Centralise education and provide online learning for pre-p1

Teachers and pupils seem to be struggling with having moved teaching online - maybe providing comprehensive education programming from nursery to S6 without the mediation of individual schools (and teachers) might help with this.

There is plenty of existing programming (through the BBC and open university etc.), so it would really be a matter of collating this in one place and delineating it based on difficulty/age level. If a very basic platform was built it could also incorporate online quizzes/tests (think duolingo for languages etc.) and something like Sparknotes. Then, teachers could spend more time doing pastoral work and answering specific questions (more like university tutors). Most of the content already exists, so it really would simply be a matter of bringing it all together. Gamification and social media elements may help encourage students who have felt demotivated in the past.

It would also mean adults could access the content and learn things they've either forgotten or never learned.

Why the contribution is important

We are incredibly lucky to be experiencing a pandemic like this at a time when we have the technology to overcome many of the problems we face, however it feels like we're not taking advantage of either the technology or the new ways that young people have learned to interact with each other. I think we're too keen to try and retain existing structures (over the course of the pandemic) like "the classroom" and "the school" and are missing an opportunity at a cost to both teacher and pupil well-being.

by Tilly_Klein on May 05, 2020 at 02:02PM

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Average rating: 4.1
Based on: 8 votes

Comments

  • Posted by lynnetarvit May 05, 2020 at 14:11

    Many children do not have access to online learning. It’s so important to consider equity. Each school has its own community personality and the staff know their community best. Centralising education will detract from this and also from the professionalism of teachers. We are currently moving towards a less centralised form of education so I feel this would be a step backwards.

  • Posted by EstherAllan May 05, 2020 at 14:34

    It is clear that social distancing is not going to work in schools any time soon. My opinion is that there is a cohort of the population who would not send their children to school in any event until the "all clear" is given. We should instead devote our limited resources (money and people) to developing a well thought out on-line offering for schools. Whilst accepting that some children do not have access to on line learning , we are already creating an achievement chasm because some parents are getting very involved in their children's home schooling whilst others are not . This is evidenced from the relatively low use of google classrooms and glow email accounts already accessed. Email accounts can be accessed from any smart phone (which a very high proportion of secondary pupils already have). We cannot do nothing because some may miss out . Centralising education may be the only way forward right now. It is apparent from my own experience that even within a single school some teachers are very good at providing on-line learning and others are appalling.

  • Posted by Tilly_Klein May 05, 2020 at 14:42

    Students who don't have access to online learning *already* don't have access to the current provision. AFAIK vulnerable students are likely to still be allowed to attend school, which (maybe I'm wrong) would largely include those students? If not, then surely that's another problem that needs answering quite urgently even under current provision.

  • Posted by Jomccolgan May 05, 2020 at 14:43

    All in all - on line learning is no substitute for the real thing . Children are suffering as a result of not being at school. As soon as it is safe to do so, the best option for children's education is to return them in a safe and phased manner back to the classroom.
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