The COVID-19 pandemic and the public health restrictions that followed changed the structure and experiences of education for young people in the UK. School closures, home schooling, online learning and exam cancellations were some of the consequences of the public health measures taken. School closures were intermittent between March 2020 and March 2021 across early years, primary and secondary education settings in the UK.
Home schooling and online learning were direct consequences of school closures that placed unprecedented pressure on schools, teachers, pupils and parents, with the latter becoming the main facilitators of learning during the initial school closure periods. Online learning placed technological expectations on pupils and parents, with socio-economic disparities and inequalities emerging according to technology access, internet access and place to study in the home.1
Such expectations contributed to widening attainment disparities between pupils from different socio-economic backgrounds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rigorous evidence from around the world has highlighted the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people’s learning, and the fact that these effects have been particularly large for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.2
We are not able to directly assess lost learning of members of the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) Study cohort at this time, because pupils in the COSMO cohort did not sit examinations at age 16 in the usual way and we do not have a separate attainment measure. However, the use of Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) as alternative methods of assessment raises important issues in its own right.
