COVID Social Mobility & Opportunities Study

Study aims

COSMO is the largest study of its kind into the unequal effects of COVID-19 on a generation of young people. The study aims to capture the extent to which the pandemic is shaping educational trajectories, and how this varies across different groups.

When the pandemic hit the UK in 2020, Year 11 pupils were beginning to make important decisions about their futures. They subsequently faced two years of serious disruption to their education, including the ultimate cancellation of their GCSEs. The upheaval was unprecedented, with the consequences felt more deeply by those from disadvantaged backgrounds. COSMO will be a critical source of evidence for education policymakers and practitioners as they attempt to respond to these challenges.

Study design and content

Sample design

COSMO uses an area-stratified random probability sample from the National Pupil Database, with additional private school sampling, successfully recruiting more than 12,000 young people who were in Year 11 in 2020-21. The study oversampled young people from disadvantaged, ethnic minority and other traditionally hard-to-reach groups to ensure it reflects the full range of experiences of the pandemic.

Data collection

Wave 1 data collection involved web-first fieldwork (initial invite to an online survey, with targeted face-to-face follow up) with young people and parents. A second phase of data collection is currently in development, with fieldwork scheduled to begin in autumn 2022, once again following a web-first survey approach with targeted telephone and face-to-face follow up. All young people who took part in Wave 1 (along with their main parent) will be invited to take part.

Content

The study covers how the disruption to schooling during the pandemic has affected young people’s educational attainment and wellbeing, as well as their longer-term educational and career outcomes.

Topics covered across questionnaires will include experiences of the pandemic, financial impacts in the home, disruption to schooling, access to home learning and school provision, attitudes to education, mental health and wellbeing, as well as GCSE assessment in 2021 and the crucial post-16 transition.

Each young person’s school will also be contacted with general questions about school provision and disruption during the pandemic, rather than questions about specific pupils.

A consultation on the content of Wave 2 was carried out in February 2022. For more information about the consultation, visit the COSMO website.

Data access

COSMO data and documentation will be made available through the UK Data Service. Data from Wave 1 of the study is now available to view. To learn more about the COSMO study design and data collection please visit the COSMO study website.

Co-Investigators

• Professor Lisa Calderwood, CLS
• Professor Alissa Goodman, CLS
• Professor Lindsey Macmillan, CEPEO
• Professor Praveetha Patalay, CLS and MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL
• Professor Gill Wyness, CEPEO
• Carl Cullinane, Sutton Trust