Abstract/Summary

Covid 19 has presented unprecedented challenge to school leaders in England: challenge that intensifies as pupils return to full time schooling (Adnan et al, 2020; Dhawan, 2020). During lockdown schools developed online learning strategies, but to date there is little or no knowledge of how online learning has been led and managed or how they have /or will address the needs of disadvantaged pupils (Jewitt et al., 2020).This project takes a mixed methods approach to investigate how school leaders; head teachers/ CEOs & heads of department, in state secondary schools in England, are strategically planning for the management of online learning over the next 2 years, and how this builds on current practices. Using a case study approach based in 20 schools, the project uses an adaptation of Puntedura’s model of differing degrees of technology integration to establish what level of online provision is being offered at present and what plans schools have for the next 2 years (2006 2012) These are : L1 – Substitution- technologies are used passively to support teaching; L2 - augmentation – traditional pedagogies are adapted for online use; L3 – Modification-strategic thought is given to the design of online learning and enhancements that add value to online teaching are implemented in order to improve learner performance; L4 – strategic planning for design of online offerings linking to whole school/ department approaches in online learning. (van der Spoel et al., 2020). As such, the project offers unique insights into the short- and medium-term planning for online learning and important contributions to policy and practice.