BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to have changed this country, possibly permanently. In a week-long series, The Dominion Post considers those changes and their possible impacts on the Wellington region. Today, Mandy Te and Laura Wiltshire look at the education system.

Class is back in session for young people across the country after nearly two months of remote learning, but heading back to school won’t be the same as it was. For some it may never be.

During lockdown, bedrooms and lounges became classrooms and parents took on the role of teachers with the help of online tools.

Even Suzy Cato was dragged out of retirement.

Now, students and teachers will be adjusting to a new normal. Some see a greater future for more online learning and the undermining of bricks and mortar. Others are sceptical.

But wherever we land, it will have a big impact on the Wellington and national economies.

An impact recognised in the $813.6 million from this year’s Budget and the Government’s investment of $1.6b in trades and apprenticeships.

No two areas of the education sector will react in the same way to the coronavirus pandemic – at opposite ends of the spectrum, early childhood education (ECE) is preparing for a drop in enrolments, while tertiary institutes are preparing for people returning to retrain.

That is likely to change not only the landscape for education but also the way the sector is funded and resourced.

Early childhood education

Lockdown has provided parents with a new way of looking at ECE.

Childcare expert Dr Sarah Alexander, who is the chief executive of ChildForum, said many parents, including herself, had in the past been made to feel guilty if their child wasn’t in childcare.

However, the lockdown had caused a shift in this mindset.

‘‘It’s okay if your child is not in childcare because if you can work from home, do. That’s the message parents are getting now.’’

That could mean smaller group sizes in centres, which would have positive benefits as teachers would not rotate as often and it would help with health and safety through that idea of a bubble.

But depending on the circumstances of parents — some may be unemployed or able to work from home more — there may be questions over whether they need to have their child at an ECE centre for five days a week.

‘‘The role of the early childhood service is going to change more towards parent support and supporting learning in the home, not just the drop and run, because that’s the way to go forward.’’

Primary schools

For primary school teachers, technology has helped strengthen their relationships with students, but it has not completely changed how lessons will run.

New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa’s president Liam Rutherford said ‘‘teachers have been having

conversations with parents about their children in terms of the child as a holistic person as opposed to particulars such as reading, writing and maths’’.

In future, learning experiences in primary schools would come with a stronger relationship base.

And technology would not overtake their practices — instead it would enable teachers to maintain that relationship.

‘‘It . . . won’t be a silver bullet revolutionary approach to education.’’

Secondary schools

For secondary school educators, the future would involve more focus on students’ mental wellbeing, and not just on their scholastic achievements.

It would be about ensuring students felt secure, safe and had access to support if they felt out of sorts.

Post Primary Teachers’ Association president Jack Boyle said secondary schools would have increased vigilance on social and physical distancing.

Students could also have different teachers and schedules within their school days.

The priority would be on engaging students and their wha¯ nau with face-to-face interaction and making sure they feel okay physically and mentally.

‘‘While many young people are adaptable and resilient, those changes do create a cognitive and emotional load.’’

And as for moving courses all online? Boyle said like any new ideas about teaching methods, this would need to be widely canvassed and brought in by the community.

‘‘We’ve got to be open to going only as quickly as justified.’’

Tertiary institutes

Meanwhile, vocational training would play a crucial role in kickstarting the economy, Whitireia and WelTec chief executive Mark Oldershaw said.

He envisaged the vocational sector being even more integrated with industry, for example people studying while undertaking apprenticeships.

‘‘There is potentially the opportunity for a whole lot of smaller chunks of learning as well, what the sector refers to as micro-credentials.’’

These short-term courses help people pick up skills in areas where they do not need a full qualification, for example, training in the use of specific machinery to help regions deliver shovel-ready projects.

‘‘I think we are going to come out of this a lot stronger than what we went into it.’’

Universities

New Zealand’s universities have undoubtedly been one of the most talked-about sections of the education sector, and with good reason.

When the country’s borders closed to visitors from China, hundreds of international students were unable to come here to study.

Originally, Victoria University of Wellington predicted the financial loss to be $12 million. The university is now expecting a $30m to $40m deficit.

Despite the economic uncertainty the tertiary sector is facing, Victoria University vicechancellor Grant Guilford said the crisis would not be the end of brick and mortar campuses.

But it may spark more cooperation between New Zealand’s eight universities.

A return to the fully merged system New Zealand had until the 1960s was unlikely but Guilford said a federated model, which universities could choose to join, was a possibility. ‘‘In that model, you retain your own autonomy but you share certain things.’’

This could include sharing expensive operation costs, such as pooling library resources or corporate services.

Another option could be sharing an online brand, which Guilford said could be useful in retaining the interest of international students until the borders reopen.

Universities could keep international students by partnering with overseas institutes which would provide inperson support, while the course was provided online.

Operating under a shared University of New Zealand brand may allow more cut-through in a competitive global market.

But for domestic students, he did not envisage university campuses disappearing and tertiary education being solely provided online.

‘‘That basic idea of coming to a vibrant, exciting campus, I think will survive this pandemic.’’

Victoria University associate professor Dr Stephen Marshall said lecturers across the country had worked hard to look after their students during lockdown.

‘‘A lot of what is coming out of that work we’re describing as crisis responses. They are good and solid attempts to help people learn but in no way are they representative of what we would aspire to do for learning . . . it’s a best effort, crisis response.’’

Marshall said international students preferred a traditional way of learning and students entering university often struggled to understand how to learn well as an independent adult.

‘‘Entirely independent online education with inexperienced learners has never had a great history of success – it’s something where you have to work extremely hard to keep students working productively.

‘‘It’s quite tough on individual students . . . the challenge without that face-to-face experience is that it’s quite hard to get people to that point of energy and collaborative engagement when they’re not in a room together.’’

But digital learning will be a bigger part of the future, according to Education Minister Chris Hipkins.

He said there would be a greater emphasis on ensuring learners had access to digital learning tools and closing the digital divide.

He acknowledged that more people working from home or out of work as a result of the pandemic could mean fewer children going to early childhood education centres. And that participation at the tertiary level would go in the other direction, with more people re-training.

The Government would be working on ensuring training was focused on filling skills shortages, so people had employment opportunities after study, he said.

That could change not only what we teach but how we teach it, and how that is funded. The future is not certain.