COVID-19 has irrevocably changed education, in Ireland and beyond. Approximately 1.7bn across the globe have had their education impacted and disrupted in the last fourteen months; putting this in context, it is close to the same number of people as lived on the entire planet during the flu pandemic of 1918-1920.
Following a call for papers in October 2020, and an overwhelming response in terms of submissions, Irish Educational Studies is pleased to print the special issue, “COVID-19 and Education: Positioning the pandemic; facing the future”.
The largest-ever issue of the journal, it will feature 30 papers examining a wide range of aspects of the impact of COVID-19 on education internationally. The issues and themes explored include, inter alia, school leadership and governance; technology and the pivot to online and blended forms of learning; schooling at home; calculated grades, alternative examination arrangements and changes to national state assessments; the impact of COVID-19 on higher education; and mental health and wellbeing. Featuring a diverse range of research papers from Ireland, Australia, China, Scotland and the UK, the issue is jointly edited and curated by the IES editorial team.
Many of the papers are now published online and may be accessed here. They will also be accessible on Taylor & Francis Online: https://www.tandfonline.com/ toc/ries20/current, with the double print issue of the journal (Issue 2, Volume 40) currently in press, to appear May/June 2021.