Stepping Down From Our Proverbial Treadmills

We would have wanted to think of ourselves more fortunate than other schools who had many more months to go before ending their school year. Yet, on second thought this crisis has spared no one. It rendered the entire world in a state of limbo that has unquestionably subverted every aspect of our way of life.

Just a few weeks ago, as we were preparing for a high stakes meeting to decide whether to pass or fail students academically at risk, one colleague with several years of experience emailed me prior asking a thought provoking question: “Are the guidelines for making recommendations for pass or fail still applicable now?” She expressed that one of her students in danger of taking remedial classes was also mired with family problems. Since remedial classes would have to be conducted online, the student is practically being set up to fail, given his problematic home situation.

For young learners, adult supervision is vital. In the time of COVID, parents will now need to assume, to a large extent, the role of the surrogate educator. The level of success that that brings is largely dependent on the willingness of the parents to be involved, the available resources at home, and the time that these parents are able to dedicate to this purpose.

With the imperative for social distancing, the consensus amongst schools is to shift to online learning. As much as we want to say that we have made strides towards integrating technology in learning, the present context is evidently different. The demand to shift drastically has exposed many weaknesses. For one, there exists a gaping digital divide among students and teachers alike. This makes it unfair and insensitive to expect these students and faculty to quickly familiarize themselves with these new platforms when other more pressing needs have been moved to the forefront of their lives.

What has been a somber realisation is that some of these challenges and the corresponding responses to it have actually existed long before the coronavirus outbreak. We have always known that learning is dependent on the factors that were mentioned earlier. For a child to succeed in school, it is vital that they are provided ample learning resources and opportunities at home, their physical and psychological needs are consistently met, and they find themselves in a safe environment where they are able to work independently and collaboratively.

It takes more than just competent teachers and eager students to guarantee that effective learning happens. Unfortunately, when schools have been so accustomed to doing things the same way for years, they will find themselves flat-footed in the face of this crisis. The old templates no longer suit the current circumstances. Therefore, schools would have to go down from their proverbial treadmills otherwise it will get them nowhere. It goes without saying that we need to upgrade our educational tools, diversify our pedagogical techniques, and gradually shift away from the “one-size-fits-all” paradigm.

Our common lament is that it is challenging enough to provide these under normal circumstances, what more with the current pandemic? But we cannot afford to deal with absolutes. We need to constantly search for ways to give what is best for our students amidst forecasts of the pandemic’s hazy timeline. The way to go, as prescribed by an article in Mckinsey, is to plan across multiple time horizons anticipating multifarious scenarios. For instance, as we continue to brainstorm ways to make definitive yet flexible decisions about end of school year matters, we need to get ahead and decide on matters that affect the next school year so they can be implemented in a timely and thoughtful manner. Aside from that, the biggest challenge is for us to reimagine what it will be like further to the future with the so-called “new normal”.