This report by the Chartered College of Teaching investigates teachers’ views on the impact of partial school closures on learning, wellbeing, school reopening plans and potential long-term implications for education.
The COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented level of partial school closures in the UK and the world more widely. Even though some countries are gradually reopening schools to more students, they continue to be closed to at least part of the student population in 116 countries, affecting over 60 per cent of the global student population.
In England, a gradual phased return was initiated at the beginning of June, with students in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 being encouraged to return to schools – but the latest available numbers show that only 26 per cent of children in Year 6, 20 per cent of children in Year 1 and 22 per cent of children in Reception are actually attending school.
Initial plans for all primary school students to return to school before the summer holidays have now been abandoned and all students are currently expected to return to schools full-time from September. This means that, taking into account periods when schools would have been closed because of holidays, the majority of students will have missed roughly 14 weeks of face-to-face teaching by the time they return to school in September, making the current partial school closures unprecedented in scale and length.
Main Points:
- The majority of teachers in this sample feel confident with planning and delivering distance learning, but some would welcome additional training. Around half of teachers felt they had maintained good contact with their students but some felt that the crisis had strengthened their relationships with families whilst others had struggled to engage parents. Most teachers think that around half of their students are coping well with distance learning but nearly all are worried about at least some of their students. Strategies such as quality feedback, adaptation and a range of activities were thought to contribute to more effective distance learning.
- Concerns were raised over children who are unable to access online learning. However, benefits have been reported for other students such as positive responses to learning more autonomously and at their own pace, spending more time with families and having the opportunity to learn new skills, including the use of new technologies.
- Technology has provided many new ways of working which teachers would like to maintain in the future. These include setting and marking homework online, creating banks of video lessons to use for training, revision, flipped learning and remote teaching and using video conferencing for meetings and CPD. Teachers hope that embracing these methods may enable more flexible working and a better work/life balance for staff in future.
- Teachers described the extensive work that has gone into supporting families throughout this crisis. Parents turn to teachers for support with a wide range of issues, including financial worries, housing issues, domestic violence and coping with bereavement. In many cases school staff feel ill-equipped to deal with these issues. Teachers ask for funding and support from other services such as charities, social workers and psychologists, to enable them to continue meeting these wider societal needs. Teachers would particularly like training in promoting wellbeing and supporting children who are grieving or traumatised.
- The negative portrayal of teachers in the media has had a significant impact on teachers’ wellbeing and is considered a potential threat to the ongoing recruitment and retention of teachers. Many teachers have felt unsupported by the government throughout this crisis, finding communication unclear and inconsistent. They would like concise, consistent and timely guidance in future, including a clear plan to follow. Teachers called for more collaboration between policymakers and practitioners, with teachers’ views being valued and trusted and would like to see a better public understanding of what teaching entails, leading to a more supportive and positive image of the profession.
- The impact on teacher and student wellbeing is varied. Around one-third of teachers think that partial school closures have negatively impacted the wellbeing of most of their students. However, others have seen students’ wellbeing improve as a result of less formal schooling and more time with family. 60 per cent of teachers reported that their work/life balance has been negatively impacted by the crisis whereas 25 per cent felt it had enabled them to have a better work/life balance.
- The COVID-19 crisis has raised awareness of both social and educational inequity and the challenges faced by the most vulnerable students. Eighty per cent of teachers agree that their most vulnerable students have been most affected by the crisis. There is widespread concern for vulnerable students including those with mental health issues, those living in poverty, students with SEND, those without internet access, and students who will struggle to re-engage and re-establish learning behaviours when they return to school. Teachers are keen to know the best ways to support these students when they return. Teachers rated small-group tuition as the favoured method for helping students who have fallen furthest behind academically.
- Teachers voiced concerns about staff and student safety and the difficulty of social distancing in most school settings, particularly with younger students, which is why they would generally prioritise older students in a phased return. They highlighted the need to allow time for students to settle back into school and to focus on their wellbeing when schools reopen to more students.
- This unprecedented situation has led teachers to reflect on what can be learnt from this crisis and how their views on education have changed. Many called for changes to the curriculum and to exam and accountability procedures, questioning whether the education system needs to prioritise differently in future. For many teachers, it has cemented their belief in the strength, adaptability and importance of the teaching profession.