How “Overwhelming” Government Guidance Held Schools Back As COVID Hit

Perceptions of influence of government information expressed by respondents, categorized by region. Credit: University of Cambridge

Research shows that the UK government released 201 policy updates for schools during the first 90 days of the lockdown.

Headteachers and school leaders have described in a new study how an ‘avalanche’ of confused and shifting government guidance severely hampered schools during the critical early months of COVID lockdown.

The survey collects data collected from nearly 300 school principals and other school leaders in June 2020, as schools began to reopen after the first wave of closures. It documents the struggle of leadership teams with overwhelming and disorganized information dumps by the government and the Department of Education (DfE), often issued with barely any notice and then constantly updated.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and University College London, calculate that between March 18 and June 18, 2020 DfE released 201 policy updates for schools. This included 12 cases where five or more documents were published in one day for immediate interpretation and implementation.

Survey responses to the perceived importance of different information inputs for school policy making during COVID, March to June 2020. Credit: University of Cambridge

Asked about the main challenges they faced, heads repeatedly mentioned “changing updates”, “clarity” and “time”. 77% of executives and 71% of directors complained about “too much input and too much information”. In follow-up interviews, participants said they were “flooded” with updates from the government, which often contradicted previous guidelines.

Peter Fotheringham, a doctoral researcher in the university’s faculty of education and lead author of the study, said: “We expected the biggest challenge facing school leaders during the lockdown would be student well-being. In fact, the message we got was time and again. times: ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, nothing is shared beforehand and it’s overwhelming.’”

“It was uncanny how often the term ‘avalanche’ was used to describe the ridiculous amount of information they were given. Policies were also usually announced to the public before official guidelines, so parents were on the phone before heads even had a chance to read it. We believe that with a few simple solutions, a lot of this can be prevented in the future.

Release date and frequency of DfE updates and guidance during COVID, March to June 2020. Credit: University of Cambridge

The study invited a random sample of school principals and other school leaders in England to complete a simple, anonymous questionnaire about what information had informed their schools about responses to the pandemic, and the associated challenges and opportunities. 298 leaders responded, 29 of whom were later randomly selected for follow-up interviews.

Asked to rate the importance of different information sources on a scale of one to five, school leaders rated guidance from the DfE (mean score 4.1) and government (4.0) most important – ahead of sources such as Multi-Academy Trusts ( MATs), unions or the media.

However, many expressed deep frustration at the lack of notice that preceded the government’s new guidelines, which they often first learned about through televised coronavirus briefings or other public announcements. “Society in general gets information at the same time as schools,” a principal told the researchers. “There’s no time to put our minds in place before parents start calling.”

Location and types of schools approached in the original survey. Credit: University of Cambridge

Follow-up guidance, whether from DfE, local education authorities or MATs, tended to lag behind. The study finds that this meant that chiefs had to interpret key policies — such as those related to safety measures, social distancing, personal education for key employees’ children or reopening schools — before getting more information that sometimes contradicted their policy. judgment.

A response to the survey said: “It’s pretty clear that the Cabinet doesn’t communicate with the DfE before making announcements, leaving everyone in the dark to develop policy, while parents and students look to the College for immediate guidance.”

The sheer amount of information released was also a major challenge. During the relevant three-month period, DfE published 74 unique guidance documents; which were each updated an average of three times. The net result was that school leaders received an average of three policy updates per day, for 90 days, including weekends.

Answers (per role at school) to survey question: “With regard to [school] policy making during COVID-19 in the past 3 months, I feel like I…” Credit: University of Cambridge

“A critical issue was that there was no way to tell what had changed from one update to the next,” Fotheringham said. “Leading teams literally had to print out several versions and go through them with a highlighter, usually in hastily organized powwows at 7 a.m..”

“These things are very, very time consuming to read, but have very technical ramifications. For example, even a small change in distance rules affects how you manage classrooms, hallways, and play areas. The release process made translating such policies into action incredibly difficult.”

The study concludes that introducing simple measures, such as signaling in-line changes in policy updates, would have ‘a major impact’ on the ability of school leaders to implement policy in the event of future disruptions. Fotheringham added that DfE had “numerous mechanisms” at its disposal to tighten communication with principals – not least a direct email system to school leaders, which could have been used to warn them in advance of new guidelines.

The findings also underline the value of wider networks of schools within their communities and of the professional connections of school leaders themselves. In particular, heads repeatedly described the benefits they experienced from the opportunity to collaborate and exchange ideas with other school leaders as they tried to guide their schools through the crisis. Investing in further opportunities to do this outside of the ‘traditional’ structures offered by local authorities or MATs would be helpful, the authors suggest.

The study warns that the challenges facing school leaders in the spring of 2020 are similar to those they faced both internationally and in the UK during previous school closures – for example, during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic when 74 UK schools had to close. .

“We often describe COVD as unprecedented, but school closures are a common public health measure,” Fotheringham said. “Previous cases have provided abundant evidence that government communication with schools can be a problem. The findings of this study suggest that we haven’t learned those lessons yet.”

Reference: August 4, 2021, British Educational Research Journal.
DOI: 10.1002/berj.3760