Exploring pupil views on their education during the pandemic

Nottingham City Educational Psychology Service (EPS) and Southend EPS have collaborated to explore the views of children and young people. We wanted to explore how they have found the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and their thoughts about education, returning to school and what has helped them during this time.

1,758 children and young people across all the school and college age ranges responded to our questionnaires. We were incredibly moved by the thoughts and experiences that the children and young people shared with us. We believe it is of the utmost importance to share these key messages and use what the pupils told us to guide next steps in education, learning and emotional wellbeing.

In our report we present five key themes of: Basic Needs; Preparedness; Relationships and Connections; Learning and Expectations; Opportunities. We explore these themes using three key psychological frameworks:

• Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow 1954; 1987)
• Eco-Systemic Model of Development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979)
• Power, Threat Meaning Framework (Johnstone & Boyle, 2018).

Our aim is to inform policy and decision-makers at all levels (local and central government; Local Authorities and schools) and to begin a conversation that generates change in education.

Read full report here