The ongoing global crisis has taken a toll – especially how it has troubled students and the wider school systems. There has been a higher need for computers, faster broadband, and a new supportive environment. Aligning those resources needs clear structures and school leaders. And it is not just about responding to the new situations – it is also about how to build a better environment, building a stronger forward-looking system.
Different countries, different strategies
Currently, the OECD has published new education statistics, highlighting the track developments in times of the pandemic. Aspects included the overall learning statistics, opportunities and strategies to deal with this new situation. Further, the overall organisation, the working outcomes and the budgets need to be considered.
Every country responded differently to the COVID crisis. From nations that keep schools open nearly all the time (Australia) to nations that had long-time lockdowns (France). Even though they all share the same procedures of social distancing, hygiene practices and cleaning schedules, the spread of the virus took place at different levels
The long-term strategy of vaccination
The long-term strategy of vaccination of all school teachers will be a big step in the right direction. Most national measures implement a clear prioritising of the vaccination of all school staff, especially in Australian urban areas. However, the plan might be stopped due to a strong limitation of the supply of vaccines. Often this is further worsened by a public opinion against the vaccine. This results in an often very difficult act to manage in the long run.
Is there a correlation between school lockdown and infections?
Current assessments have come to the conclusion that it is often difficult to determine a strict correlation between specific school lockdowns and the overall rate of infections within a country. This argument is supported by the infection number comparison between different countries. For example, Country A has a different policy of school lockdowns compared to B, but the overall infection rate could be highly similar to country B.
Low educational performance and the virus
There is a growing concern between authorities that for countries with a low educational performance, the virus outbreak brings the overall performance even lower. In other words, the main amount of clear, high-performance instructional days is lower for nations with already poor results. These ideas are further supported by recent data taken from the PISA assessment results. PISA, the “Programme for International Student Assessment”, is a strict index comparing different learning outcomes between the nations. The results show that more poor learning outcomes are experienced during the pandemic situation – a clear decline between the year 2018 and 2020.
Support of learning structures
To target this low educational performance, many countries have decided to fight against the decreasing trend. Often young children and already struggling students were clearly prioritised for a better learning experience, and a wide focus was set on specific social context learning. Students with disabilities often struggle to use digital helping devices such as tablets or computers, and special education needs to take place here – many nations have made plans to target this.
Communication is the key
Often students start to feel isolated during lockdown of schools – a problem that needs to be targeted in the long run. Regular online teaching sessions and direct contact (even out of business hours) can help. Building new online channels, a long-term communication network between teachers and students, but also between all students can assist with this. Self-paced digital learning channels as well as discounted internet plans, in combination with fast internet speed, are the keys to successful online learning. This can be used by every student, even starting at primary levels of school education. To be flexible, to adapt and use technology will assist every student.
What about assessments?
Often different school administrations are struggling with the assessment structure during pandemic times. National examinations and assessments can not take place in the usual way, at the usual places during usual times. New plans need to be made, new structures need to be adapted, and a way how to assess every student in a fair way needs to be established. Again, the help of online devices and channels will be the solution to this.
Teaching with new skills
But not only students need to adapt to this environment, school teachers need to do the same. The global crisis forces many teachers to gain new skills and to prepare offline material in completely new ways. A new way of coordination needs to be found, and new approaches to communication with parents need to be established. A new administrative sector can help to overcome those new problems. Class sizes need to be adjusted, and stronger demand for a transition from offline to online is part of this crisis plan. Some teaches might require training with using online tools and devices.
Every government needs to help the struggling schools with a clear funding scheme and a long-term investment plan. Each country that has schools in lockdown needs to be prepared for this.