Tumoideachas gan tumadh: Tuarascáil ar thionchar na paindéime COVID-19 ar earnáil an tumoideachais ó thuaidh

Since the first lockdown was announced in March 2020, all stakeholders in the education sector have faced stress, frustration and uncertainty. These conditions disrupted the normal planning of education and the normal educational journey of every student. In addition to covering the content of the curriculum, however, it is the objective of practitioners in the immersive education sector to expose students to another language in the classroom setting. This additional language skill is developed, to a large extent, organically through immersion, immersion that has not been routinely possible over the past two years.

In this report, empirical data is provided to outline the type and extent of the impact in a variety of immersive schools across Northern Ireland. Particular emphasis is placed on primary schools, but the recommendations of the research apply to all levels of schooling. In the absence of suitable language assessment tools, it was not possible, within the timescale of this project, to devise an experiment to analyse students' language abilities based on linguistic output. Instead, the range of experiences and opinions available among stakeholders including principals/leaders, teachers, parents and students is explored and recommendations are made for recovery based these and on the best practice available both locally and internationally.