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Blog posted by: Graham Archer, Director for Qualifications, Curriculum and Extra-Curricular, Department for Education, 13 July 2021 – Categories: A Modern Civil Service, An Ambitious Civil Service, An Innovative Civil Service, Better policymaking.

Pupils from Ark Tindal Academy with devices to ensure they didn't miss out on education in lockdown

Graham Archer, Director for Qualifications, Curriculum and Extra-Curricular, Department for Education, speaks about the challenge of delivering more than 1.3 million laptops and tablets to UK pupils in lockdown.

It has been a trademark feature of working in this pandemic that the unexpected often becomes the norm. 

Suddenly, circumstances change, policy changes, lives change and you find yourself with the spotlight firmly trained on the work you’re doing. This certainly was the case for my team's work on remote education back in January, as schools and colleges closed again to most pupils overnight. 

From early in the pandemic, the Department for Education swung into action, working closely with schools and colleges and their senior leaders to ensure high quality remote education was in place for pupils, when schools closed for all but vulnerable and key worker children. Our goal was to ensure that no child or student missed out on learning during lockdown.

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