Bubble Schools and the Long Road from Lockdown

This sequel to Breslin's critically acclaimed Lessons from Lockdown explores how school leaders, teachers, parents and pupils have navigated their way through and from lockdown. This is the story of 'doing' schooling against the topsy-turvy backdrop of a pandemic that has caused us all to reflect not just on the purpose and substance of education but also the world that schools might, in the future, need to prepare children and young people for. Drawing on the voices of more than a hundred pupils, parents and professionals, it captures the range of experiences as teachers and students grappled with new ways of working, policy chaos and the complexity of schooling and teaching in such a landscape. Bubble Schools is a must-read for all concerned about the shape that our public education systems take as we begin to move forward from a system-shock that has revealed both the strengths and the weaknesses of education policy, system design and long-established classroom practice.

Dr Tony Breslin is an experienced educational leader and a widely published researcher, writer and commentator. A teacher by profession, he is Director at Breslin Public Policy Limited, Chair at Bushey Primary Education Federation and Chair of the Education Committee at Anthem Schools Trust.

1. The optimism of September: And the subsequently broken promise of normality. 2. After the grading crisis: What the class of 2020 did next, and what this might mean for Higher Education after lockdown. 3. It all ends in tiers: The different experiences of different learners in different settings. 4. Crisis at Christmas: Schools and the second surge. 5. Better connected?: Home-learning second time around. 6. 'Examining' the class of 2021: Exploding the myths of 'teacher bias' and 'grade inflation'. 7. Beyond lockdown: Building curricula for catch-up, recovery and much more. 8. Leadership and governance in a hybrid world: The long road to genuinely blended provision. 9. Personalising learning for all: Utilising E-tech and bringing SEND strategies into the mainstream. 10. Autumn's return: A testing time (and term) for all. Next Steps: Leading schools out of lockdown. References. Index.