Future-proofing schools to face reality of teaching during Covid-19

Schools across the country have started reopening amid the easing of the Covid-19 lockdown. But as more learners return to classrooms, the surge in the Covid-19 pandemic has many parents, teachers and learners worried about their health and safety.

Already, dozens of schools in South Africa that have opened in the last two months have closed shortly thereafter following positive cases of Covid-19 being detected among their staff and even their learners. This creates a very disruptive learning environment, and schools will need to live with the fact that they may need to shut down at any time during the coming weeks and months – especially if localised outbreaks happen.

This is why it’s now time for schools to future-proof themselves and ensure that their distance learning systems and approaches to e-learning are up to scratch.

Amid a series of case studies that we’ve conducted, we’ve identified five key points of advice that other schools and teachers can take into consideration when it comes to ongoing distance learning setups:

1. More structure at home

During this lockdown period, teachers have told us that the one thing that has helped them is trying to create more structure in the home-learning environment. For example, some schools have said that they’ve followed a normal school timetable during the lockdown, as close as is reasonably possible. Teachers have also said that they have found it beneficial to send a complete lesson plan to the learners beforehand. This has helped children put their learning into context while also enabling teachers to mix up live webinars with pre-recorded lessons.

2. Less is more

Having said the above, teachers and principals have also said that a balance needs to be struck between structure and flexibility. One of the big feedback points is that less is more. For example, teachers have told us that a 10-minute lesson on video can feel equal to a normal lesson in the classroom that’s 40 minutes long. When considering that no time is spent when it comes to changing classes or completing an attendance register, not much lesson time is lost if these digital lessons are shorter.

3. Ongoing assessments

Many teachers have also carried out assessments at the end of each digital lesson. The purpose of these assessments is to see if the learners attended and understood the lesson. It then also serves as an attendance list.

4. Invest in the development of teachers and technology

It’s clear that schools will have to invest in the development of their teachers to make sure that quality distance education can be carried out practically. Teachers need to equip themselves with a new array of skills, whether it’s learning how to operate webinar software or using different types of e-learning platforms.

In addition, schools have to invest in technology to get their network and infrastructure right.

5. Communication

Finally, communication is critical in our current schooling landscape. It’s more important than ever to regularly communicate with parents and learners, especially if your school finds itself having to close down again. It will give parents and learners peace of mind, as well as a sense of direction for what is to come. DM