Post written by Victoria Bowen, PhD Researcher in Education, University of Bristol.
On 12th March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to be a pandemic. What followed this announcement was to become the largest global disruption to education in history. 1.6 billion learners in 190 countries were affected, as nations implemented regional lockdowns and school closures to curtail the spread of COVID-19 (UN, 2020). Since then, as the virus circulated widely in society across the globe, school closures have been implemented nationally, regionally, locally, and reactively based on infection rates. This article follows on from my presentation on ‘COVID-19, school closures and inequality’ at the TLC roundtable event (March 2021). It summarises the immediate education policy response relating to COVID-19 in English schools. (more…)