Outbound Online Class

Online Education
For the past two years children around the world have undergone an unusual, and potentially damaging, educational dislocation. Forced by Covid-related restrictions to move from in-person to online schooling, students, teachers, and parents have grappled to try and maintain some form of educational normality via Zoom, Teams, Classin or other IT platforms. It has been a revolution of necessity, without time adequately to research, assess and evaluate the impact that this radical change has had upon students’ learning and their mental health. There are those who believe that the sooner students get back into the classroom the better, even at the risk of continued spread of the virus. Others believe that online education should be activated whenever there is even the smallest outbreak, so that transmission is limited or eliminated.
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In this article we will examine some of the challenges associated with online education, and some of the lessons learned regarding how we can better ensure that students who are learning online make the right level of progress as well as being supported emotionally.
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So, what are the challenges? Most teachers would say that it is the physical distance from classmates and teachers that is the most challenging aspect of online teaching for many students. It is also one of the least obvious impacts. Parents and school administration will likely focus more on the academic content and outcomes, which of course are important and are more easily measured. But for anyone who had worked closely with children more insidious and long-term harm is caused by the lack of social interaction which results from online tuition. Children develop social and emotional skills by regular and sustained interaction with peers in well structured and supported environments – meaning school and classroom. When this interaction is limited to online lessons it is simply not possible to replicate the experiences and opportunities for growth which are so important for young people. Simple things like sharing resources, collaborative group work, moving around the classroom, one to one time with teachers, end other forms of experiential learning, are simply not possible in online classes.
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Boredom is a second challenge. It is hard for teachers to build in the sorts of multi-skilled, varied, and dynamic teaching strategies which are integral to a well-run classroom. Almost inevitably lessons tend to become rather too teacher led than is ideal. Partly this is a result of the technology and partly it is simply a reflection of the challenge that exists in getting students to participate. It is hard to see what students are doing and easy for them to get distracted. Many teachers report that they are well aware that students appear top be doing other things, such as playing on their phones, reading, or drawing, but it is very hard to monitor and even harder to manage. Of course, many parents take great responsibility to try and ensure that their children are paying attention, but in reality, most are busy themselves and it is not fair to expect them to be able to be a sort of permanent teaching assistant.
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Physical fatigue can build in online classes. Without the opportunity to interact, to get up, to move around, students can develop poor posture, muscle fatigue, headaches, and eye strain. The more that students learn online the bigger this danger can become.
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In online classes it relies heavily on formative methods, such as question and answer. One of the strategies that teachers try to use effectively in the classroom is to spend time individually with students, looking at work, going over answers and providing face to face feedback. This much harder to do in an online class.
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Technology can be an issue. The frustrations of poor internet connections are regularly reported. Some students may lack the access to reliable platforms or hardware. Perhaps there is not the appropriate space in their homes for quiet and focussed learning. There are many stories of families with three children and only one computer. How, in such an environment, can students be expected to learn.
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Having said all this, it is also true that many schools have moved a long way in the past two years and have become much more skilful at providing a meaningful online education. Recognising the challenges has led to some innovative ways of providing both a challenging and varied learning experience, and a supportive environment in which students’ mental health is well supported. Close interaction with parents is important.
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Online education is here to stay. Learning from the experiences of the past two years has allowed schools and online providers to make huge strides forward. Indeed, the growth of fully online schools has accelerated. Whilst we believe that the physical school, the physical classroom will, quite rightly remain the preferred model of mainstream education, we also believe that this can be merged effectively with well planned, expertly delivered, and innovative online education.
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Therefore, at Outbound, we are developing short- and long-term programmes for small classes of between 4 and 6 students with very clear and measurable outcomes, highly focussed assessment criteria, regular, meaningful feedback, and with a focus on building strong relationships between students and staff. These programmes are not to replace physical classrooms, but to complement them with different content and methodology. Whether in English, science, history or maths, Outbound online courses offer a very different approach, in which the emphasis is to build a student’s academic confidence, intellectual curiosity and language proficiency.

Global Citizenship

It is not uncommon to read or hear about schools that embrace the idea of “creating global citizens”, rather as if there is some universally accepted definition of such a being. It sounds like a wonderful and appropriate ambition for the 21st Century. We perhaps can visualise confident, multi-lingual, culturally sensitive and well-travelled students who understand and fight for the great causes of our time – environmental protection, human rights, an end to poverty, gender and race equality, economic freedom. But is this a realistic aspiration for our children? Even if it is, how can schools so confidently claim to be able to develop such qualities in their students? In this article we will look at some of the ideas around the concept of global citizenship, and suggest some practical ways in which schools and parents can support their children’s development.
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The charity Oxfam (The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in 1942) describes a global citizen as “someone who is aware of and understands the wider world, and their place in it. They take an active role in their community, and work with others to make our planet more peaceful, sustainable and fairer.” Quite a mouthful, but covering a wide range of activities and attitudes. Surely, we could argue, if schools really can create a generation of young people who fit this description, then the future is bright indeed. Although we would agree that there is every reason to strive to develop young people who are indeed globally aware and active as described, there are a number of challenges which should not be underestimated.
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Firstly, it is simply naive to expect that people living in the poorest, most disadvantaged, most unfair, most oppressive, most intolerant, most under-resourced, most economically under-developed and most poorly educated communities have either the means or the incentive to worry about the “wider world”. Global citizenship may be a worthy aspiration for First World children, but for others the aspiration may be simply food on the table, a roof over one’s head, safety from crime. As a consequence, we must make efforts to give our students a meaningful and realistic understanding of the world, with exposure to the reality of other people’s world. Only then are they likely to be able to grasp the final phrase of the Oxfam definition “peaceful, sustainable, and fair.”
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Secondly, even in the more advanced societies where there is the luxury of being able to devote time, resources and energy in striving to be global citizens, we should not assume it will simply happen. People in these privileged societies remain tied to the trappings of their existence. It is hard to abandon our aspirations for a new phone, a better house, a big car, holidays, more money. This is an understandable feature of progress. However, to achieve the sort of change which might be needed to develop a generation of “Oxfam” global citizens, we have to be at least willing to change out lifestyles. The luxuries and material possessions we can acquire do not grow on trees. Resources and labour are needed, and often they are stripped from the poorest communities. Schools therefore have an obligation to help students to understand that with the privileges they take for granted there are also responsibilities that need to be embraced and sacrifices that need to be made. If we remain committed to the idea that successful education is measured by grades and which university a child enters, then we will fail to create truly global citizens.
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Education simply HAS to focus more on the values and standards required to be that global citizen. An example of someone who seems to understand this is the Liverpool footballer Sadio Mane, from Senegal, who, like all English Premiership footballers is paid many tens of thousands of pounds a week. When asked why he has an old, cracked iPhone instead of the latest model, he replied that he prefers to build schools, playgrounds and sports arenas in his native country, and “to share the good fortune that life has given him”. Easy to do, of course, when one is paid more each week than most people earn in 10 years of working. However, he is at least doing it, and showing that we can all make some form of sacrifice for the benefit of the planet and humanity.
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Thirdly, effective global citizenship requires all of us, to an extent, to be less nationalistic, less inward-looking than seems currently to be the trend around the world. We can, of course, be proud of our culture, our language, our traditions and our history, but must never let this grow into arrogance, fear of others, bigotry or aggression. From such emotions comes hate, and from hate comes violence and war. For as long as nation states continue to push their own narrow self-interest above the interests of the world, I fail to see how schools’ efforts to create global citizens can have any meaningful results. These are perhaps viewing not universally shared, and we see today around the world many worrying signs nationalism is currently winning over globalism. Repeated failure to come to any agreement on climate change, imminent conflict in Ukraine, the politicisation of the Covid-19 pandemic, racial violence, and economic tensions are threatening the world.
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This all sounds very depressing! And yet, there is great hope. That hope lies in the youth. Energised, active and well-educated young people can make the change. More than ever there are young people around the world who are connected, who are passionate about the issues the world faces, who are better educated than ever before, and who are convinced that the world CAN change, CAN come together, CAN create the “peaceful, sustainable and fair” society that Oxfam describes. Schools can help. Schools are helping. Parents can help. Parents are helping. Longer term, we need a new educational model. One which places less emphasis on results and grades, and more on values and behaviours. Would you rather have an A grade child with no real awareness of or empathy for the struggles of others, or a C grade child who campaigns for justice, supports environmental regenerations, respects all his or her fellow humans, rejects authoritarianism and intolerance. I know what my answer would be.
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Of course, there is no reason why a student cannot be both, but where the priority remains grades, then it is less likely that schools will ever create true global citizens. It is not for schools to make this change alone. The world is a hard place, and success continues to be measured in quantitative terms that are easy to comprehend - grades, ranks, salaries. So, we require a wholesale change at the highest levels, and perhaps, just perhaps, schools can help to empower and motivate the next generation to demand this change of their governments. How fitting it will be if, in 2042, on the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Oxfam, we could say that global citizenship has become a reality.

One-to-one or group lessons?🧐
It is very tempting, when considering online tuition, to conclude that one-to-one tuition, must be better than group tuition. Such a conclusion is simplistic and, in this article, we will explain some of the compelling reasons why we would encourage parents to consider group tuition.
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Of course, one-to-one tuition can be effective. There are situations where students benefit from the attention and intensity to develop their skills and understanding. But this is not always the case. Indeed, there are other situations were one-to-one tuition is far less effective than group tuition.
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The first, and perhaps most important, reason to choose group tuition is all about relationships. The development of positive relationships in a class, whether physical or online, is fundamental to the teaching and learning. In most cases positive relationships are better developed in group situations where there are opportunities for students to interact both with the teacher and the other students. Relationships become multi-layered and dynamic. In one-to-one classes there can of course be a positive relationship, but if for any reason it is not so then the class will become a struggle for student and teacher.
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Secondly, in a group class there are many more opportunities to vary the teaching strategies. Group discussions, pairs work, collaborative learning, peer review and competitions are all proven methods of helping students develop deep thinking and problem-solving skills. Teachers can adapt the lesson style to suit different skills and aptitudes. In this way the students’ interest is maintained, whereas in one-to-one classes these varied strategies are not possible.
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Thirdly, one-to-one classes are often very intense environments. Students have to be engaged for the entire lesson or else boredom, apathy and stagnation will set in. In fact, students often make less progress in one-to-one classes as they have no peers with whom to interact. This is especially so in primary classes where the emphasis is often on core language skills. It is simply much harder in one-to-one classes to engineer sufficient enjoyment to maintain student interest and engagement. Students may be feeling unwell or tired, which in group classes is less of an issue as the teacher can accommodate a lethargic or ill student by focussing more on the other students. In a one-to-one class this is simply not possible.
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Fourthly, it is the case that students generally like the opportunity to test themselves against their peers. In group classes teachers can conduct simple, frequent assessments in which an element of positive competition is involved. This is impossible in a one-to-one class. Study after study shows that competitions, properly conducted, are powerful vehicles for learning and progress.
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Finally, and by no means least, group classes are more cost effective. One-to-one classes are expensive. Where there are three or four students the cost per student will fall significantly. Given that the outcomes of group classes are often in fact greater than those of one-to-one classes it is possible to see that significantly greater progress can be achieved at significantly lower cost to parents in group classes as opposed to one-to-one classes.
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At Outbound we offer both one-to-one classes and group classes. Parents will receive expert guidance as to which type better suits their child(ren). However, the general advice that we give is to choose group classes, especially for children in Years 5-8 (Grades 1-4). They are proven to offer better outcomes and at a lower cost per student.