Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in the United Kingdom
In March 2020, nurseries, schools, and colleges in the United Kingdom were shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By 20 March, all schools in the UK had closed for all in-person teaching, except for children of key workers and children considered vulnerable. With children at home, teaching took place online.[1] The emergence of a new variant of COVID-19 in December 2020 led to cancellation of face-to-face teaching across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales the following month.
Universities had a range of approaches to dealing the pandemic. Some taught exclusively online, such as the University of Cambridge, while most adopted a 'blended' model which mixed remote and in-person teaching.[2] GCSE and A-level exams and their Scottish equivalents were cancelled, with grades assigned based on teacher predictions after controversy about the method.
Education in the United Kingdom is delegated to the four nations: education in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is devolved to the Scottish Government,[3] the Welsh Government[4] and the Northern Ireland Executive, respectively, whilst the UK Government is responsible for education in England.
Timeline[edit]
Late February to mid-March – individual closures[edit]
Following cases in Italy, the Cransley School in Northwich, Cheshire, and Trinity Catholic College in Middlesbrough closed, as some of their pupils had returned with symptoms from Italy. Fourteen schools in England had closed by 28 February.[5] Loughborough University reported a student confirmed to have the virus after recent travel to Italy, and indicated that several staff members and students began self-isolation.[6]
Mid-March – nationwide shutdown[edit]
On 18 March, the Welsh government announced that all schools in Wales would be closing by 20 March.[7] On the same day, the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon announced that Scottish schools would also be closing from 20 March, and may not reopen before the summer.[8] Later that day, it was announced that schools in Northern Ireland would close to pupils immediately and to staff on 20 March.[9] Shortly thereafter, the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson announced that schools in England would close from 20 March for an unspecified length of time.[10] Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that schools would still look after the children of key workers, and vulnerable children,[11] and for England the Department for Education published guidance on eligibility on 19 March.[12]
The Coronavirus Act 2020, which came into force on 25 March, gave the relevant ministers and departments across the UK powers to shut educational institutions and childcare premises.[13]
The UK government also announced that GCSE and A Level exams were to be cancelled, an unprecedented action in UK educational history, and that grades were to be given out based on predicted grades and teacher assessment.[11][14][15]
Schooling in Lockdown[edit]
Home learning[edit]
Students were encouraged to keep on studying at home with many parents becoming responsible for their children's education.[56] Many teachers continued to set work for and interact with pupils online.[57]
The launch of Oak National Academy was announced in April 2020, providing teachers with free online lessons.[58] Oak delivered two million lessons in its first week of operation.[59] The TES and Oak National Academy also ran weekly assemblies, with speakers including The Duchess of Cambridge, the Prime Minister and the Archbishop of Canterbury.[60]
Fitness coach Joe Wicks released a series of training videos targeted primarily at schoolchildren to help them remain active whilst at home.[61] BBC Bitesize also provided a range of resources to help children, young people and parents.[62] The Bitesize website had 1.6 million individual users on the day its lockdown learning programme was launched whilst CBBC had a 436% increase in viewership during the slot when educational programming was broadcast.[63]
Research conducted by the Office of National Statistics suggested that school aged children in Great Britain completed on average 11 hours of study at home per week this was roughly the same regardless of how many children or adults were in the household, however, children tended to do less schoolwork if they were younger or when there was a child under five-years-old in the household.[64] Other studies suggested that many students had completed little or no academic work during the lockdown.[65]
Universities[edit]
March 2020 – Closures[edit]
Cambridge University was criticised for their incoherent response to the pandemic which required international students and staff to make arrangements to return home with only two days' notice. On 13 March, students and staff were advised that international travel was discouraged and university facilities would stay open at reduced capacity. On 18 March, Vice Chancellor Stephen Toope announced a sudden U-turn: all university buildings would be indefinitely shut to staff and students from the afternoon of Friday 20 March, and all students were strongly encouraged to leave Cambridge.[81] The president of Cambridge UCU criticised this sudden shutdown, saying it would exacerbate the pandemic as students from countries with weaker healthcare provisions were forced to return home.[81]
Over a thousand Cambridge students signed an open letter requesting to have multiple assessment options in lieu of the cancelled examinations, including the option to retake part or all of the academic year in 2020–21.[82]
Coventry University first suspended graduation ceremonies due to be held in March and April,[83] and from 20 March, suspended all face-to-face teaching, in favour of on-line delivery.[84] Other higher education institutions took similar steps around the same time.[85] Many students from overseas, who could not afford to travel or found their flights cancelled, were unable to return home.[86]
COVID-19 in schools[edit]
SAGE advised that opening schools will likely increase the rate of COVID-19 transmission while noting that it is "difficult to quantify the level of transmission taking place specifically within schools compared to other settings".[93] The NASUWT teachers' union contacted 28 local authorities for data on COVID-19 rates amongst school staff in the autumn term. Of the three that responded, rates amongst staff were much higher than the levels in their local authorities.[94]
The Schools Infection Survey monitors infection rates in staff and students at schools in England. As part of the survey, 10,000 people were tested for COVID-19 in November 2020; 1.24% of pupils and 1.29% of staff tested positive. The study excluded people with clear symptoms as they should not be attending school. SAGE noted that the "data is unweighted, and so cannot be generalised to the school population as a whole." Minutes from a SAGE meeting in November recorded that there is evidence that pre-school and primary children are less susceptible to catching COVID-19 than adults, though it is unclear whether secondary school children are also less susceptible.[95]
As of 4 January 2021, the Department for Education does not have information on how many school staff have died of COVID-19, and has not released its data on illness rates.[96]
Aftermath[edit]
A report published in November 2020 by Ofsted on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children in England after their first period out of school found that whilst some children had coped well with lockdown often enjoying the extra time with their families, others had struggled, regressing academically and losing basic skills such as young children who had previously been potty trained returning to wearing nappies. The report indicated that children with special educational needs had been particularly badly impacted by the pandemic.[97]
Polling suggested that three quarters of parents felt that teaching their children at home had made them more knowledgeable. Whilst, 29% said they had learned something new from the experience and the same number thought it had made them a better parent. 37% believed they were now better equipped to help their children with schoolwork in the future.[98] Between September 2020 and April 2021, the number of children across the UK being taken out of school to be educated at home on a permanent basis increased by 75% in comparison to previous years.[99]
Reporting conducted in late 2021 into the impact of the COVID-19 on schools in Scotland suggested that pupils behaviour had worsened since the pandemic and that academic standards had fallen. The pandemic had reportedly impacted children's development with unusually immature classes in their first year of secondary school needing to be treated like primary school pupils. Frequent absences among teachers due to needing to isolate was leading to lessons being run at maximum size adding to issues with discipline whilst common absences among the students also disrupted their progress. Whilst, some pupils had simply not returned to school after lockdown and whereabouts were unknown.[100]
Guidance and document collections at GOV.UK: