SeeThrough

While so much is uncertain about the COVID-19 pandemic, one certainty is that school life will not be able to return to what it was before the closure of schools in Australia. Most schools have reopened, but many are still struggling to figure out how to enforce social distancing measures with minimal disruptions to students.

Part of the difficulties of implementing social distancing measures across schools is that there is no one size fits all model. There are many factors that need to be taken into account, like the size of the student body, the physical size of the school, whether there are outdoor spaces, how many students per class, and much more. Schools no longer only have to prioritise ensuring their students receive a quality education, they now need to do this within very strict parameters while prioritising health and wellbeing.

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With Australia beginning to ease COVID-19 restrictions, and children returning to school, there seems to be a collective sigh of relief from parents and guardians.

No more home-schooling.

Journalist Carrie Bickmore reflected on dropping daughter Evie back at kindergarten, stating in an Instagram post, “Every time I started to say thank you to her teachers I choked up (didn’t help that they were playing You’ve Got A Friend In Me’!!) What our teachers have done over the past few months (and always) has been amazing. I feel so so grateful. Tonight on [The Project] we say thank you to our teachers across the nation.”

For many teachers, connectedness and face-to-face communication is key to the craft.

Having to so quickly adapt to the prospect of online learning can’t have been an easy feat, and handling student reaction and behaviour upon the return to school seems another challenge altogether.

We sat down with a South Australian junior primary teacher to discuss online learning during COVID-19, how the teachers have actually been coping, and what it’s like to be back in the classroom with close to full student attendance.

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We are often urged to see people not as numbers but as individuals, to ensure that the very same desensitisation doesn’t occur. In keeping with this idea, perhaps the disproportionate ratios need to be placed against real human stories like Dujuan’s, to better understand the pathways seemingly set for Aboriginal youth to become incarcerated youths.

It could be suggested this pathway is paved through the governing systems that intrinsically fail these young people.

The first experience that most youth have with a body affiliated with the government takes place at school. Furthermore, for Aboriginal youth raised within their tribes, it is also their first experience facing western dogmatic education surrounding Australian history.

Throughout In My Blood It Runs documentary, Dujuan displays intelligence and maturity far above his age group, which develops in his care for his culture and community, and his flouting of the rules set by the white-centric educational authorities.

Check out the 'In My Blood It Runs' Film Review on The SeeThrough Insider.
https://bit.ly/366E0eA

The best way to do this is to extend the year. For year 12s it will mean they miss out on a month more break, potentially (tragically) a summer job at most. ‘Schoolies’ might also be cut, but only at the cost of a better education outcome. I’m sure many parents won’t be too disappointed about the last part there.

Whether these methods need to be followed for other years I am not sure; and if there are other years that would need to do the same then it would surely be Year 11’s and possibly Year 10 that would need to do the same so that the schools are sure students are prepared for their final years of schooling.

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Whilst our nation’s leaders are for the most part on the same page in its collective response to COVID-19, Monday’s (27th of April) Q and A panel identified just how divided our education policy makers really are. How can we minimise the impact on this year’s education whilst protecting the health of our teachers?

Whilst the Federal Government has no direct influence on rules for schools, it has applied significant pressure to State Governments by appealing to the public, with Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy stating that ‘the proportion of children (infected) is very small, we believe that schools are a safe environment to open.’

This pressure, however, hasn’t forced the hand of all state governments. Victoria has decided to continue remote learning for the remainder of Term 2, with schools only open for children of essential workers, or those at risk. State Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton doesn’t share the same opinion as Murphy, with Sutton only willing to open schools should the evidence support it, which he believes, does not.

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Last night's Q+A episode detailed how Australian education has changed in the age of COVID-19.

In particular, a significant portion of the discussion focused on:

- How best to look after our Year 12's during the most important schooling year of their lives.

- How remarkably effective our teachers have been in assisting their students remotely.

- How difficult parents are finding managing home-schooling.

3 blogs from The SeeThrough Insider discuss these issues at length. Click on the links below and take some time to hear the thoughts of our contributors in this troubling time.

So what happens with our Year 12 students?
https://bit.ly/3auhuwO

Here's my experience as a Year 11 learning from home.
https://bit.ly/2xXWLnR

Why we chose to home school our children?
https://bit.ly/346FZ1g

With ANZAC Day upon us, we naturally think of the incredible sacrifices those who served their country made for us all.

During this current time of change and social isolation, we wondered what it was like for Australian children living through WW1?

It turns out, they also did their bit. Many at school knitted socks, scarves and handkerchiefs to send to soldiers and grew vegetables to give to the families whose breadwinners were overseas fighting. They also had to undergo regular air-raid practices and suffered through years of food and clothing rationing.

We are constantly amazed and inspired by the strength and ingenuity of children, then and now.

Go one step further and leave a donation at Soldier On Australia, a wonderful cause helping contemporary veterans and their families build successful futures.
https://bit.ly/2yI9YBm

'After being lectured in how to enrol ourselves into classes, which programs and software to use, the time had come to remain home and finally begin. Personally, this brought me a tiny sense of anxiety especially being in Year 11 doing a Year 12 subject, but understanding that there are thousands around Australia in a similar boat, I had faith and remained hopeful that the teachers and schools would provide a reasonable framework to allow myself, and others to still achieve highly in our respective subjects.

After one full week of online schooling, the effectiveness of teaching and learning blew me away. Whether it was the teacher’s technique in presenting a lesson, or rather my involvement and commitment to class, or a combination of both; online learning felt real, and a sense of normality came over me.'

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https://bit.ly/2xXWLnR

🙌🙏

We’re feeling for all the teachers and everyone out there doing 5 jobs at the moment. Thank you for all your dedication and efforts.

Credit:
via Positive Minds Australia

'So how best to prepare for exams or the rest of Year 12?

Do your research on what’s changed in your state for yourself or your child. For the states that have not given more weighting to internal assignments and discretion to teachers, it is important now more than ever for pupils to be on top of their work and have a great relationship with their teachers.

On top of that, research the ways in which different university admission policies have changed. Everyone’s lives will be affected by this and some students will be affected worse than others.

Check out this latest blog on The SeeThrough Insider. https://bit.ly/3auhuwO