COVID-19 and the Ongoing Problem of Educational Efficiency - A journal of educational research and practice 2020 Vol. 29 (2) 18-23

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man

COVID-19 accelerated efforts to restore schooling “as soon as possible,” foregrounding pragmatic and instrumental responses centered on educational efficiency. The essay argues that the pursuit of efficiency has persisted as a dominant value shaping educational reform, often eclipsing deeper questions about education’s place, pace, and purpose. It critiques how efficiency governs thinking about schools and students, and proposes reframing education to reconsider what educational efficiency means amid and beyond the pandemic.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

The COVID-19 Crisis

Educational Efficiency

Education and Place

Education and Pace

COVID-19 and the Ongoing Problem of Educational Efficiency A journal of educational research and practice 2020 Vol. 29 (2) 18-23 [https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked](https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked) Michael Mindzak * Brock University Abstract In many ways, the current COVID-19 crisis has provided the impetus, or else opportunity, to examine the state of education and schools today. Currently, responses have focused largely on instrumental, pragmatic concerns that would allow formal education to “return to normal” as soon as possible. Perspectives such as these demonstrate the ongoing prevalence of values surrounding educational efficiency and how the pursuit of efficiency continues to dominate the field of educational reform. Thus, this essay reflects on the ideas of place, pace, and purpose in education surrounding the problematic nature of efficiency and asks instead to consider how we might shift our gaze to reconceptualize education in the contemporary period and beyond. Keywords: educational reform, efficiency, commodification, standardization * [mmindzak@brocku.ca](mmindzak@brocku.ca) The COVID-19 Crisis Looking within the educational community, reactions to the COVID-19 situation in many contexts have appeared to be principally focused on pragmatic concerns such as the operation of schools and the need for learning continuity (Greene, 2020; McMurtrie, 2020) . Such reactions can be understood as mainly instrumentalist anxieties surrounding the provision and delivery of education in order to return to “normalcy” as quickly as possible (Kayyem, 2020) . Thus, the concern raised here is that perhaps we are asking the wrong question; that is, rather than asking how can we return back to doing what we were doing before, we might ask instead how we might do things differently. However, the prevailing concern for the former over the latter is apparent in the prevalence of efficiency as an educational raison d’être (Lockheed & Hanushek, 1994) . From this perspective, this essay reflects on the ideas of place, pace, and purpose in education and seeks to critically examine the relevance, if not importance, of such ideas across the vast endeavour that is formal education. The current pandemic situation we find ourselves in can provide educators with an opportunity to reconsider how we understand—or else are made to understand—the concept of educational efficiency and how this pervasive value system continues to dominate much of our thinking about schools , students, and education itself. Educational Efficiency The pursuit of efficiency lies at the very heart of universal schooling. Since being brought forward by Callahan (1962), the notion of critically examining the idea of efficiency within the sphere of education has been theorized further (Gross Stein, 2002) . This cult of efficiency reveals itself as a logic deeply embedded in the norms, values, and beliefs that guide the provision of education. Indeed, all those involved in education or its administration quickly realize the hegemony of limited resources (Boyd, 2004) . Thus, efficiency is about managing and allocating finite resources, finding ways to do more with less, and doing things faster (Welch, 1998) . In contrast to efficacy, efficiency in and of itself focuses solely on the maximization of limited resources without concern for other values. While invoking efficiency may then be advantageous towards attaining certain ends (Heath , 2001) , approaching education, and in particular public schooling, from this perspective poses numerous dangers (Gross Stein, 2002) . Indeed, as Menashy (2007) notes, many educational reforms are often rooted in misleading understandings of efficiency. Today, we may begin to ask how COVID-19 currently occupies our thinking about both efficiency and education. Education and Place Moving towards forms of teaching and learning that do not reside in a fixed physical location or place continues to make

FAQs

Why does the essay connect COVID-19 to educational efficiency?

Because the crisis intensified calls to keep schooling operating and to “return to normal,” these responses strengthened the prominence of efficiency values in education.

What does the essay say efficiency means in schooling?

Efficiency is framed as managing and allocating limited resources—doing more with less and doing things faster—without necessarily considering other educational values.

How does the essay link efficiency to changes in the place of education?

It argues that educational technology expands beyond fixed classrooms, and that efficiency logic can push toward privatization, commodification, and automation of education.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man