INTERVIEW
Bridget Phillipson: Parents must save lockdown’s lost generation
The shadow education secretary takes aim at absenteeism as a poll reveals that one in four parents don’t think their child has to go to school each day
Phillipson did not have an easy childhood, but never missed a day of school
RACHEL ADAMS FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
The Sunday Times
Bridget Phillipson understands only too well the transformative power of education. She grew up in a council house in Washington, a former mining town between Sunderland and Newcastle.
The shadow education secretary, 40, whose father left when her mother Clare was pregnant with her, was bullied at primary school and ostracised because her family was so poor. They were reliant on benefits and their terraced house, with rotten window frames and no upstairs heating, sat between a disused railway line and an industrial wasteland. In the winter she would go to bed fully clothed. But she did not miss a day of school.
“When I was growing up, I didn’t have it easy, but my family valued and prioritised education,” she said. “That means you
