Research Article
Variety of Strategies in Primary Education: The Responses of the Four UK Nations to the COVID-19 Crisis
Hironobu Sano 
,
Lilia Asuca Sumiya
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Sano H, Sumiya LA. Variety of strategies in primary education: the responses of the four UK nations to the COVID-19 crisis. European J Ed Manage. 2021;4(2):127-139. doi: 10.12973/eujem.4.2.127
Sano, H., & Sumiya, L. A. (2021). Variety of strategies in primary education: the responses of the four UK nations to the COVID-19 crisis. European Journal of Educational Management, 4(2), 127-139. https://doi.org/10.12973/eujem.4.2.127
Sano Hironobu, and Lilia Asuca Sumiya. "Variety of Strategies in Primary Education: The Responses of the Four UK Nations to the COVID-19 Crisis," European Journal of Educational Management 4, no. 2 (2021): 127-139. https://doi.org/10.12973/eujem.4.2.127
Sano, H & Sumiya, L 2021, 'Variety of strategies in primary education: the responses of the four UK nations to the COVID-19 crisis', European Journal of Educational Management, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 127-139. Sano, Hironobu, and Lilia Asuca Sumiya. "Variety of Strategies in Primary Education: The Responses of the Four UK Nations to the COVID-19 Crisis." European Journal of Educational Management, vol. 4, no. 2, 2021, pp. 127-139, https://doi.org/10.12973/eujem.4.2.127.
Abstract
This article analyses the strategies of the four United Kingdom (UK) nations to mitigate the impacts of primary school closures and the shift to remote learning due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. A theoretical framework based on a combination of the field literature of strategy and public value was developed to analyze their initiatives. This is a qualitative and exploratory study, and its data was collected from each country’s website, research papers, and media news. The findings reveal five key areas of action: remote learning; keeping schools open to assist vulnerable students and key workers’ children; access to the Internet and electronic devices to mitigate the digital divide; free meals to disadvantaged learners; and students’ assessment. The analysis suggests that the four nations initially adopted a coordinated action and gradually followed three different paths: deliberate strategies, adjustment to the pandemic situation, and development of emergent strategies. The variegate of strategies show the innovative capacity of the countries and the search for public value. Further research is suggested to address the impact of the strategies.
Keywords: COVID-19, education policy, primary education, public value, emergent strategy.
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