scholarly journals “Like a rug had been pulled from under you”: The impact of COVID-19 on teachers in England during the first six weeks of the UK lockdown

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa E. Kim ◽  
Kathryn Asbury

Background: On 20th March 2020, in response to COVID-19, UK schools were closed to most pupils. Teachers were required to put remote teaching and learning in place with only two days’ notice from the government. Aims: The current study explores teachers’ experiences of this abrupt change to their working practices, and during the 5-6 weeks that followed. Sample: Twenty-four teachers from English state schools were interviewed, representing mainstream primary and secondary schools and a range of years of experience and seniority. Methods: Participants were asked to tell stories of three key scenes during the first 5-6 weeks of lockdown: a low point, a high point and a turning point. A reflexive thematic analysis of their narratives was conducted.Results and Conclusions: Six themes were identified: uncertainty, finding a way, worry for the vulnerable, importance of relationships, teacher identity and reflections. Teachers’ narratives suggest that, after an initial period of uncertainty they settled into the situation and found a way forward, supported by strong relationships. However, they remain extremely worried about the most vulnerable pupils and want more joined up thinking from the government on how to support them effectively, along with clarity from policymakers to enable planning ahead. Teachers reflected on how to use their learning during this period to improve pupils’ experiences of education post COVID-19, and on how aspects of shared teacher identity have worked as stressors and coping mechanisms. These initial interviews form the baseline for a longitudinal interview study of teachers’ experiences of COVID-19 in England.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Farzana Sharmin Pamela Islam

As 21st century is the era of modern technologies with different aspects, it offers us to make the best use of them. After tape recorder and overhead projector (OHP), multimedia has become an important part of language classroom facilities for its unique and effective application in delivering and learning lesson. Although in many parts of Bangladesh, a South Asian developing country, where English enjoys the status of a foreign language, the use of multimedia in teaching and learning is viewed as a matter of luxury. However, nowadays the usefulness and the necessity of it are well recognized by the academics as well as the government. The study aims to focus on the difference between a traditional classroom void of multimedia and multimedia equipped classrooms at university level by explaining how multimedia support the students with enhanced opportunity to interact with diverse texts that give them more in-depth comprehension of the subject. It also focuses on audio-visual advantage of multimedia on the students’ English language learning. The study has followed a qualitative method to get an in-depth understanding of the impact of using multimedia in an English language classroom at tertiary level. For this purpose, the data have been collected from two different sources. Firstly, from students’ written response to  an open ended question as to their comparative experience of learning  lessons with and without multimedia facilities; and secondly, through  observation of English language classes at a private university of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The discussion of the study is limited to  the use of multimedia in English language classroom using cartoons, images and music with a view to enhance students’ skills in academic writing, critical analysis of image and critical appreciation of music. For this purpose, cartoons in English language, images from Google and music from You Tube have got focused discussion in this paper.


Livestock ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-179
Author(s):  
Chris Lloyd

The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA) was established to promote the highest standards of food safety, animal health and animal welfare in the British livestock industry. It has a current focus to deliver on the Government objective of identifying sector-specific targets for the reduction, refinement or replacement of antibiotics in animal agriculture. The creation and roll out of sector specific targets in 2017 through the RUMA Targets Task Force, has helped focus activity across the UK livestock sectors to achieve a 50% reduction in antibiotic use since 2014. This has been realised principally through voluntary multi-sector collaboration, cross sector initiatives, codes of practice, industry body support and farm assurance schemes. This article provides an overview of RUMA's work to date providing insight into the methods used to create the targets, why they are so important, the impact they are having and how ongoing support and robust data are vital components in achieving the latest set of targets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Godlove Lawrent

The rapid increase in Tanzanian primary school enrolments in the last decade was prompted by the government to develop the Secondary Education Expansion Policy. My study, therefore, explored the impact of this policy on teachers’ professional lives. A qualitative approach was adopted to gain detailed insights into the phenomena under investigation. Data were collected from 30 participant teachers from four community secondary schools in Tanzania through interviews and document analysis. Overall the findings revealed that the government’s shortcomings in hiring support staff prompted teachers to perform extra duties alongside teaching. It also found that the lack of the government’s commitment to rewarding teaching quality exacerbated teachers’ engagement in other income-generating activities. Teachers’ engagement in these non-teaching tasks both in school and out of school affected their own professional identities which subsequently impacted on their teaching competence beliefs. These findings recommend that in order to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, the government of Tanzania must improve teachers’ welfare by employing enough support staff to assist in teaching and learning.


2010 ◽  
Vol 213 ◽  
pp. F66-F70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Barrell ◽  
Simon Kirby

The UK is restructuring the fiscal policy framework once again, with an intention to move toward independent assessment and forecasting in the budget process. At the same time a large-scale, if delayed, fiscal consolidation is planned at a time when there is significant spare capacity in the economy. Economic growth is also projected to be below trend, at least this year and perhaps next. It is unusual to see a fiscal tightening when the output gap appears to be widening. These policy settings should be seen in the context of the most radical change in the nature of the relationship between the government and the economy for at least thirty years. This note assesses the impact of the new programme on the economy as well as setting out a projection for the medium-term public finances.


Author(s):  
John Holmwood ◽  
Therese O'Toole

In 2014 the UK government launched an investigation into the “Trojan Horse” affair: an alleged plot to “Islamify” several state schools in Birmingham. Twenty-one schools in Birmingham were subjected to snap Ofsted inspections and included in the various inquiries into the affair. The book's authors — one who was an expert witness in the professional misconduct cases brought against the teachers in the school, and the other, who researches the government's counter-extremism agenda — challenge the accepted narrative, arguing that a major injustice was inflicted on the teachers, and they go on to show how the affair was used to criticize multiculturalism and justify the expansion of a broad and intrusive counter-extremism agenda. The government cites the 'plot' in its argument about the need to develop a new counter-extremism strategy that confronts extremist ideology and not just threats of violence. However, the Kershaw Report and some other commentators argue that there was, in fact, no evidence of extremism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1165-1170
Author(s):  
Soni Pankaj ◽  
◽  
Kapoor Kanchan ◽  
Rana Susheela ◽  
Bandana a ◽  
...  

Around the world even the developed countries are stunned by this pandemic causing extensive pain. India is no exception and the Government has imposed a nation – wide lockdown to help restrain the virus. At the onset of the pandemic, medical students in the midst of the session were suddenly pulled out of their studies and same for 3rd and 4th years medical students clerkships were abruptly pulled out of clinical care. Faculty scrambled to adjust learning experiences by switching to online cases and remote activities to prepare students for required exams and to build clinical reasoning skills without the face to face patient encounter. In such a situation, where educational institutions across the country have been closed, both teaching and learning have affected millions of students. As per the orders from the.Government, Universities the colleges have started offering online classes to students. The objective of these online classes is to make sure that students do not lose out on any teaching and learning activities during the lockdown. This paper examines the impact of lockdown on students of medical institutions, the challenges they are facing due to lockdown.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-65
Author(s):  
Binar Kurnia Prahani ◽  
Tsung-Hui Cheng

Social distancing and physical distancing policies have been implemented in many countries for some time in the face of a COVID-19 pandemic. The new policy that has been adopted by many countries is "New Normal". New Normal is a scenario to accelerate the handling of COVID-19 in health and socio-economic aspects. One of them is the Government of Indonesia has announced plans to implement new normal scenarios by considering epidemiological studies and regional readiness. With the implementation of New Normal, education will be run again according to the health protocol. New Normal policies in education must also be in line with instructions issued by The United Nations Agency for Child Welfare (UNICEF). UNICEF has issued guidelines for countries that want to reopen teaching and learning activities in schools. The guide consists of three stages, namely before opening, entering the opening process, and when opening has been carried out. Research on the planning, preparation, implementation, and evaluation of New Normal in the field of learning and teaching needs the attention of all parties, including academics. The results of research and publications on the impact of New Normal in the field of learning and teaching are believed to be beneficial in the field of education.


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