Report shows ongoing impact of Covid-19 on schools and young people

A new report commissioned by the Department for Education shows the ongoing impact that Covid-19 has had on schools and settings from Autumn 2021 to Summer 2022. This is the second report, in a series of two, identifying the impact of Covid-19 on school recovery strategies carried out by Ipsos and Sheffield Hallam University. The research aimed to understand the issues and to inform policy makers by:

1. Assessing the scale of lost learning, approaches schools are taking to address lost learning and their effectiveness
2. Understanding how schools are using the Government’s additional ‘catch up/recovery premium’ funding 
3. Exploring how best to reach children who need the greatest support 
4. Assessing how best to support schools moving forward to minimise the impact of lost time in education and to return to their normal curriculum, taking into account longer term factors such as further closures, remote learning and other lockdown measures

The key findings from the second year show that:

• Staff and pupil absence was still the main issue in all phases
• Secondary schools found emotional health and wellbeing was an additional main challenge
• Recovery premium was welcomed though was insufficient to meet need
• Disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEND and children with mental health needs were further behind their peers
• There was an increase in the number of pupils with significant support needs and those with identified SEND
• There was a lack of external provision, specialist support and a longer wait for assessment of SEN 
• Schools wanted accountability measures for the 2022-23 examinations to reflect the ongoing impact of the pandemic

As the study drew to a close, the leaders’ questionnaires were beginning to express the impact of the increased financial pressures on families and that these economic hardships were likely to negatively impact pupils’ education progress. Considering this will hit the most vulnerable, who have already been identified as those who had been hit hardest by the pandemic, this will continue to be a huge challenge for all settings.