Be prepared Tips for parents ahead of a strange new school year
More than six months since Covid19 shut down classrooms, the costly after-effects of the disruption linger as schools prepare to restart, writes Tim Newman.
Schools reopening this week will try to offer a return to normality following last year’s disruptions.
For more than a month from March through to May (and in some cases for longer), schools were closed to students and teachers scrambled to set up online curriculums and run classes via live-stream.
Taking seven weeks out of a 40-week term would inevitably have effects long into 2021, said Scott Haines, vice-president of the Secondary Principals’ Association.
‘‘I’m quite sure those will become apparent this year as we work our way through the next year for those students – I suspect we haven’t seen the end of the learning impact.’’
Even when the physical lockdown was over, the threat of the virus’s re-emergence caused disruption to school programmes and put the future of many international students up in the air.
Haines, principal of Waimea College in Nelson, said while the school was preparing to present as normal a curriculum as possible, the lingering effects of lockdown would continue to be felt.
With the introduction of learner recognition credits to compensate for the lockdown disruption, Haines was confident students hadn’t been disadvantaged on a qualification basis, but schools had suffered financially, particularly secondary schools with large international student rolls.
Although many international students who arrived before the borders closed last year had stayed on, there would be no new students in 2021, and Haines believed that some schools could face losses in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars.
‘‘For a good number of schools with international rolls, 2021 will be the crucible year for schools in terms of impacts on budgets and programmes,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve had to restructure many of our operations and review programmes, review roles and move through a series of changes we wouldn’t otherwise have made.’’
Southland Secondary Principals Association president Jarlath Kelly said larger schools with big international rolls and small country schools with international programmes were most likely to be affected. Smaller schools with international students had run small programmes they might not otherwise have been able to, like language classes.
Central Southland College principal Grant Dick said the school had two international students who arrived before the Covid-19 outbreak in New Zealand and completed their stay. But with none this year it would have to make adjustments. It had restructured the hours of a parttime administrator involved in ESOL work.
Haines said the effects would vary from school to school and region to region. Schools invested the money from international revenue in different ways, from increasing teacher numbers to offering extra programmes, or building up infrastructure and other school resources.
‘‘It’s a whole range of things depending on the number and the mix of those students and the priorities for the school – but either way it’s bad news. In my assessment there will be a number of schools out there that simply won’t survive without intervention beyond 2022, if the borders don’t reopen and engage international students.’’
One part of school life that would hopefully return to normal at Waimea College was the school’s calendar and extracurricular programmes. Last year, many planned activities and events had to be postponed or cancelled.
‘‘Many students were deprived of those opportunities last year, and I really feel for them. We’re planning for 2021 with the backdrop of trying to prepare a programme that looks and feels as normal as possible, while remaining agile to be able to change up
‘‘For a good number of schools with international rolls, 2021 will be the crucible year for schools in terms of impacts on budgets and programmes.’’ Scott Haines Secondary Principals’ Association vice-president and Waimea College principal
that programme at a moment’s notice.
‘‘It has certainly been a period of real reflection in preparing for 2021 – we were all ready for a break at the end of last year, that’s for sure.’’
The Kininmonth family were among the many thousands who had to scramble to balance work and school commitments when the lockdown went into effect in March.
While Waimea College students Jack (Year 13) and Maia
(Year 10) adjusted to studying from home, parents Andrew and Joanne had to put in big hours to bring their apple orchard in line with Covid-19 social distancing protocols.
Joanne Kininmonth said there wasn’t a lot of time available to help the kids out with their studies, as the lockdown complications added an extra 20 hours to her working week.
‘‘We’d asked all our RSE workers to stay on site – they had separate bubbles to stay in for
work and accommodation and put in food and grocery orders. I’d get them all, so I wasn’t around a lot in the evenings.
‘‘It was quite stressful, but we were fortunate because the kids were teenagers and were pretty self-motivated.’’
Jack said that although he was able to adjust pretty well to studying from home, it couldn’t be as effective as time in the classroom.
‘‘We kept on top of everything, but in three of my subjects we had to drop standards, so there were less opportunities for credits.
‘‘It probably slowed the learning process, because time allocated to work at home doesn’t really equate to what you do in class. When you’re alone you don’t have the ability to ask those follow-up questions and avoid those little stuck areas.’’
Although the first few days of the transition had been a welcome break from a busy term, the novelty of studying from home soon wore off.
‘‘It was just a matter of adapting. I’m probably one that’s OK on my own, having set work, but for some people they need the teacher environment, to bounce ideas off.’’
Maia said she was looking forward to what was hopefully a normal year.
‘‘Now that I have exams, I really hope that it doesn’t happen – I prefer to be in class.
‘‘There are some people who really loved it, but maybe that’s because they didn’t have to do as much work – but I wouldn’t really want to be back there again. I think the teachers would be more prepared and know what to do though.’’
Andrew Kininmonth said that although the experience had been a challenging one for the family, there were some positives as well.
‘‘This threw a bit of a curveball, they had to learn to adapt and be a bit flexible and try something different – you learn a new skill, and whether you enjoyed it or not, there’s something else you can actually take it with you.’’
Victoria University of Wellington clinical psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland’s tips for parents to support students back into school:
Make sure you and your children are as practically prepared as possible, including having the right books, stationery and uniform. Not being prepared can lead to embarrassment for children.
Understand your children may be feeling apprehensive, especially with Auckland’s newest cases, but don’t try too hard to reassure them, as this can be counterproductive. Instead listen, don’t try to sweep their fears under the rug, validate them, and be prepared to talk to them during times that might not be convenient for you, but are convenient for your child.
Rather than trying to solve your child’s concerns, talk to them about what they can do, to grow them into active copers. Get them to plan ahead. That might mean reminders about scanning in, not sharing drink bottles, and sanitising their hands.
Be lenient around your children’s coping strategies which might include more time online. While it might appear they’re wasting time, often they are communicating with their peers which is a positive.
Don’t try to be your child’s teacher. Your school and your child don’t want you to be a teacher, but do prepare yourself in case children have to be kept home from school again.