Covid-19 insight reports

These reports explore how education systems, teachers and teacher educators have responded to the impact of Covid-19.

One report provides a snapshot of the policies and practice of ministries of education in 52 countries in managing the closure of schools and the provision of remote learning in the state primary and secondary sectors. A second report provides insight into the experience and professional needs of more than 9600 teachers and teacher educators from over 150 countries as they learn to support their learners remotely.

A global snapshot of Ministries of Education responses in the state primary and secondary sector

This report provides a snapshot from late April/early May 2020 of how Ministries of Education were responding to the challenges of the educational crisis in respect of English language teaching and learning. 51 of the 52 countries responding had closed all primary and secondary schools. 88% of countries provided some form of access to remote learning, though far fewer ministries of education had published plans to deal with the crisis. Most ministries had no specific plans for the continuation of English language teaching and learning in particular. Half of the education systems reviewed reported challenges around access to and equity of education provision during the crisis. Another major challenge was to introduce teacher support systems to facilitate large-scale remote teaching. A second snapshot in September will investigate how the situation has evolved and what lessons have been learned for the future in relation to supporting the effective remote delivery of English language teaching and learning.

A second, updated report looking at Ministries of Education responses during the period of school reopening is now available to download here.

A survey of teacher and teacher educator needs during the Covid-19 pandemic April - May 2020

This report explores responses to three online surveys carried out by the British Council in April and May 2020 into the immediate needs and experiences of teachers and teacher educators in April and May during the Covid-19 pandemic. It finds that remote teaching was new for the majority of teachers and teacher educators who responded to the survey, but that the teachers and teacher educators were reasonably confident in their ability to do their job remotely. However, respondents needed more training and support and clearer guidelines from their Ministries of Education. Challenges they faced include inequalities in access to remote education, for example due to poor connectivity, and how to develop and maintain the engagement of students in remote learning, with the role of parents and caregivers also becoming more critical.

Watch a recording of our webinar from 21 July taking a deeper look at the insight from these two reports

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