The pandemic and education – regions most ready for back to school

When the 2022 GCSE and A-level results were published, disparities between the regions across the UK emerged. Commentators have speculated on the widening attainment gap between the North and the South, suggesting causes such as the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on education and the current state of the teaching job market.

Schools across the country will have used the summer to realign their reality with their targets, whether through recruitment drives, reworking lesson plans or investing in online teaching resources to alleviate workload. That reality has been changing dramatically since 2020, with Covid-19 related closures, restrictions and changes causing huge disruptions to life at home and school.

Ahead of the new academic year, we gathered data to see how the pandemic’s effect on education continues to cause disruption by analysing which region’s schools in England are the most ready to reopen this September.