Negating the Narrative: Moving Away from the Rhetoric of ‘Lost Learning’ in Providing Additionality to Ensure Equity for Disadvantaged Students during School Closures in England

Abstract

Two periods of compulsory school closure in England as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the adoption of virtual teaching and learning environments. Although such platforms had already been launched in English schools prior to March 2020, when schools closed, their usage by classroom teachers had not been established. Pupil premium funding to support disadvantaged students in English schools began in 2011, with the aim of narrowing the academic performance gap between these students and their peers. Less likely to do as well at school as their peers, the consequent narrative around these children at school is one of ‘catch-up’, a narrative which grew during the pandemic with debate around ‘lost learning’ amongst all children, but particularly, the disadvantaged. The enduring assumption that these children will do less well than their peers, rather than be less likely to, was thus further compounded. This paper considers one secondary school English department’s provision of additionality to support equity during the pandemic, its success and lessons which might be applied in the future.

Keywords:

• cognitive dissonance
• disadvantaged
• learning
• pandemic
• Teaching

Conflict of interest

Clare Owen is a school employee.

Notes

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2 ‘No more pencils, no more books: Closing schools for covid-19 does lifelong harm and widens inequality’, Economist (International), 30 April 2020. https://www.economist.com/international/2020/04/30/closing-schools-for-covid-19-does-lifelong-harm-and-widens-inequality [accessed 14 May 2021]; Camilla Turner, ‘Summer schools “will be needed to stop pupils falling behind”’, Telegraph, 31 May 2020. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/31/pupils-must-go-school-summer-risk-losing-six-months-education/ [accessed 14 May 2021]; James Tapsfield and Bhvishya Patel, ‘Boris Johnson pledges “massive” summer school “catch-up operation” to help pupils recover from lockdown BEFORE classes start properly again in September’, Daily Mail, 10 June 2020. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8408019/Boris-Johnson-pledges-massive-summer-school-catch-operation-help-pupils.html [accessed 14 May 2021]; Mikey Smith and Ben Glaze, ‘Nine million UK children off school for six months will be “lost generation”’, Mirror, 9 June 2020. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/turmoil-nine-million-uk-children-22165885 [accessed 14 May 2021]; Ellie Cambridge, ‘SUMMER SCHOOL: Boris Johnson pledges “big summer of catch-up” to get pupils up to speed before classes restart in September’, Sun, 11 June 2020. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11833981/boris-johnson-school-summer-september/ [accessed 14 May 2021]; Jason Groves, Kumail Jaffer, and Luke May, ‘Pupils face longer days at school: Ministers “to hire army of private tutors and tell children to spend more hours in classes” in bid to make up for time lost to coronavirus as doctors warn lockdown risks “scarring life chances of a generation”’, Daily Mail, 17 June 2020. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8433465/Ministers-plan-children-spend-hours-classes-catch-lessons-missed-lockdown.html [accessed 14 May 2021]; Natasha Clark, ‘CATCHING UP: Kids face a longer school day in year-long catch up plans’, Sun, 18 June 2020. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11892984/kids-face-longer-school-day-funding-tutors/ [accessed 14 May 2021]; Sally Weale, ‘Distribution of funding will not serve poorest pupils and could prove ‘a costly mistake’, says Education Policy Institute’, Guardian, 20 July 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/20/governments-catch-up-fund-for-english-school-pupils-comes-under-fire [accessed 14 May 2021].

3 Education Policy Institute, Preventing the Disadvantage Gap from Increasing During and After the Covid-19 Pandemic: Proposals from the Education Policy Institute (2020). https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/EPI-Policy-paper-Impactof-Covid-19_docx.pdf [accessed 17 May 2021].

4 B. Elbaum, S. Vaughn, M. Tejero Hughes, and S. Watson Moody, ‘How effective are one-to-one tutoring programs in reading for elementary students at risk for reading failure? A meta-analysis of the intervention research’, Journal of Educational Psychology, 92.4 (2000), 605–619. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2000-16403-001 [accessed 13 May 2021]; S. W. Jun, G. Ramirez, and A. Cumming, ‘Tutoring adolescents in literacy: A meta-analysis’, McGill Journal of Education / Revue Des Sciences De l’éducation De McGill, 45.2 (2010), 219–238. https://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/4770 [accessed 13 May 2021]; Simon Rutt, Kelly Kettlewell, and Daniele Bernardinelli, ‘Catch Up® Literacy Evaluation Report and Executive Summary’ (2015). https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/1692/efcl01.pdf [accessed 13 May 2021]; Gary W. Ritter, Joshua H. Barnett, George S. Denny, and Ginger R. Albin, ‘The effectiveness of volunteer tutoring programs for elementary and middle school students: A meta-analysis’, Review of Educational Research, 79.1 (2009) 3–38. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0034654308325690 [accessed 13 May 2021]; Robert E. Slavin, Cynthia Lake, Susan Davis, and Nancy A. Madden, ‘Effective programs for struggling readers: A best-evidence synthesis’, Educational Research Review, 6.1 (2011), 1–26. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1747938X10000400?via%3Dihub [accessed 13 May 2021].

5 Children attend state schools in England 190 days each academic year. Teachers attend 195 days. These are conventionally split between three terms, which are subsequently divided into two smaller half-terms, each with a half-term holiday of predominantly one, but in some cases, two weeks. The autumn term runs from September to December, with a half-term holiday around late October. Spring term begins in January and runs until Easter, with a half-term holiday in mid-February. Summer term begins after the Easter break and continues until July, with a half-term holiday, usually in late May. There is no fixed timetable of term dates for schools across England. Schools have the autonomy to determine their own dates.

6 M. Lucas, J. Nelson, and D. Sims, ‘Schools’ responses to Covid-19: Pupil engagement in remote learning’, National Foundation for Educational Research and Nuffield Foundation (2020). https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/4073/schools_responses_to_covid_19_pupil_engagement_in_remote_learning.pdf [accessed 13 May 2021].

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 S. Spencer, J. Clegg, J. Stackhouse, et al. ‘Contribution of spoken language and socio-economic background to adolescents’ educational achievement at age 16 years’, International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 52.2 (2017), 184–196. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/98306/9/WRRO_98306.pdf [accessed 17 May 2021].

11 ‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley, ‘Remains’ by Simon Armitage, ‘Storm on the Island’ by Seamus Heaney and ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

12 Registration (also known variously as tutor time and form time) is the period used each morning in most English state secondary schools to carry out the roll call, serving a similar purpose to ‘homeroom’ in the US. Many schools have a second period of registration later in the day, either after lunch or at the end of the school day. Students are largely based in form rooms before they attend their first academic lesson of the day, sometimes as a group, sometimes separately if the lessons which follow have been tiered according to ability groupings. The responsibility for the form is held by the form teacher. Beyond registration, this period of time is largely used for administration and pastoral tasks.

13 70% of students in the TotD’s cohort took part in ‘live’ lessons on a week-by-week basis. Some technical problems prevented other students from participating each week, but those students did engage, when possible, in lessons, and with the online tasks (an additional 7%).