Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in the United Kingdom

Signs related to the COVID-19 pandemic at a primary school in Seagrave.

In March 2020, nurseries, schools, and colleges in the United Kingdom were shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By 20 March, all schools in the UK had closed for all in-person teaching, except for children of key workers and children considered vulnerable. With children at home, teaching took place online.[1] The emergence of a new variant of COVID-19 in December 2020 led to cancellation of face-to-face teaching across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales the following month.

Universities had a range of approaches to dealing the pandemic. Some taught exclusively online, such as the University of Cambridge, while most adopted a 'blended' model which mixed remote and in-person teaching.[2] GCSE and A-level exams and their Scottish equivalents were cancelled, with grades assigned based on teacher predictions after controversy about the method.

Education in the United Kingdom is delegated to the four nations: education in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is devolved to the Scottish Government,[3] the Welsh Government[4] and the Northern Ireland Executive, respectively, whilst the UK Government is responsible for education in England.

  1. ^ "Remote education good practice". GOV.UK. Department for Education. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  2. ^ "How universities are changing in the wake of COVID-19 | Prospects.ac.uk". www.prospects.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  3. ^ The Scottish Government Archived 27 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine scotland.gov.uk, accessed 6 June 2009
  4. ^ "Devolution 20 - Education: How far is it 'made in Wales'?". Senedd Research. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2022.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search