Abstract:

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to education. As schools closed to prevent virus transmission, many implemented remote teaching, allowing education to continue but bringing new challenges. As schools reopened, disruption continued through high absence rates and virus control measures. Understanding the impacts of these events has become a major focus for policymakers, teachers and researchers. It is also important to understand how teachers responded to these challenges. Responses, and their effectiveness, will have differed between countries, sectors, and schools, and even within schools. By studying teachers’ responses, we can build a picture of what did or did not work. By studying diverse settings, we can identify commonalities and differences in both impacts and responses.

In this study we sought to record teachers’ views of teaching in the pandemic, focusing on three areas: impacts on students, impacts on teachers, and teaching methods. We wanted to record views from a range of settings, so we developed a questionnaire that could be completed by teachers working with any age group and in any school sector. Questions were primarily closed-response types, with optional free-text questions to provide further detail. To make results pertinent to classroom practice, we also asked respondents for examples of what did or did not work in their experience.

We invited schools who work with Cambridge Centre for Evaluation & Monitoring (CEM) to take part. CEM provides baseline tests to schools around the world, working with state and independent sectors, and with primary and secondary schools; by working with these schools we could reach a wide range of teachers. The survey was open from April to June 2021. We obtained over 400 responses, from 38 countries and 198 schools, achieving good breadth of response, although with some countries (the UK) and school types (independent, secondary) over-represented.

The most common observations of impacts on students were of learning loss and reduced engagement. There was, however, strong variability, with a large minority finding that students were on track or even ahead of expectations. Respondents also described variation within schools, showing the importance of individual and family circumstances. Learning loss primarily occurred in core skills such as writing, but also in general study skills and social skills.

Respondents reported experiencing higher workload and worse wellbeing, with remote teaching, cancelled examinations, and supporting students all contributing to the challenges. In terms of teaching practices, maintaining engagement in remote learning, adapting material and using new technology were noted as being difficult. However, there were also positive aspects to remote teaching, such as online quizzes and interactive tools, and the ability to connect more easily with parents. Indeed, several respondents described tools that they wished to keep using in regular face-to-face teaching.

Impacts of the pandemic on education could be felt for some time, and there may be further disruption still to come. However, by studying events of earlier stages, we can learn from what happened. By identifying challenges we can seek solutions and mitigation plans; by identifying successes, we can share ideas and good practice. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, careful study of the impacts and responses can inform teaching practices in the period of recovery and beyond.

Keywords:

Covid, learning loss, remote teaching, support, survey, wellbeing, workload.