Prof. Alan Floyd (Professor of Education, University of Reading) and his colleagues – Dr. Jacqueline Baxter (Principal Investigator) and Dr. Katharine Jewitt (Lead Researcher) from the Open University – have been successful in being awarded £300,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council’s UKRI Covid-19 Open Call Bid.

Their project, titled ‘Leading school learning through Covid-19 and beyond: Online learning and strategic planning through and post lockdown in English secondary schools’ will run for 18 months.

The project will look at how school leaders strategically manage and plan for online provision of learning, through the pandemic and beyond. Drawing on data from interviews with leaders from 50 state secondary schools in England, along with questionnaires to a further 4,000, it will address how they have coped with, and continue to manage, particular challenges such as a lack of equipment, absence of learners from school, and provision for students with Special Educational Needs.

Reacting to this news, Prof. Floyd said “I am delighted to be able to work with Dr. Jacqueline Baxter on this important research project, which will offer valuable insights into the short, medium and long-term planning for online learning in the UK. Crucially, we will also explore the needs of disadvantaged pupils who are recognised to be disproportionately impacted by school closures during the pandemic.”

To learn more about Prof. Floyd’s research interests, visit his research profile page here. He tweets at @ProfAlanFloyd.