Knowledge-making in a crisis: English education during and after Covid-19

This paper re-examines the deep-rooted problems in how the English education system currently runs and the deep-seated tension points it creates for those involved. It draws on a sequence of research projects I conducted with colleagues during the Covid-19 pandemic that documented how primary schools responded to the immediate crisis unfolding around them in ways that contrasted with what policymakers saw and understood about the pandemic from within a rigid accountability frame. This paper explores the consequences of knowledge-making in these different ways. It considers how the knowledge architecture in English education might need to change, if it is to work in the best interests of teachers, pupils and their communities and the researcher’s role in making this happen.