**1. Introduction**

In very recent educational literature, Covid 19 is most frequently represented as a 'game changer' [1]; seriously disruptive of schooling as we have come to know and recognise it, while hastening clarion calls for reform of the status quo [2–6]. Notwithstanding the import of the word 'pandemic', throughout the twentieth century, there have been repeated cries of 'crisis' in education, 'A Nation At Risk' [7] comes to mind, pre-dated by the 'Sputnik' (1957) shock (see [8]), perhaps foreshadowing more contemporary pre-occupations with STEM, and more recent systemic tremors in the form of 'PISA shock' [9] as it impacted in Germany, and elsewhere. Perhaps, more than many other research 'Powerful Reforms and Shallow Roots' [10] captures the manner in which repeated efforts at systemic reform have failed to ignite the radical change that was envisaged [11]. Rather, such efforts, frequently flounder on the rocks of school realities, while repeatedly re-learning that attempting 'teacher proof' curricula as a means of bypassing teacher competence and capacities, thus providing a short cut to 'school improvement' seeks to downplay or

ignore the recurring lesson that 'teachers matter' [12], and are most likely to be central to educational processes into the future. There are compelling reasons for this that provide solid ground on which to build the argument presented in this chapter.

First, the pandemic (still with us) has very definitely reinforced the message that 'home schooling' when combined with 'working from home' is not a sustainable 'bargain' between the public and the state; schooling in various forms will need to be sustained into the future. Thus, while flexible working from home arrangements are likely to continue after various vaccines ride to the rescue, respect for teachers, and what schooling in general manages to achieve, has been enhanced in the eyes of parents and public, and maybe even policy-makers. Second, while versions of 'lockdown' necessitated that schools go online, with varying degrees of success, in general, teachers have had to get to grips with technologies to an unprecedented extent, extended by higher education institutions that provide professional support to the profession online, thus 'alien' technologies have become familiar to many; a benefit that provides experience on calibrating the use and effectiveness of various platforms for student engagement, teaching, learning and leading—spawning ongoing reflection and debate. Yet, these actual and potential benefits have made all concerned yearn for face-to-face interactions, formal and informal, as the lifeblood of communication, community, and holistic education. Third, these recent experiences have increased awareness of inequalities due to concern regarding access to: hardware, software, as well as quiet spaces for work and learning, providing further evidence of the necessity for schools as 'safe havens' of challenge, respect and caring. Fourth, such considerations have accentuated the necessity to revisit schooling as a 'public good' [13], something to which Governments need to be committed, providing sustained and adequate resources and in the process, preventing those who see the potential of technologies for profit and the privatisation of teaching and learning, thus exacerbating rather than diminishing inequalities that, in recent years, have been shown repeatedly to have increased [14]. While we readily recognise that, at a time of rapid change, predicting the future has never been more precarious, it is essential to salvage from past and present 'bricolage' [15] as the building blocks of possible futures. Thus, we ask: What pedagogical repertoires provide the most likely prospect of achieving and sustaining educational development goals?
