The reality of lockdown learning
RACHEL O’CONNOR, THE PRINCIPAL OF RAMSGRANGE COMMUNITY SCHOOL, ON RUNNING A ‘VIRTUAL’ SCHOOL
PEOPLE OFTEN ask questions like ‘where were you when Princess Diana died?’ or ‘where were you on September 11, 2001?’.
March 12, 2020, is a day forever engrained in my memory as a school principal. On that day, about lunchtime, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, announced the following: ‘We have not witnessed a pandemic of this nature in living memory, we have to move now to have the greatest impact, so, from 6 p.m. today, the following measures are being put in place. Schools, colleges and childcare facilities will close from tomorrow.
Where possible, teaching will be done on-line or remotely’.
During the speech I am standing in the front hall with over 100 third and fourth year students, listening to their teachers talking to them about subject options for fifth year. The room started to spin when I realised the gravity and enormity of what was to happen in the next three hours. To ‘shut down’ our school and send nearly 500 teenagers home within three hours was the most challenging time of my professional career. Of course, we have sent them home before; we’ve had snow days, the electricity has failed, burst pipes and no heating in the past, but this was different. There was no script, it was like sending lambs off into the darkness, with little direction, less information and no time to put a plan in place.
Today, we are still coming to terms with a new normal. A month ago I stood in the corridors and spoke to students; we had assemblies; we ran initiatives; students played giant Jenga and cards in the central area; we had our school radio; intercom announcements; I could visit classrooms; chat to our teachers and meet with our parents. If a concern was raised by a teacher about a student not studying enough or disengaged or ‘ hiding’ someplace, or not eating, or feeling down, up stepped our tutors, year-heads and student support team to get everyone back on track.
A month on and how things have changed. We are now teaching via email, Microsoft Teams, One-Note and Zoom to name but a few. However, 20 per cent of students don’t have online access or are using their data to download files or join a meeting. Many students are minding their siblings, some students are working to supplement income, some are hungry, and others simply find it too difficult to engage when they are not in school. Issues like these are marginalising the already marginalised.
Our Student Care Team meets online, our year-heads meet online, obvious disparities in broadband and Wi-Fi connections can play havoc with these meetings. We are now trying to digitally chase our disengaged online. It is impossible to know who is eating and who is not, it is impossible for us to see who is down or feeling sad or stressed. These are the things that keep me, as a school principal, awake at night.
Some clarity was given when it was announced that the State Exams were being moved to later in the summer. However, there are many questions still left unanswered. Questions, that simply can’t be answered due to a global health emergency. Health and wellbeing trumps all. As a 16 or 17-year-old facing into the Leaving Cert, this is of little relevance to you. These are the exams you’ve worked towards your entire life. There are positives however, we are in a digital age.
We can connect. We can quickly identify those who are offline and support them. Teachers are going above and beyond (while managing their own households) to connect with their students. Human connections are what school thrive on. One of my favourite books is called ‘Why do I need a Teacher when I’ve got Google?’ It is now evident, without even reading this book why our school communities are a vital support to our students, academic and pastoral. Overnight it has become obvious that student-teacher relationships are paramount to effective learning and teaching. I am really looking forward to the day when online teaching returns to being a support and an added extra to our teachers and students. I look forward to corridor interactions, meeting staff and whooshing teenagers off to class again. To finish with a quote from An Taoiseach, ‘We have experienced hardship and struggle before. We have overcome many trials in the past with our determination and our spirit. We will prevail.’