Primary Education during COVID

During the COVID pandemic, primary schools in England experienced two extended periods of national closure: between March to September 2020; and between January to March, 2021. During this time only children of key workers and vulnerable children were allowed on site. In addition, in areas of high COVID infection, many schools experienced local lockdowns that went on for much longer.

Such a prolonged period of disruption to education is unusual in England outside of wartime. In the absence of an immediately relevant research base, there was considerable uncertainty about what schools should be doing, as well as concern about what the longer term effects would be.

Our series of rapid-response projects were designed to capture at speed what was actually going in primary schools, and make sure that their experience of dealing with the issues at first hand were recognised as part of knowledge-building for the future. You can find out more about the individual project methods and findings here. Peer-reviewed publications from the projects are also listed.

Project 1. A duty of care and a duty to teach: educational priorities in response to the COVID-19 crisis

Funder: UKRI/ ESRC. Reference number: ES/V00414X/1. 

May to September 2020.

This project was designed to inform education policymakers of actions primary teachers were taking during the COVID crisis and feed this into the policy response. In order to achieve this aim, findings were published rapidly in an accessible format.

Methods

• A survey of a representative sample of primary school teachers using a dedicated mobile survey app (Teacher Tapp). This linked teacher responses to administrative datasets on school characteristics held by the DfE (Moss et al, 2020).
• A rapid evidence assessment of the literatures on learning loss and on learning disruption based on school closures following natural disasters, with an assessment of their relevance for education during COVID and any lessons they might have for recovery (Harmey and Moss, 2021);
• Documentary analysis of press coverage of education and COVID used to track how the pandemic and its effects in education were being reported and understood (Moss, 2022). (This activity continued over the full research cycle).
• Follow up interviews with a small group of participants.

Reports

Primary teachers’ experience of the COVID-19 lockdown – Eight key messages for policymakers going forward

• Moss, G., Allen, R., Bradbury, A., Duncan, S., Harmey, S. and Levy, R. (2020). Primary teachers’ experience of the COVID-19 lockdown – Eight key messages for policymakers going forward. (PDF, 0.6MB)

  This report is based on a survey of 1,653 primary teachers in state schools in England conducted during May half-term 2020, just before schools started re-opening. 

  The COVID-19 crisis underlined the vital role primary schools play in keeping children our most disadvantaged pupils fed and safe. Schools were best placed to understand the priorities on the ground and were better able to plan for how to maintain learning at home. Overwhelming our respondents hoped that the crisis would reset the educational agenda going forward. 

Briefing papers

• Briefing Note 1: Primary Assessment and COVID

  How to address areas of concern for teachers around statutory assessment.

• Briefing Note 2: Learning after lockdown

  ‘Recovery’, ‘catch-up’, or business as usual? Guiding primary schools in supporting pupil learning as schools reopened.

• Briefing Note 3: Resetting educational priorities in challenging times

  Rebuilding, reconnecting and reimagining a more resilient education system.

• Briefing Note 4: Research evidence to support primary school inspection post-COVID

  The research evidence and recommendation to inform conversations on how Ofsted inspections might best resume and the best ways forward in education. 

Written submissions to parliament

• Harmey, S. and Moss, G. (2020) Learning Loss versus Learning Disruption: Written evidence submitted by the International Literacy Centre, UCL, IOE, to the Education Select Committee Inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 (PDF, 0.1MB)

  Our systematic review of the literatures on learning loss and learning disruption, using 'rapid evidence assessment' principles, concluded that the literature on learning disruption after unplanned events such as natural disasters is more helpful in planning for school resilience post-COVID in the UK than the research on learning 'lost' over the annual summer holidays. In particular the literature on learning disruption emphasises the importance of recognising the value of school leaders' knowledge of their local communities and the specific impacts extended disruption to schooling has had for them. 

• Written submission to the Education Select Committee Inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services (PDF, 0.9MB)

  Our written evidence to the Education Select Committee inquiry outlined eight key messages and eight recommendations for schools, for system leaders and for policymakers on how schools can plan to become more resilient in the likelihood of ongoing disruption. 

Blogs and articles

• Education in the Time of COVID-19 –Rebuild, Reconnect, Reimagine?
• 5 reasons to be cautious about estimates of lockdown learning loss
• A surprising convergence shows teachers’ desire to rebuild better
• Primary schooling and the duty of care
• Choosing welfare over worksheets and care over ‘catch-up’: teachers’ priorities during lockdown
• Government and teachers’ realities are increasingly worlds apart

Project 2. Learning through disruption: rebuilding primary education using local knowledge

Funder: UKRI/ ESRC. Reference number: ES/W002086/1. 

April to November 2021.

A project exploring how primary school parents, pupils and staff have coped with, and adapted to, a period of prolonged disruption in education, and the lessons we can learn as schools resume.

Methods

• Qualitative case studies of primary schools in parts of the country likely to have experienced different levels of COVID infection (Moss et al, 2021). Data were collected as schools began planning for re-opening in June 2021.

  Each case study includes the following:

  • Interviews with staff, parents and pupils about their experience of education during COVID and the lessons learnt.
  • Documentary collection – to understand the school in its context and to throw light on: actions taken during the pandemic; and priorities in school planning for the summer term.
  • Interviews with members of support networks to which these schools turn.

Outputs

Main report

• Learning through Disruption: Using schools' experiences of Covid to build a more resilient education system

  This report defines key findings on: Schools’ responses to their communities’ needs during the pandemic; the role headteachers and other staff played in managing the crisis; the immediate priorities for recovery as schools resumed normal functioning; and the lessons learnt from the pandemic for primary education in England more broadly.

Policy briefings

The notes include the findings from the study and recommendations for building education system post-pandemic.

• Learning through disruption 1: why school plans for recovery from COVID must be locally led
• Learning through disruption 2: schools serving high poverty communities need funding that fully reflects the work that they do
• Learning through disruption 3: schools engaging with families and communities during COVID
• Learning through disruption 4: building a more resilient education system post-COVID
• Learning through disruption 5: research evidence to support primary school inspection post-COVID

Blog

• Schools’ varied Covid stories make sitting the Phonics Test meaningless

Primary education during COVID: Project publications

• Harmey, S. and Moss, G. (2021) Learning disruption or learning loss: using evidence from unplanned closures to inform returning to school after COVID-19. Educational Review, 75(4), 637–656

  This article details the findings from a systematic review of the literatures on learning disruption and learning loss, conducted during summer 2020. It argues that the literature on learning disruption is more relevant to education post-COVID than the literature on learning loss.

• Moss, G. (2022) Researching the prospects for change that COVID disruption has brought to high stakes testing and accountability systems. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 30 (139) 

  This article considers the ways in which the pandemic created conditions for disputing the value of high stakes testing and accountability regimes, and the role of research in making the case for change

• Bradbury, A., Braun, A., Duncan, S., Harmey, S., Levy, R., & Moss, G. (2022). Crisis policy enactment: primary school leaders’ responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in England. Journal of Education Policy, 38(5), 761–781

  This article explores the enactment of government policy during the COVID pandemic in primary schools in England and is based on interviews with school leaders and teachers across the period 2020–21. It argues that school leaders’ responses can be understood as a distinct form of policy enactment particular to this unprecedented crisis.

  Watch Professor Alice Bradbury discussing this article on Faculti.net.

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