Oh no they aren’t… oh… wait… Oh yes they are… or not? Maybe?
It’s that mythical child we’re looking for. It’s the Schroendinger’s child of remote learning. It’s the child who is doing nothing at home learning because provision is so poor, and they don’t access it because teachers are doing it all wrong. It’s the child who is also accessing high-quality online live lessons because that’s what’s best, because that’s what the government says is best.
This child is simultaneously all of those things until you actually go into school or into everyone’s home. In truth, there are some kids who are LOVING remote learning; I am teaching 2 of them in my private practice. There are also some students who utterly hate it and who are losing their sparkle. I teach a couple of those in my private work.
I see lots of that and everything in between when I’m at school with kids. There is no definite, one-size-fits all description of what our kids are experiencing through lockdown learning. So there really needs not to be a restrictive, forceful diktat as to what needs to happen in schools once things do start to settle down. Schools need to be able to meet their kids’ needs.
They need to be able to teach the kids sitting in front of them, at the level they’re at using the resources they have at a pace the kids need. Syllabi may be tweaking for exam kids. Or perhaps a choice of several questions could be done in papers so that kids can choose to respond to questions they know best. Teacher assessment may be the way forward. But for the love of god, please stop talking about ‘catch up’.
Let us see where our kids are and teach them from that point!
Our kids will vary from school to school but they are most definitely not Schroedinger’s mystery child who is failing, being failed and about 46 years behind where the powers-that-be say they need to be. They are kids who have had a pretty darn rubbish year or so, who need time and emotional support to get into being in school properly and some clear direction for what will happen to their exams or assessments.
And once that comes in, teachers need to be left to get on with it, ELSAs need to be employed to support kiddos and CAMHS need some proper damned funding!
Sort that out and the learning will follow.
