How the Coronavirus crisis has changed education

Magnus Basharaat, Head of Bedales, is quoted extensively in an article in i news, that considers how responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK might reshape education in the UK.

Since last month, schools across Britain have been closed for most pupils and exams have been cancelled. At some point schools will reopen – but many people think education in the UK will never be the same again. Some have predicted the demise of high-stakes exams, with a new way of awarding grades using teacher assessment having been invented from scratch. Others believe that classrooms are being revolutionised by technology.

In England, teachers have been asked to predict GCSE and A Level grades, which will be moderated by the exam boards – a remarkable development given the wholesale scrapping of teacher-assessed coursework that came with the Gove reforms. Magnus says: “The reason why Conservative ministers moved away from coursework towards terminal assessment is because they haven’t really trusted teachers. If Covid-19 leads to the demise of GCSEs and a much fairer assessment regime, that would be a really positive thing.”

Technology is another area of education where change is predicted, and as with other professions teachers have had to adapt to remote working. With the start of the Summer term on 20 April, Bedales Schools re-commenced teaching – not on campus, but via remote learning platforms. Magnus has been marking his students’ work using such a digital platform, and appreciates being able to help them edit their work and make comments in real time. He says: “I won’t be going back to bits of A4 with differing levels of legibility.”

The full article be read on the i news website here.

Magnus Bashaarat | i news | Bedales online offering