It may feel like we’re back to normal, but pupils’ school experience has been anything but
With much of the discussion in the run up to the release of GCSE results focused on the fact that these are the first set of summer exams since 2019, it is tempting to believe that we have now returned to normality. But, for students receiving GCSE results, the path to this point has been anything but normal. For most, the last time they had a school year that wasn’t affected in some way by the pandemic was when they were in year 8, with national lockdowns during year 9 and year 10, as well as ongoing high pupil and staff absences a likely feature of their time in year 11. Evidence on the impact of the pandemic on pupil outcomes – or learning loss – is limited for this cohort, as the availability of data has meant that research has tended to focus on younger pupils. But such research has highlighted learning loss persisting into the 2021/22 academic year and disparities by both pupil characteristics and between different areas of the country.
