What have been the challenges?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the impact of COVID-19 has been the most significant challenge to overcome as we engaged with the enquiry process. Due to the operational restrictions placed on schools in response to the pandemic as well as the closure of school for most pupils and staff, our initial timescales needed to be revised and delayed. It was felt that this would allow staff to focus on providing high quality remote learning and develop this aspect of their practice, as well as support their wellbeing whilst living through this unprecedented period.

Once schools reopened to all pupils, the operational requirements when working in a school with class-sized bubbles and minimising any unnecessary contact continued to present challenges. These included finding ways to provide dedicated release time for staff in different classes and with different roles to enable them to engage with the professional reading prior to the focus group, and more significantly, identifying a time and date for the focus group to take place such that all participants were available at the same time. These considerations are likely to have an impact on the methodology chosen for any future enquiries, until such time as schools return to normal operations. Similarly, one of the outcomes of the focus group was the desire amongst participants to be able to observe and discuss learning across different phases to support their own understanding and professional learning. However, this is unlikely to be possible for the time being for the same reason.