in the classroom
Forward thinking
Expert says remote learning should be included in the curriculum .
Don Carter interviewed by Emilie Lauer
Schools around Australia have been stricken by the latest surge in Covid-19 , forcing classes to close or operate with minimal staff .
In early April , at least 25 per cent of NSW public school students and teachers were forced to stay at home due to rising cases and staff absences .
According to UTS senior lecturer Don Carter , this won ’ t be the last time Covid-19 will return to our classrooms , meaning schools should start to prepare earlier for online learning .
“ Discussions need to happen between the education sector and their stakeholders as to how they might navigate the next year or two ,” Carter told Education Review .
“ They need to be developed further across the key learning areas so that they are ready to be used whenever a teacher or a school need them .”
Carter joined Education Review to discuss the teacher shortages and why remote learning should be embedded into the curriculum .
ER : How are schools currently dealing with the new peak of COVID 19 ? DC : It ’ s a very difficult situation in schools at the moment with teacher absences and student absences as well . It seems to be the case that following the 2020 pivot to emergency remote teaching we haven ’ t done enough planning in case that happens again .
No one can guarantee there won ’ t be an interruption to face-to-face learning in the future due to further variants of COVID-19 , so there needs to be some attention paid to curriculum , how curriculum is constructed , how assessment will be done , should we have to pivot to emergency remote teaching again , and basically , how teachers will determine how to assess students in that type of situation .
How does this new COVID interruption affect students and teachers from a wellbeing point of view ? It affects different students and teachers in different ways . For some students , if there ’ s an interruption to their learning and they ’ ve got to learn remotely , they miss that interaction with their peers and their teachers , and their experience is less positive than those students who are learning from home and they quite like being away from the classroom . So it does vary .
In my experience , the vast majority of teachers prefer face-to-face delivery and interacting with their students . A lot of assessment is based on students being in the classroom , whether it be students giving a speech as part of their assessment in English , or a performance in drama , or some sort of athletic routine in PE , teachers appreciate that face-to-face contact .
I think teachers find remote teaching difficult simply because it ’ s not their preference , and it ’ s not being resourced properly .
Are we dealing with the situation effectively right now ? We ’ ve come out of a series of lockdowns last year , and we learned from the experience in 2020 , but I ’ m not sure there ’ s the forward planning needed should it happen again . I ’ m not sure that there ’ s the resources being developed by the education sector in case it happens
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