Government guidance held schools back as Covid hit

Headteachers and school leaders have described how an 'avalanche' of confused and shifting Government guidance severely impeded schools during the critical first months of Covid lockdown, in a new study by researchers from UCL and the University of Cambridge. The research compiles data gathered from almost 300 heads and other school leaders in June 2020, as schools were beginning to reopen after the first wave of closures. It documents leadership teams' struggles with overwhelming and disorganised information dumps by Government and the Department for Education (DfE), which were often issued with barely any notice and then continually updated. The researchers calculate that between 18 March and 18 June 2020, DfE released 201 policy updates for schools. This included 12 cases in which five or more documents were published in a single day for immediate interpretation and implementation. Asked about the main challenges they faced, heads repeatedly cited 'changing updates', 'clarity' and 'time'. 77% of executive heads and 71% of headteachers complained about "too many inputs and too much information".