The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the educational disparity for children. After two years of remote learning, millions of U.S. students have fallen behind in learning at age-appropriate reading and math levels.
The COVID-19 emergency has led to the massive closure of face-to-face activities in educational centres in more than 190 countries, according to UNESCO. This was done, at the time, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and, thus, mitigate its impact. As of mid-May 2020, more than 1.2 billion students at all levels stopped having classes in which they had to meet their teacher or classmates face to face. According to UNESCO data, this is causing many problems at all educational levels around the world.
Ethnic Media Services therefore organised an information session where experts proposed strategies to close the gap in student achievement and what strategies should be taken by teachers, students and parents.
Louis Freedberg, former CEO of EdSource and a veteran education journalist, argued that strong learning cannot occur without emotional closeness between teachers and students. He insisted that teachers must create emotional bonds that also reinforce cognitive ones. He noted that “there are elements” that conflict with distance education compared to traditional forms of teaching. “You weren’t used to that situation before,” he said.
He stressed that the absence of a student-teacher relationship is something that "must be taken into account" because before, interaction was different in the sense that communication was more effective and efficient in an environment in which teaching responded to "learning needs" throughout the school day that was planned from beginning to end: there are routines and schedules for every day within or outside of class hours or any other rules that apply.
Hayin Kimner, managing director of the Community Schools Learning Exchange, a senior policy and research fellow for education policy analysis in California, stressed that children “struggle” to focus, finding better behavior in students when they know what to expect in advance rather than being surprised by anything during their daily life within school hours, “even the basics,” notes Kimner, such as what exactly is expected of their accepted behavior both in and out of the classroom is set in advance.
“Many children feel lost because of COVID-19; they may miss important events or become traumatized by what others have experienced,” along with the impact of social media posts seen during the pandemic. “These students often lose track of time while working on their assignments without any support,” she said.
Allison Socol, Deputy Director of Policy at P12, Washington-based Ed Trust, said there is a daily routine that seems to play a big role at home. This, she said, “can make it difficult to focus when studying online.” She also said there are students experiencing anxiety and sadness due to COVID-19, and these emotions “can be distracting for remote learners” at home.
“Learning new things in a life without challenges can be challenging,” Socol said. “When students are at home, there is no one around to remind them of what they need to do or to bring their attention back to the lesson at hand,” she stressed. She noted that because of this, it can lead to student confusion and distraction when there is nothing else around them, as it sometimes feels like they are on vacation.
