Drawing on our Learning Renewed ideas and building on the support we are providing to policymakers globally, we can provide advice and guidance to support Covid-19 school reopening strategies. This can include both planning and implementation phases through which education ministries will be working, covering a range of key strategies related to schools, systems and capacity development, and inter-ministry working.

Teachers are critical for rapidly rebuilding learning, whether schools remain closed or are starting to reopen. More effective approaches to remote or blended learning continuity, enhanced pedagogy for accelerated catch-up and formative assessment, and support for collaborative work across home and community settings are all needed. We can provide expertise in teacher CPD to support enhanced training offers for teachers.

The greatest impacts in terms of education, health and economic security are being felt by the most vulnerable learners, who are at greater risk of falling behind or not re-entering education. We offer insight from our Covid-19-related research in inclusive education and our extensive experience working with vulnerable children in a variety of contexts, including successful adaptations in our Girls Education Challenge programme in Kenya.

School leaders are faced with unprecedented challenges as we move towards school reopening. Some are wrestling with new teaching arrangements and mobilising parental support. Others are forging collaborations with partner schools in dramatic new ways to share resources and meet student needs. Education Development Trust can offer CPD for school leaders to help them build new skills that will be critical for successful system reopening.

Throughout the crisis, education systems have worked extremely hard to provide at least a basic offering of remote schooling, and to provide effective remedial programmes as schools reopen. However, measurements and guidance on the reach and quality of such provision are increasingly necessary. We are supporting policymakers and school leaders with best practice guidance and tools, and can help integrate this into education system plans.

Education system leaders are having to make high-stakes decisions in the face of great uncertainty. Throughout the crisis, we have produced rapid evidence briefings on a range of urgent priorities, highlighting ‘what works’ in emergency and remote education, and can offer fast-turnaround research to support evidence-based policymaking across a variety of contexts.

In the uncertainty of the pandemic, ministries of education and donors are having to rapidly respond to unexpected policy and programming decisions, often with reduced team capacity or in unanticipated technical areas. Using our dedicated team of in-house experts and our network of specialist providers, we can provide rapid access to advice and guidance.

Dramatic new demands on education leaders have pushed strategic decision-making into a new realm. We have experience of coaching senior policymakers internationally, from Brunei to Rwanda, and can provide remote coaching services for individuals or for group professional learning communities.

Education systems around the world are trying to emerge from Covid-19-related lockdown. But they face a huge challenge. How can systems re-open to rapidly re-engage learners increasingly left behind during this crisis – with some schools still fully or partially closed – and do so safely and effectively? We believe that this is not only possible, but that it can be done in a way that also addresses key pre-existing barriers to quality. Our ‘Learning Renewed’ thinking presents an approach that will help rapidly improve education quality now, and build more resilient systems for the future.