Words of Encouragement: Reading resilience during the pandemic

In March 2020, the education landscape changed overnight as schools closed to the majority of pupils and students for onsite provision as part of the first lockdown.

Over the last 13 months, teachers, leaders, and support staff have been steadfast in doing fantastic work up and down the country to ensure that the negative impacts on children and young people have been minimised. They have not only ensured that high quality teaching and learning can continue to take place but have also implemented an array of other activity including extensive health and safety procedures and policies.

We have seen incredible agility and resilience from everyone across the education sector throughout this period and a determination to continue ensuring that schools remain at the heart of communities as they build a future, post-Covid.

In the months ahead there will rightly be more conversations about the negative implications of the pandemic on young people and children including the long-term impacts of what is widely being described as lost learning. It is important that we acknowledge and work to address that, but we must not overlook the positives that we can take from this period as we look to build for the future.

This new report from ASCL Preferred Supplier, GL Assessment, ‘Words of Encouragement: Reading resilience during the pandemic’, highlights some of the positive encounters that young people and children have benefited from during the period of lockdown.

The collection of experiences within the report from schools and trusts provides much food for thought with analysis from the Autumn 2020 term offering insight into how reading ability, in particular, has been impacted.

The report also shares the experiences that teachers have had of managing learning during periods of disruption, adapting reading strategies and the challenges of identifying pupils and students that require additional support and leading appropriate interventions.

Due to the incredible efforts of all of those working in schools, families and the resilience of our children and young people, the report finds that reading skills have remain stable, although we all acknowledge the particular impact of the disruption on those children and young people with a lower reading ability.

I hope that teachers and leaders will find the experiences and analysis shared in this report valuable as we look to continue supporting our children and young people through the pandemic and beyond.

Best regards

Geoff Barton