying.
12:34It does lead to those dark places.
12:38Has there been much support for you?
12:39They've got all the numbers that you can call,
12:42but I think a lot of people don't feel comfortable
12:45their first week ringing up a helpline.
12:48You kind of just deal with that yourself,
12:50or you can't just go to the person next door
12:52and reach out.
12:53I don't think it's just me who's feeling that.
12:56We don't want to be here for Christmas.
12:58It's a very real threat.
13:01Every day, it's like, well, do I just go home?
13:13When I spoke to her about her coping mechanisms,
13:16it's even more uncertain now,
13:19and she doesn't have any of that same support system
13:21she had before, so it's worrying.
13:25The University of Leeds told Panorama
13:27students have access to free mental health support
13:30and counselling,
13:32and universities across the UK
13:34say they are doing everything possible
13:35to support students self-isolating,
13:38giving them food, financial and mental health support.
13:44Back home, parents are worried.
13:48There is a severe Covid crisis on campus.
13:51He's not having a good time.
13:53He's not having the same experience that I had.
13:56He's very isolated.
13:58She has now decided to come home.
14:00I really, really feel sorry for the kids,
14:03especially the freshers that should be having
14:04the time of their lives.
14:12This is Qoof.
14:14It's the UK's largest online mental health service
14:16for 11 to 24-year-olds.
14:19Give an hour-long counselling session.
14:23OK, so I've got one with suicidal thoughts.
14:28I'm just reading through the notes.
14:34Adoah's one of the counsellors on the night shift.
14:38There's a lot of people that spoke about
14:40how they just want to end their life.
14:42They don't see anybody any more.
14:45It's that isolation, it's that isolation that triggers it.
14:48They're really anxious about the kids,
14:52anxious about the pandemic, you know,
14:55and not being able to go to school,
14:58not being able to have that routine.
15:00Usually they know where they're going.
15:03They just haven't got that same life
15:04and they're not sure if they're going to get that back again.
15:09Qoof now has around 4,000 people visiting its site every day.
15:14During lockdown, staff here saw demand for the service rise
15:18at times by more than half.
15:20This chat's nearly finishing now.
15:23So just say bye, though.
15:26The number of young people contacting them about self-harm
15:29is up 13% on the same time last year.
15:35And there's more than a 20% rise in the number wanting help
15:38because of suicidal thoughts.
15:43Do a little wave.
15:46This hour-long session should be drawn to a close,
15:49but the person Adele is speaking to doesn't want it to end.
15:54Is everything OK?
15:55It can happen quite a lot.
15:57You go and they'll say something to draw you back in again.
16:02What do you tell someone when they just feel sad
16:05and then you look outside and the news says,
16:07restriction lockdown possible,
16:09the numbers are going up and people are being infected?
16:11This is a sad time and it is OK to feel sad.
16:16It is OK to feel how you feel.
16:20It's not that you have to fight away that sadness.
16:23It's about accepting and managing that sadness.
16:28I think it depends on the behaviour that comes after that
16:31is when it can become an issue in terms of how they manage it,
16:35whether it's in a healthy way or whether it's in a destructive way.
16:45A major academic study of mental health during lockdown
16:48found that younger adults were more likely to report depressive symptoms
16:52and to have suicidal thoughts than people over 30.
17:06One of the biggest worries is the impact the pandemic's had on their job prospects.
17:10It's quite a long journey.
17:12Yeah, I feel like I've just gotten used to it, but yeah, it is a bit long.
17:16Rachel's just graduated with a first-class degree in theatre and performance
17:20from the University of Leeds.
17:22I can't remember the last time I've been in a uniform shop.
17:26Yeah, it's a bit of a strange job, I guess.
17:28It's crazy, innit?
17:30She was hoping to build a career in the theatre.
17:33She's applied for more than 100 jobs.
17:37But with that industry now on its knees, for now at least,
17:41she's grateful to be working here.
17:46It's definitely difficult to get a job.
17:48Obviously, I've been lucky enough that I've had this one,
17:50but I don't think I would have been able to find another one if it wasn't for this.
17:55Rachel's earning the minimum wage working part-time at this shop.
17:59She used to have a summer job here.
18:02Did you expect to be back here after graduating?
18:04No, definitely not.
18:05I was meant to be at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
18:07I was meant to produce a show.
18:09We kind of had, like, a bit of hope,
18:11just at the start of lockdown, like, oh, that's August, that's ages away, but, you know.
18:17It's a bit of a bummer.
18:23The shop's in her hometown of Stockton.
18:28It's an hour and a half from the house she's renting with her old university friends.
18:33After her travel expenses have been deducted,
18:35she's left with £600 a month to cover the rent and other living costs.
18:47Of her four flatmates, all of them recent graduates,
18:50none have found work in the field they wanted,
18:53and only two have found full-time jobs.
18:57In terms of, like, jobs and surviving, how are you guys coping?
19:02I've just been applying for everything, like, 20-odd more jobs every day,
19:07but you don't really hear back from any of them.
19:10And you hear that, like, a thousand other people are applying as well.
19:13Yeah.
19:14And you just think, how am I supposed to compete with all of these people
19:16that have got more experience than me?
19:18Yeah.
19:20Yeah, it's definitely not what any of us expected to be after we graduated, is it?
19:24Rachel also graduated with a first-class degree in theatre.
19:28Now she's working as a customer service advisor.
19:31I understood there was a risk involved and it was a small industry,
19:35but I thought, you know what, I need to make the steps to give myself a chance.
19:39Um, but I think now it's really heightened that risk.
19:43Feel like you can't be kind of picky...
19:44Not at all.
19:45...with any job, even if it's not what you're wanting.
19:47But now he's got the search field,
19:48so he'll be, like, very fit or specific in your search,
19:51and now it's just like, oh, I'll go for it.
19:53You just look at everything, yeah.
19:54Yeah, just typing my postcode.
19:56I'm like, I'll take anything.
19:58Within, like, 20 miles.
20:00Yeah.
20:00Posted in the last seven days.
20:01That's what I look for.
20:03Yeah.
20:08Do you still have the same dream and ambition now?
20:16I think it's more just kind of been put on pause at the moment.
20:20I think, again, just focusing on getting a job so I can afford rent.
20:24I feel like majority of us, actually, if not all of us, really are struggling,
20:28but you just have to get on with it.
20:30There isn't...
20:31There's no point in dwelling on what's going on
20:33because I feel it's just not, like, healthy.
20:36So, yeah, you just kind of have to be, like, resilient,
20:38which I think a lot of us are.
20:39You just kind of get used to it.
20:46In research exclusively shared with Panorama,
20:49only around a third of current students and recent graduates
20:52are confident they'll find graduate-level work.
20:57Professor Lee Elliot Major and Professor Stephen Machin
21:00are leading a landmark study looking at the impact of COVID on my generation.
21:06We call it the COVID generation.
21:08It's about young people growing up now and what are their prospects.
21:12They found that the under-25s are more than twice as likely
21:15to have lost their jobs than over-25s
21:18and more than half have had their working hours cut.
21:22Some sectors were still entirely shut down.
21:25It's hard to imagine most sectors returning fully
21:27back to where they were pre-lockdown.
21:30Within the group of young people,
21:32there's some people who probably wouldn't normally expect to be
21:35hit hard by a conventional recession.
21:41I know how important the right training opportunities can be.
21:44My life changed when I got my place on the BBC journalism trainee scheme.
21:49It was three years ago. I was 22.
21:53I've come to meet Rashid.
21:55He was offered training and his dream job at about the same age.
21:58I said I wanted to be a pilot before on my first holiday.
22:00Six years old. Six.
22:02But I only really took it seriously when I got into high school.
22:04I can just imagine you just look out the window for the whole journey.
22:07Yeah.
22:08In spring last year, he got word that his dream might become a reality,
22:13a place on a fully-funded pilot's training course.
22:17When I got the call to say I've got the cadetship, I was like,
22:20yeah, that's me. I'm out the ends now. That's me gone.
22:22You just meet a person that came from a rough area
22:25and made it out into the world.
22:27Rashid was sent to Spain for training. Then Covid hit.
22:34The flight in schools closed and put on the first flight back to London.
22:38It was about a three-, four-month gap. Didn't hear anything.
22:41And then we had a Zoom call where they basically said,
22:44you know, the pandemic has had such a detrimental effect on the airline.
22:48We can't continue to fund your training.
22:51And my heart just dropped because I knew the worst-case scenario is actually happening.
22:57With their funding gone, Rashid says he and his fellow trainees
23:01were told there was one way to continue training,
23:05to pay for it themselves.
23:09£60,000. £60,000.
23:10Where do you find £60,000? Yeah, exactly, exactly.
23:14So this is why the cadetship's worth its weight in gold,
23:16because if you don't come from wealth or money,
23:19then this gives you the opportunity to pursue a career as a pilot
23:22if you didn't have the means before.
23:27Yes, this is me with my course. So there's six of us.
23:31She's gone back. He's going back.
23:33But they all have to pay for it out of their own pocket, yeah.
23:37They're all going back to continue in some capacity.
23:40And do they have to pay the full £60,000, then?
23:43Yeah. And the thing is, we're all happy here.
23:46This is the start of the course.
23:47But fast-forward six months,
23:49I don't think any of us would have thought we'd be in this position.
23:52And who's worse off, do you reckon, out of all of them?
23:54Me.
23:55Yeah, me.
23:56Hi, my name is Rasheed Graham. I'm 23 and...
23:59Rasheed has until January to raise what he needs,
24:02so he's been using social media to crowdfund.
24:05Is there ever a thought process in your mind that this might not happen?
24:10There is. There is, but I can't let it get to me.
24:13I've come this far. This could really work out, or it couldn't.
24:17I've actually accepted both eventualities,
24:20but I'd rather not be in this position.
24:23Both eventualities, but I'd rather, you know,
24:26look back and realise that I'd tried to do something
24:29to return to flying training,
24:30rather than sit back and let opportunity go by.
24:34Wishing you the best, man.
24:35Thank you very much.
24:39I understand everything he's going through,
24:42because you literally put your hopes, your dreams, your ambitions,
24:47you start looking in the future and seeing yourself
24:49in certain rooms and certain places.
24:51So there's so much riding on this one ticket, in a sense,
24:55to a new life or to a new surrounding, a new environment.
25:01The Department for Work and Pensions told Panorama
25:04that their plan for jobs focuses on supporting people in need.
25:08It includes the Kickstart scheme,
25:10offering the minimum wage for a six-month work experience
25:14and an investment in apprenticeships, traineeships and work coaches.
25:22I do wonder whether the younger generation will kind of start demanding
25:27some sort of justice, if you like,
25:29sort of intergenerational justice about all this.
25:32So, yeah, I do think we need a fundamental reset of thinking
25:38on these issues, because if you don't solve them now, by the way,
25:41they're going to store up bigger problems for future generations, even more.
25:44So, you know, this is the chance in many ways
25:47for us to address some of these inequalities
25:50in society.
26:01Back at Harris Westminster, it's almost the end of term.
26:07And whilst Year 12 seems to have settled into the routine here,
26:12Year 13s are having to adapt to more change.
26:15...moving towards the right.
26:17So we're going to make a start on the left.
26:19We're going to make a start on this lesson.
26:21There's two kinds of friction.
26:22There's friction that happens when something is not moving, and then...
26:27Just as they were gearing up for mock exams
26:30and finishing off their university applications,
26:32one of the year group got COVID.
26:34So now all 300 of them are having to work remotely.
26:38A-level maths tutor Abdullah is teaching his class online.
26:42Can someone with a calculator please get me an answer?
26:45It's 5.3.
26:465.3.
26:47Thank you, Riyad.
26:48We could have made...
26:49Richmond, what do you think?
26:49Although the staff are confident they can manage lessons like this,
26:53it isn't the same as doing them face-to-face.
26:56Yes, Richmond?
26:57Say that again.
26:58Speak a bit louder, please.
27:00According to the Department for Education,
27:02almost half of state secondary schools have pupils self-isolating.
27:07Schools will still go on educating young people.
27:10That's what we're here to do.
27:11But we're not in the bedroom with them,
27:14checking in on them, checking that they're OK,
27:16checking that there's somebody at home looking after them.
27:19We're not there for them to talk to when they're having moments
27:21where they feel really down.
27:25It's hard to switch off from that,
27:26because how do you switch off from worrying about
27:29600 students that you know need you?
27:33It's like your mum to 600 people.
27:34I am a mother to 600 students.
27:38In spite of the challenges, Roberta's settling in.
27:42This term has been quite a journey, I think.
27:44Getting back into the regime of revision,
27:48sitting in lessons, meeting new people.
27:52With COVID cases rising,
27:54and much of the country now facing tougher restrictions,
27:57she's worried.
28:00I don't know how the future's going to pan out.
28:05All I want is to learn and progress.
28:08COVID's really impacted my life.
28:10COVID's really impacted my life.
28:12It's still going to be plaguing our generation the years to come.
28:24For details of organisations which offer advice and support
28:27with self-harm and emotional distress,
28:30you can go online to the Actionline pages of the BBC website.
28:39And then the bird had strands of illusions
28:42Fed to the honest hard-working tides