Among measures taken to respond to the health crisis include home learning, virtual tuition and more refined protection for children.
“With the introduction of home learning via virtual tuition, policies
connected to child protection and safeguarding have had to be
re-evaluated and made fit for purpose,” Bell added. “Safeguarding the
health, safety and mental wellbeing of students and staff has also been a
key focus, when considering adaptations to policies and procedures.”
Member schools— 250 in more than 75 countries globally — vary in size, enrolling from 27 to 3,000 students. The majority offer both
primary and secondary education. As of October/November 2020, over 62%
were either teaching solely remotely or with a mixture of face-to-face
classes; the rest were fully open. Nearly nine out of 10 leavers (from
2019-20) progressed to university, with half going to a UK university.
The rest headed to the US, the Netherlands and Canada.
Recruiting teachers and students, however, took a dip. Nearly half (46%) reported a decrease in pupil numbers; two-thirds of schools said
this was wholly or partly due to the pandemic. Two out of five schools
were delayed or found it hard to deal with visas or pre-employment
checks for teachers. At one-third of member schools, international staff
were delayed by border closures and other travel restrictions.
The survey collected school information on curriculum, assessments, school leaver destinations, student and staff nationalities, class
sizes, and staff turnover from the 2018-19 academic year.
