As the lockdown measures put in place to protect people from the coronavirus start to ease, hopeful individuals in the UK are looking to the government for clarity around what the new normal might look like on the other side of the pandemic.

While speculation on what comes next is rife, the truth is, that Covid-19 has been an unprecedented shock, both to our lives and the world economy, so no one fully knows what the mid- to long-term future holds.

Despite some industries – such as digital streaming services, online learning and supermarkets – having boomed through the crisis, others, including automotive, travel and tourism and hospitality have struggled for survival, leaving many people concerned for the security of their jobs.

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Looking to the future

One of the key challenges that the government faces in trying to get the economy back up and running is how they can safely do so while maintaining social distancing measures to protect both the workforce and the general public and ensure that the "R" stays below 1. This same challenge applies to educational settings.

While early conversations to address the problem raised suggestions of remodelling classrooms and workplaces altogether to make social distancing possible, we have since seen the government roll out a phased return plan, which from 1 June saw pupils in reception, Year 1 and Year 6 return to school. The intention was that this would eventually be extended to all primary age pupils to enable them to attend school for up to one month before the start of the summer holidays. This week, the plan has subsequently been dropped after being deemed “impractical” by headteachers, education unions, school staff and many concerned parents.

While social distancing is undoubtedly easier to implement with pupils in smaller volumes, the long term sustainability of this plan starts to unravel where entire cohorts are concerned, wherein some instances, classrooms are built to accommodate groups of up to 30 learners at a time.

A more feasible solution and altogether more likely possibility instead of a return to business as usual in schools come September will be an increased reliance on digital delivery methods, reimagining the premise and the purpose of the classroom altogether.

Throughout the lockdown period, we have witnessed extraordinary resilience across the education sector, with teachers, tutors and learners alike getting fully on board with digital learning platforms and remote teaching.

Even across the adult education sector, we have seen an increase in demand for online solutions as people chose to spend their time in isolation gaining new skills and knowledge to support them when returning to work or when trying to find a new role in the post-Covid economy.

As the ever-present threat of another spike in the virus continues to impact our day-to-day lives, this boom in digital services and solutions will continue across multiple sectors, and may very well alter how certain industries, including education, operate forever.

A very different September

As requirements and delivery methods for schools, colleges and training providers change to meet the demand for remote learning and online assessment, centres and awarding and assessment organisations alike will need to provide a level of flexibility to support this unplanned-for version of the future and keep things moving forward.

It is clear that the labour market is going to be extremely challenging, particularly for young people, for the foreseeable future. It is also clear to us that current government policy, funding and programmes need to respond rapidly, proportionately and appropriately to address these challenges.

NCFE recently published a discussion paper in partnership with Campaign for Learning where leading authorities on education policy, Susan Pember and Mark Corney, addressed the likely impact of Covid-19 on post-16 education, the economy and labour market. Warning of a very different September, the paper makes a number of recommendations on how to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on jobs, apprenticeships, youth unemployment and adult retraining.

With subsequent reports from the Resolution Foundation and Education Policy Institute (EPI) reaching similar conclusions about the scale of the problem facing policymakers, the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions will need to come up with a plan which offers a different mix of provision and financial support to meet challenges head-on and outline a contingency plan for education and skills delivery to ensure that no learner gets left behind.

To protect the UK’s economic interests, it has never felt more important that we ensure that every penny of public money is spent wisely, fairly and on the societal and economic issues that matter most. To this end, we firmly believe that investing in the future of our young people during this time is of paramount importance. Therefore, we need well-considered, balanced policy decisions that are based on robust evidence of what has worked and can work now, in our new normal.

Supporting the recovery effort

Education has a significant role to play in the new normal as the economy starts its long road to recovery. Increased availability of online teaching and learning provision will empower individuals to take control of their own learning, working at their own pace and under their own steam, as a means of either upskilling to meet the renewed needs of their sector, or reskilling to help them find new employment.

By staying plugged into the needs of learners, the economy and the sector NCFE remains focused on the development of key qualifications, online resources and innovative digital applications to support teaching and learning.

Our primary responsibility is and always will be to our learners, helping them to achieve their personal and career goals and ensure that learner outcomes are not impaired by the disruption that coronavirus has caused to their teaching time.

David Gallagher is the chief executive at NCFE