This sequel to Breslin’s critically acclaimed Lessons from Lockdown explores how school leaders, teachers, parents and pupils have navigated their way through and from lockdown. This is the story of ‘doing’ schooling against the topsy-turvy backdrop of a pandemic that has caused us all to reflect not just on the purpose and substance of education but also the world that schools might, in the future, need to prepare children and young people for. Drawing on the voices of more than a hundred pupils, parents and professionals, it captures the range of experiences as teachers and students grappled with new ways of working, policy chaos and the complexity of schooling and teaching in such a landscape.
Bubble Schools is a must-read for all concerned about the shape that our public education systems take as we begin to move forward from a system-shock that has revealed both the strengths and the weaknesses of education policy, system design and long-established classroom practice.
Author(s): Tony Breslin
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 289
City: London
Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Table of Contents
Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
About the Author
1 The Optimism of September: And the Subsequently Broken Promise of Normality
Schooling in a Bubble
The Pervasive Impact of Background
Summary
Recommendations
2 After the Grading Crisis: What the Class of 2020 Did Next, and What this Might Mean for Higher Education After Lockdown
‘Going’ to University?
Towards a More ‘Open’ University Sector, Or a More Delineated One?
Summary
Recommendations
3 It All Ends in Tiers: The Different Experiences of Different Learners in Different Settings
Tiers and Bubbles: The Multiple Experiences of Lockdown Across the UK
Bubbles and the Organisation of Schools
Bubbles: The Route to Calmer Schooling?
On Course for Normality?
Summary
Recommendations
4 Crisis at Christmas: Schools and the Second Surge
To Close Or Not to Close? The Rise of the ‘Kent’ Variant
And So to the New Year: The Term That Never Was
The Long Shadow of a Lost Christmas
Summary
Recommendations
5 Better Connected?: Home-Learning Second Time Around
Parents and Schooling: A Changing Relationship?
Summary
Recommendations
6 ‘Examining’ the Class of 2021: Exploding the Myths of ‘Teacher Bias’ and ‘Grade Inflation’
New School Year: New Start?
A Lesson From Lockdown (Belatedly) Learned: Examination Plans for 2022
The Return of an Annual Ritual: The Exam Grading Season
The Shift From Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs)
The Case for Returning to Written Papers, Post-COVID
The Switch to Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs)
Examination Outcomes in 2021
Beyond COVID Or Beyond Examinations?
Assessment Beyond Lockdown
Summary
Recommendations
7 Beyond Lockdown: Building Curricula for Catch-Up, Recovery and Much More
The Need for Curricular ‘catch-Up’ and ‘Recovery’
Cultural Capital, Curriculum ‘catch-Up’ and the ‘Knowledge Gap’
Time for the Appointment of an Educational ‘Catch-Up’ Tzar?
Beyond Attainment: The Collins Proposals
The Case for Family Learning
Recapturing the Water-Cooler Moments of Childhood
Student Wellbeing and Disruptions to Further and Higher Education
Summary
Recommendations
8 Leadership and Governance in a Hybrid World: The Long Road to Genuinely Blended Provision
COVID Governance: Oversight From a Distance, and Up Close
Leadership Beyond Lockdown: Navigating a Re-Emergent Compliance Culture
Same Old Pressures: Brand New Inspection Framework
Lockdown Starters: A Resource for Next-Generation Schooling?
System and School Leadership in Light of Lockdown: A Sustainable Challenge?
Summary
Recommendations
9 Personalising Learning for All: Utilising E-Tech and Bringing SEND Strategies Into the Mainstream
SEND Strategies and Pedagogies, and the Personalisation of Learning
Teaching Assistants and Curriculum Personalisation
The Lost Children of Lockdown?
Shifting the Lens From ‘Lost Learning’ to ‘Learning Disruption’
Personalisation, Blended Provision and ‘Next Generation Schooling’
The Second School Lockdown: EdTech Comes of Age
Technology, Curricular Breadth and School Leadership
Summary
Recommendations
10 Autumn’s Return: A Testing Time (And Term) for All
Summary
Recommendations
Next Steps: Leading Schools Out of Lockdown
Education for a Greener and Post-Industrial Future?
A. Education for Personal Development and Wellbeing
B. Education for Citizenship, Civic Engagement and Political Participation
C. Education for Sustainability Against the Backdrop of Climate Emergency
D. Education for Creativity and Entrepreneurship
E. Education for More Than Employability
Endnote: Towards a Scorecard for Educational Change
Appendix A Research Methodology
Appendix B Research Participants
Appendix C Recommendations
Chapter 1: The Optimism of September
Chapter 2: After the Grading Crisis
Chapter 3: It All Ends in Tiers
Chapter 4: Crisis at Christmas
Chapter 5: Better Connected?
Chapter 6: ‘Examining’ the Class of 2021
Chapter 7: Beyond Lockdown
Chapter 8: Leadership and Governance in a Hybrid World
Chapter 9: Personalising Learning for All
Chapter 10: Autumn’s Return
Appendix D Recommendations From Lessons From Lockdown
Chapter 1: Schools During Lockdown
Chapter 2: Parental Engagement and the Experience of Learning at Home
Chapter 3: Economics, Education and Inequalities
Chapter 4: Breadth, Balance, the Curriculum and Its Assessment
Chapter 5: Making the Grade: The Class of 2020
Chapter 6: Catching Up On ‘Lost’ Learning
Chapter 7: Pupil Wellbeing and Emotional Recovery
Chapter 8: Leadership and Governance
Chapter 9: Inspection, Research and System Performance
Chapter 10: Recasting the Learning Blend: Technology and Pedagogy
Appendix E Critical Reaction to Lessons From Lockdown
Pre-publication Endorsements
Post-publication Reviews and Reactions
References
Index
