6 positive ways coronavirus can change education
In a TES article, Colin Harris discusses how coronavirus has caused huge upheaval - but it has also presented us with a chance for positive change. Harris goes on to comment that schools had to react quickly and, despite what some may say, they have risen to this challenge with aplomb.
Lucy Stephens, Founder of The New School says of the article, “there are lots of good ideas here, but to make these changes stick, we need to speak the language of the market…outcomes. Unless we widen our measurement system to include things like wellbeing, happiness, teacher empowerment, alternative assessment structures, and social and emotional skills that come with better pastoral support – all the things The New School’s outcomes framework measures - we will not change anything when schools go back. Attention will turn straight back to test results, and closing the disadvantage gap. Essentially we treasure what we measure. But the ones in the driving seat are actually parents.”
“The more questions we ask of schools in terms of what they are doing for pastoral support, social and emotional skills development and giving our children a voice in their learning, the more schools will have to change. Likewise, the more we believe in the validity of OFSTED grades - moving house for the ‘outstanding’ school, then the more rigid a system we maintain. Ironically the hoop jumping that schools go through to get and maintain an ‘outstanding’, comes at the expense of all the other things we say we want for our children. Ultimately education is a marketplace - the louder we shout, the more we can change policy...but only if we believe there is more to education than just grades.”