The Impact of COVID-19 on Key Learning and Education (ICKLE)
- Dates: 2020–2021
- Funding body: Economic and Social Research Council
- Primary investigator: Dr Hannah Nash (Leeds, Psychology)
- Co-investigators: Dr Paula Clarke (Leeds, Education), Dr Cat Davies (Leeds, Linguistics and Phonetics), Dr Matt Homer (Leeds, Education/Medicine), Dr Rachel Mathieson (Leeds, Education/Psychology), Dr Peter Hart (Leeds, Education)
- L@L satellite: Language Development and Cognition
- L@L themes: Language and Society
Using a longitudinal design, the ICKLE project investigates the learning of children starting Year 1 in September 2020. Using data collected by schools at three points – before the pandemic, in early Autumn 2020, and in Spring 2021 – we are investigating the factors that have moderated and mediated pupil progress against a subset the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile goals and reading levels. Working in a large, superdiverse city, we will extrapolate our Leeds findings to the national context.
The data will benefit schools in deciding how to allocate catch-up support. Project findings, conveyed to policy makers and third sector organisations, will inform national strategies to remediate the negative impacts of lockdown post-Covid-19, and to address inequalities as disruption to schools continues.