The spread of the Novel Corona Virus SARS Cov 2 and the subsequent closure of schools in most countries of the world forced teachers and school management to seek ways of keeping children learning. Some used proprietary software specific to subjects, with others using Google Classroom or keeping classes live with video conferencing technologies such as Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams, Skype, etc.

The learning process requires feedback at several points: during initial understanding, during first attempts at using new skills and with engagement in practice – needed to cement the learning. 

Most state (or public) secondary schools in the UK saw the need to provide work that needed completing and submission, but then provided a negligible amount of feedback at any of these 3 critical stages – because schools were just not set up for this, or in the habits of providing learning on-line: it was like having cover lessons for all such subjects for half of an academic year.  It is good that governments have recognised there is a need to try to keep schools open. However, as the crisis lengthens, it seems likely that schools ought to find remote (non-contact) ways of providing the feedback. Many privately funded schools had to provide on line lessons from the start – because they were funded privately.  This allowed them to find ways to provide lesson feedback and submitted work feedback.  However, this is not easy and has put the teachers in these schools under more pressure than the state funded schools (certainly in the UK).