@Ofqual has a statutory duty to promote public confidence in regulated qualifications, which means that we need to listen carefully to what people think and feel about them. Never has this obligation been more pressing than in the run-up to summer 2021, following more than a year of disruption to teaching and learning.
We have commissioned two external research teams to determinee what students, teachers, parents, carers, and other stakeholders think and feel about high-stakes assessments this year and the disruption that students have experienced. One team is running focus groups, while the other is running online surveys. Both teams are gathering this information on an ongoing basis, with the first interviews conducted in December 2020 and the last ones scheduled for after publication results in August 2021.
This article illustrates insights arising from our focus group research, shining a spotlight on learning experiences during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We will report in detail on outcomes from both projects in the autumn.
The impact of the pandemic on the learning experiences of year 11 and 13 students
An article from Roger Murphy, Emeritus Professor of Education, Nottingham University, and Tina Isaacs, Emeritus Associate Professor of Education, University College London Institute of Education.
The pandemic has undoubtedly made a big difference to the lives and educational experiences of year 11 and 13 students following courses leading to general and vocational qualifications in summer 2021 in England. These students are at a critical stage of their educational journey, and the pandemic has, as we know, had a major impact on their learning. This has all happened during a year when they would normally have taken examinations and other types of assessment to determine their grades in qualifications, which can be vitally important to them in terms of their future progression.
Our current research study has been focused on understanding those experiences better. It has been based on surveys, interviews, and focus groups for year 11 and 13 students, teachers, and parents or carers. It is continuing through the autumn of 2021 since we are interested in tracking experiences as these students encounter alternative ways of being assessed and graded over the next few months.
In this blog, we reveal early headline results from this research.
Diversity of individual experiences
The most substantial finding from our research has been the diversity of experiences that we have encountered. It is impossible to generalize about the impact of the pandemic on young people in these year groups. Some have come through totally unscathed with reports of them making faster than normal progress in their studies, as they and those supporting their learning have responded so well to the restrictions and barriers that have stood in the way of normal educational experiences. These fortunate students have been supported by teachers who found highly creative ways to keep their learning on track, even during long periods when normal attendance was not possible.
In most cases, these students had access to devices and internet connectivity that allowed them to engage effectively with remote learning. They also had study facilities in their homes conducive to quiet, uninterrupted study, often with supportive adults or siblings around who could help them. They would also often have been following courses that did not involve much practical work and were taught by teachers who were quickly able to switch from their normal classroom practice to effective online, blended learning. The most successful would also have been comfortable working independently were not too phased by any lack of contact with their peer group or diminished opportunities for away-from-home leisure activities. In some cases, their schools and colleges found interesting ways of offering extra-curricular activities remotely.
However, while some students thrived, others did not – for a wide variety of reasons. Some did not adapt well to the more independent style of learning required when schools and colleges were closed. Others suffered mentally and became anxious and depressed as their lives were disrupted in ways that they found challenging. We heard about students on practically oriented and vocational courses who had very little they could do on them for extended periods because the work they should have been doing could not in many cases be undertaken remotely.
Our research also involved engaging with schools and colleges in areas where the pandemic exacerbated existing social deprivation, disadvantage, and under-funding issues. Some students from less advantaged home backgrounds suffered from a lack of access to remote learning and a study environment that made it possible for them to engage with that learning.
We heard about schools that had to send staff out with worksheets and pens, paper, and school meals, ofwith worksheets andnot make remote learning easy. Unfortunately, in many cases, such areas were ht harder in heath terms than other areas, which led to higher rates of COVID-19 among students, their siblings, parents,, and carers,whicheir teachers and mates.
n areas of the high incidence of COVID-19, the disruptiandby national school and college closures has been compounded by additional absences from school and college, meaning that some students had only a limited number of days at school or college during a fifteen-month period and/or only limited contact with their normal teachers when their schools and colleges were open.
Some students have had a year of ill-health, exclusion from learning for long periods, and an impact on their mental health and general learning dispositions that will require skilled interventions to put right in the coming months and years. Such students are thankfully in the minority, but their needs are pressing if their educational progress is brought back on track.
What can be done?
There certainly needs to be a widespread understanding of the huge diversity of experience that has occurred. Ofqual has gone on record stating that it is impossible to compensate fairly for the level of diversity of experience in terms of the grades that will be issued in the summer of 2021.
The fact that the impact of the pandemic will influence the grades obtained by some learnerstainly an issue. Alongside this are other pressing issues relating to the support needed for a generation of learners' health, well-being, and educational recovery.
Prof. Roger Murphy and Dr. Tina Isaacs
Ofqual will soon be publishing a set of reports on ‘Learning During the Pandemic’ – a compilation of detailed analytical reviews of the literature published in England and overseas since March 2020 – which will help explain in more detail the broader context for assessments this summer. This will explain how assessment processes were modified this year to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on grades to be as fair as possible to students.
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