Primary school staff perspectives of school closures due to COVID-19, experiences of schools reopening and recommendations for the future: A qualitative survey in Wales
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Abstract
School closures due to the COVID-19 global pandemic are likely to have a range of negative consequences spanning the domains of child development, education and health, in addition to the widening of inequalities and inequities. Research is required to improve understanding of the impact of school closures on the education, health and wellbeing of pupils and school staff, the challenges posed during face-to-face reopening and importantly to identify how the impacts of these challenges can be addressed going forward to inform emerging policy and practice. This qualitative study aimed to reflect on the perspectives and experiences of primary school staff (pupils aged 3–11) in Wales regarding school closures and the initial face-to-face reopening of schools and to identify recommendations for the future. A total of 208 school staff completed a national online survey through the HAPPEN primary school network, consisting of questions about school closures (March to June 2020), the phased face-to-face reopening of schools (June to July 2020) and a return to face-to-face education. Thematic analysis of survey responses highlighted that primary school staff perceive that gaps in learning, health and wellbeing have increased and inequalities have widened during school closures. Findings from this study identified five recommendations; (i) prioritise the health and wellbeing of pupils and staff; (ii) focus on enabling parental engagement and support; (iii) improve digital competence amongst pupils, teachers and parents; (iv) consider opportunities for smaller class sizes and additional staffing; and (v) improve the mechanism of communication between schools and families, and between government and schools.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.06.20227108: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement Consent: Ethics: Information sheets and consent forms were distributed to participants detailing the aims of the study.
IRB: Ethical approval was granted by the Swansea University Medical School Research Ethics Committee (approval number: 2017-0033D).Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Responses from the school staff survey were downloaded to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Microsoft Excelsuggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers …
SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.06.20227108: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement Consent: Ethics: Information sheets and consent forms were distributed to participants detailing the aims of the study.
IRB: Ethical approval was granted by the Swansea University Medical School Research Ethics Committee (approval number: 2017-0033D).Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Responses from the school staff survey were downloaded to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Microsoft Excelsuggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Strengths and limitations: Findings from this study provide detailed experiences of a range of primary school staff about the period of school closures due to COVID-19, their perspectives about the phased reopening of schools and recommendations for the future. This paper contributes to the limited evidence base that currently exists regarding the impact of school closures on pupils and school staff, and the challenges and opportunities posed for schools during a return to full-time education. Importantly, the recommendations that conclude this paper offer practical insight and learning to support schools in ensuring a safe return to education. In addition, the findings and recommendations from this paper provide knowledge on priority areas for future policy focus in reducing the inequalities that have widened during the pandemic. There are limitations to review when considering the findings from this study. Although all schools in Wales were contacted with details regarding the staff survey, the findings in this study only represent those that participated. Schools adopted varying approaches to remote teaching and in their return to education and thus, those reflected in this study may not encapsulate all approaches. However, the sample consists of a range of primary school staff including headteachers, teachers and support staff working in schools with a wide range of pupils eligible for free school meals within 16 of 22 local authorities in Wales. The experiences of primar...
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No funding statement was detected.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
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