Palaszczuk stands firm Remote learning pushback
LEARNING to embrace the home schooling experience to keep anxiety at bay is a piece of advice a Townsville mum hopes to share.
Australian parents are in the second week of a five-week government plan to keep kids home from school amid COVID-19 restrictions.
Parent mentor and Kids in Harmony owner Kerry Spina explained it was normal for parents to feel stressed or schooling.
“We are out of our comfort zone because we are learning something new but our kids are at school every day learning something new,” she said.
“When we stretch out of the comfort zone it creates fear and overwhelming feelings but it is OK to feel frustrated right now because you are practising how to learn from home.”
A technique Ms Spina recomanxious while home mends is when things become stressful, a simple drink of water or a run around the garden together for 10 minutes could help regroup the focus.
The parent mentor and wellbeing educator of 17 years recommended parents translate school guidelines and classroom values into the home learning environment.
Ms Spina said communication was also a vital key to successful learning at home.
QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would not be swayed by new research that shows remote learning would disadvantage students, while Treasury modelling revealed there had been a “negative impact” on the economy as parents juggled work and home schooling.
It comes as Queensland state schools yesterday had their highest rate of physical attendance this term at 14.8 per cent, just below the peak of the State Government’s estimate that between 10-15 per cent of students would be in classrooms as schools remain open only for essential workers’ children and those deemed vulnerable.
Premier Palaszczuk yesterday said that low transmission in the next two weeks would be critical for the midMay decision on how schools could reopen. “We’re looking at getting more class contact between teachers and students, that’s our number one goal,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk also said that schools weren’t fully open in about 189 countries because of COVID-19.
Yesterday, Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan reiterated the goal to have all students back at school “sooner rather than later” or at least by the start of June.
Five research reports have been commissioned by the Federal Department of Education, one of which showed that up to half of Australian students could be adversely impacted by remote learning.
But Education Minister Grace Grace said the reports assumed that remote learning would occur for six months.
“These reports, commissioned by LNP MP Dan Tehan, fail to recognise that vulnerable and at-risk children are able to attend school here in Queensland, that all schools are open and teachers and staff are in the workplace,” she said.
The Independent Education Union yesterday said reopening schools for all students was “highrisk”, citing an internal research review by Dr Adele Schmidt.