Educational equity in England: the shortcomings of the UK Government’s COVID-19 response [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]

The UK Government sought to respond to lockdowns and lost learning during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in multiple ways, including replacing cancelled examinations and compensating for lost learning through a National Tutoring Programme. In the case of the former, the system failed to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sean Kippin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: F1000 Research Ltd 2023-12-01
Series:Routledge Open Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://routledgeopenresearch.org/articles/2-24/v2
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850247766384574464
author Sean Kippin
author_facet Sean Kippin
author_sort Sean Kippin
collection DOAJ
description The UK Government sought to respond to lockdowns and lost learning during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in multiple ways, including replacing cancelled examinations and compensating for lost learning through a National Tutoring Programme. In the case of the former, the system failed to realise the demands of equity by privileging wealthier students and beating a path back to a flawed ‘normality.’ In the case of the latter, while the idea of providing targeted, high quality small group and one on one tutoring to the most in-need students was well-conceived, implementation was a failure - particularly following its contracting out to a large outsourcing company. These two cases demonstrate that English education policy is adherent to a neoliberal conception of education equity, and that attempts to address inequalities are constrained, backfire, or both.
format Article
id doaj-art-d870b9614e9f49e6b0cc260b2ef738ef
institution OA Journals
issn 2755-1245
language English
publishDate 2023-12-01
publisher F1000 Research Ltd
record_format Article
series Routledge Open Research
spelling doaj-art-d870b9614e9f49e6b0cc260b2ef738ef2025-08-20T01:58:51ZengF1000 Research LtdRoutledge Open Research2755-12452023-12-01210.12688/routledgeopenres.17904.219441Educational equity in England: the shortcomings of the UK Government’s COVID-19 response [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]Sean Kippin0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0599-0755Division of History, Heritage and Politics, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UKThe UK Government sought to respond to lockdowns and lost learning during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in multiple ways, including replacing cancelled examinations and compensating for lost learning through a National Tutoring Programme. In the case of the former, the system failed to realise the demands of equity by privileging wealthier students and beating a path back to a flawed ‘normality.’ In the case of the latter, while the idea of providing targeted, high quality small group and one on one tutoring to the most in-need students was well-conceived, implementation was a failure - particularly following its contracting out to a large outsourcing company. These two cases demonstrate that English education policy is adherent to a neoliberal conception of education equity, and that attempts to address inequalities are constrained, backfire, or both.https://routledgeopenresearch.org/articles/2-24/v2UK education policy education equity inequalities national tutoring programme exams eng
spellingShingle Sean Kippin
Educational equity in England: the shortcomings of the UK Government’s COVID-19 response [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
Routledge Open Research
UK education policy
education equity
inequalities
national tutoring programme
exams
eng
title Educational equity in England: the shortcomings of the UK Government’s COVID-19 response [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
title_full Educational equity in England: the shortcomings of the UK Government’s COVID-19 response [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
title_fullStr Educational equity in England: the shortcomings of the UK Government’s COVID-19 response [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
title_full_unstemmed Educational equity in England: the shortcomings of the UK Government’s COVID-19 response [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
title_short Educational equity in England: the shortcomings of the UK Government’s COVID-19 response [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
title_sort educational equity in england the shortcomings of the uk government s covid 19 response version 2 peer review 2 approved
topic UK education policy
education equity
inequalities
national tutoring programme
exams
eng
url https://routledgeopenresearch.org/articles/2-24/v2
work_keys_str_mv AT seankippin educationalequityinenglandtheshortcomingsoftheukgovernmentscovid19responseversion2peerreview2approved