‘Avalanche’ of government guidance held schools back in first Covid wave

The University of Cambridge and UCL Institute of Education (IOE) researchers found that 201 policy updates were released by the Department for Education (DfE) between 18 March 2020 and 18 June 2020, including 12 occasions when five or more statements were issued in a single day.

The researchers surveyed 298 headteachers, senior leaders and governors, and undertook follow-up interviews with 29 randomly selected participants.

Asked about the main challenges they faced, heads repeatedly cited ‘changing updates’, ‘clarity’ and ‘time’. 77% of executive heads and 71% of headteachers complained about “too many inputs and too much information”. In follow-up interviews, participants referred to being “inundated” with Government updates, which often contradicted earlier guidance.

Many participants expressed deep frustration with the lack of notice that preceded new Government guidance, which they often heard about first through televised coronavirus briefings or other public announcements. “Society at large is being given information at the same time as schools,” one head told the researchers. “There is no time to put our thoughts in place before parents start calling.”

The sheer volume of information being released also represented a major challenge. During the three-month period concerned, the DfE published 74 unique guidance documents; each of which was updated three times on average. The net result was that school leaders received an average of three policy updates per day, for 90 days, including at weekends.

Study lead author Peter Fotheringham (University of Cambridge) said: “We expected the biggest challenge for school leaders during lockdown would be student welfare. In fact, time and again, the message we got was: ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, nothing is being shared in advance, and it’s overwhelming.’”

“It was uncanny how often the term ‘avalanche’ was used to describe the ridiculous amount of information they were getting. Policy measures were also typically announced to the public before official guidance even arrived, so parents were on the phone before heads even had a chance to read it. We think that with some simple fixes, a lot of this could be avoided in the future.”

The study concludes that introducing simple measures, such as signalling in-line changes to policy updates, ‘would have a high impact’ on school leaders’ ability to implement policy during any future disruption. Fotheringham added that “numerous mechanisms” were available to the DfE to sharpen its communications with heads – not least a direct-line email system to school leaders, which could have been used to give them advance warning about new guidance.

The findings also underline the value of schools’ wider networks within their communities and of the professional connections of school leaders themselves. Heads repeatedly described, in particular, the benefits they experienced from having opportunities to collaborate and share ideas with other school leaders as they tried to steer their schools through the crisis. Investing in further opportunities to do this beyond the ‘traditional’ structures offered by local authorities or Multi Academy Trusts would, the authors suggest, prove beneficial.

Co-author Grace Healy (IOE) said: "Whilst the findings of this research might not be a surprise to anyone in the sector, we think it is important that the lived experiences of school leaders during the Covid-19 pandemic are recognised and continue to be engaged with. 

"It is heartening to find despite the significant challenges faced at the beginning of the pandemic, school leaders still identified and acted upon various opportunities to strengthen support and communication within their school communities for staff, students and parents/carers. 

"We are incredibly grateful to the school leaders who contributed to this research for their thoughtful responses; particularly as leaders responded to the survey during a challenging and highly pressured time."

‘Pressures and influences on school leaders navigating policy development during the COVID-19 pandemic’ was published in the British Educational Research Journal.

Links

• Read the paper ‘Pressures and influences on school leaders navigating policy development during the COVID-19 pandemic
• View Grace Healy's research profile
• Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
• COVID-19 research at UCL Institute of Education

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Phil Meech for UCL Institute of Education