Insight To Covid-19 Impact On Schools In The UK

Covid-19 has made an immense impact on our lives. Covid-19 has raised many questions over the credibility of the health, education and finance sectors. There are significant psychological impacts of the pandemic when it comes to health. 

The main concern of experts is the individual’s mental health. Therefore, the complete lockdown in the state has made the experts look over the functional sectors. Every single institute suffered from the covid-19 pandemic. There is a drastic Covid-19 impact on schools in the UK.

Firstly In this post, we will enlighten the challenges faced by the school during Covid-19. However, we will focus on the most significant challenges in education today.

Challenges faced by Schools during Covid-19

The COVID-19 epidemic has wreaked havoc on education systems worldwide, affecting approximately 1.6 billion students in over 200 nations. Even more than 94 per cent of the world’s student population has been touched by the school, institution, and other learning facility closures. The global pandemic has hit the United Kingdom quite severely. Moreover, besides the financial crisis, the state has to bear the loss of precious human life. The protection of human life comes first. 

However, the government immediately decided to close the primary and secondary schools in the UK. In March 2020, every primary school in England followed strict lockdown restrictions. The English government has cancelled respective exams for secondary education as an immediate response to the pandemic. The impact of covid-19 on UK education was much more than the calculated one. Parents had started opting for online tuition in the UK. The main streams of the challenges faced by the teacher and pupil are as follows

• It was a state emergency, and no one knew the exact date when they returned to the school.
• The pupils of primary school in England were confined to stay at home.
• The exam cancellation was quite disturbing for the students preparing for SATs, 11 plus or GCSE exams.
• High school students’ routine problems were quite similar to those of primary school students. 
• There was an immediate need for a safe learning environment for the pupils and teachers.

Surveys have been conducted on different levels to accommodate everyone’s opinion over the situation. In the meanwhile, the primary goal is to ensure the safe pursuance of education. The surveillance assists the management in making quick research on the impact of Covid-19 on education. The recorded data represented a need to design a new platform for compensating the learning environment of pupils and teachers.

How has coronavirus affected schools?

The impact of Covid-19 on the UK’s education system has encouraged the authorities to change the medium of education. In the meantime, learning at the campus is unsafe for the pupil and teacher. The intervention of online platforms has made a significant change in the education sector. 

The tutors were interacting with the students through online platforms. The online tutoring platforms replaced the physical medium. The teacher and the pupil faced many challenges during the online course medium of education. The impact of Covid-19 on schools laid the foundation of virtual classrooms. These classrooms are pretty functional, but the pupil and teacher-reported many issues.

Post-Lockdown Impact of Covid-19 on Schools

After getting vaccinated, we expected that we would get back to our everyday lives. But no one knew that there was a new ordinary waiting ahead for us. After 1.5 years of fighting the pandemic, we hypothesised that this pandemic would be with us for the next few years. 

The impact on Covid-19 schools is still existing. And we all are confined to accepting the new change. Besides the past challenges for schools, there is the emergence of new challenges. So the pupils and teachers are restricted to following the recent amendments. The incorporated practices in every education sector are 

• Every individual is confined to maintain a safe distance of about 6 feet.
• The vaccination is made compulsory for every pupil and teacher.
• Washing hands often( or using sanitiser)
• Wearing a mask is mandatory for everyone.
• The education institutes were working with fifty per cent of pupils and teachers.
• Checking temperature at the entrance is compulsory.
• The government forced every educational institute to follow the Covid-19 preventive measures. 

Impact of Covid-19 on Teachers in the UK

Social and digital disparities continue in the wealthiest EU nations, as the COVID-19 study has demonstrated. Several schools possessed the appropriate infrastructure, gadgets, and human resources. In contrast, others were utterly unable to meet the task of providing digital education, according to some of the questioned experts. 

On the other hand, not many pupils have had enough access to digital technology or a stable internet connection at home. Several nations established local programs to give children the necessary digital gadgets. Some pupils struggled to access and manage online educational materials and were at risk of learning losses. 

Coming back to the campus, teachers have speculated significant issues regarding the students’ mental health. There was a substantial impact on the overall academics of the students. The student of primary school in England was facing many issues such as

• Rapport building became a huge challenge for the pupils and teachers.
• There was a decline in the academic performance of the students.
• The overall capabilities of the students were relatively low.
• There is a new face of secondary education in England. The flexibility of the individual is relatively low, and they are facing many challenges to incorporate in the new settings.
• There is an addition to the compact structured environment of schools. The structured environment is one of the most significant challenges in education today. 
• The teachers are facing many psychological challenges at the campus.

The current issues in education need an immediate response. The school authorities are playing their best efforts to resolve these issues. 

 Response of the Middle and Working Classes

 How did the British middle and working classes respond?

Going to school is the most effective public policy strategy for improving abilities. While education can be enjoyable and improve social skills and awareness, the real economic benefit of being in school boosts a child’s ability. Even a brief absence from school has an impact on skill development. Can we, however, predict how much the COVID-19 disruption would affect learning? We can’t be accurate because we’re in a new realm, but we can gain an order of magnitude from prior studies. 

Like every sector, there was a significant impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the middle and working classes. The majority of the people lose their jobs. The schools were closed, and the children were at home. The financial crisis hit the middle and working classes quite badly. The parents were not in the condition to bear finances. Therefore, the majority of parents homeschool their children. 

 Over time, there are emerging challenges for schools. There is a need to list down the post lockdown impact of covid-19 on schools. Regular assessments will help underline the emerging challenges. This evaluation will help take the necessary steps to overcome the challenges in school. It is the time when we are moving out of the pandemic. And it is a fact that there will be the emergence of new challenges for the school. The schools are making amendments in their curriculum and structure. These changes have made a significant impact on secondary education in the UK.