It goes without saying, the past two years has presented us with more than our fair share of unforeseen challenges. Our children have been impacted the most significantly, due to the unavoidable disruptions the pandemic has inflicted upon their education.
It is important to discuss the level of impact the pandemic has made to a child’s education, and more importantly, the type of impact. Firstly, let’s talk about the term ‘learning loss’. This term has been around for a long time, yet recently popularised during the pandemic, and greatly misunderstood.
At its core, learning loss is defined as a pupil who has missed school and /or learning time for various reasons i.e. Due to personal circumstances, illness, or bullying. It is normally quantified in months and is usually measured through standardised testing. There is some research behind it, but we are yet to learn the full impact of ‘learning loss’ due to the pandemic.
We often assume the pandemic has been totally negative for the education landscape, but it’s important to share and highlight the learning gains.
Clare Preston, Director of Studies at Carfax Education said, “We have helped support a diverse range of students who we have seen both struggle and flourish due to the rapid and sudden change in the learning landscape. I believe it is import not only to share the problems that learning through the pandemic have caused, but also the positives that we can take away.”
What have we gained from the pandemic?
Despite the challenges, most pupils have gained fantastic life-long skills during the pandemic - Increased Communication Skills, Independent Learning, Resilience, Time Management and Technological Skills.
Additionally, there are four powerful lessons we have learnt from distance and hybrid learning:
1. We should continue to encourage independent learning
Encouraging independent learning helps pupils thrive and it’s also a proven, high impact and low-cost way to improve progress. When we cultivate a love for learning and help pupils find their passion, this increases self-motivation and plays a key part in learning independently. Independent learning is essential for young adults to become successful in their future education and career. It encourages them to think outside the box, take risks and try something new.
2. Communication is key
Communication was the key to successful learning during the pandemic - transparency and trust in all aspects of communication also allowed teachers and pupils to build a connection beyond the computer screen.
This powerful lesson has helped shape and improve communication practices between all stakeholders of a child’s education, and that digital communication is the way forward – a recent survey by OneSignal found that 70 percent of parents found that digital communication methods with educators and administrators was either less time consuming or about the same as phone or in-person meetings.
Improving communication and trust helps to remove barriers and encourages children of all ages to talk - providing a wealth of benefits and supporting soft skill development.
3. Being flexible has a lot of benefits
The pandemic prompted teachers to give pupils more flexibility and choice. Much like working from home, hybrid learning has become a new style of teaching for many teachers – allowing pupils to complete assignments in their own time and find a study / life balance that best suits them. A recent report by Future Learn highlighted that “online learning can provide similar benefits to formal education.” There are many education studies showing that student attainment is maintained when switching to online or blended learning. They demonstrate that it is not the medium that makes the different, it is the method.
4. Online Tuition enhances learning
There have been major digital developments over the last two years, and the online education space has become a truly inspirational and innovative network – online programs and services allow educators to connect with students and high-quality resources are now available at a pupil’s fingertips; accessible anywhere, anytime.
Many parents have turned to private tuition, to provide additional support and guidance for their children during the pandemic. Young people love technology, and they love spending time online - an online tutor can offer a fantastic and engaging place to learn with a host of apps, animations, games, and video that they can instantly call upon.
Online tuition creates a space for regular 1-1 communication between the tutor and pupil, with an ‘always available’ approach – creating a wonderful place to connect and encourage learning.
As we reflect upon these positive learning gains, we also encourage educators, teachers, tutors and students to recognise their own developments too.
Carl Morris, Head of Carfax Tutors and Principal of Carfax College said, “At Carfax Education, our pupils gained fantastic skills of responsibility and independence during these adverse times, and our wonderful team of tutors were able to break down the traditional learning landscape and develop new and innovative ways to teach. We continue to celebrate the accomplishments and resilience achieved, as it holds onto key skills that many colleges, universities and employers look for.”
Our Developments
These learnings and turning forces have allowed Carfax Education to make their very own developments – recently announcing a private investment to build the world’s first blockchain online education platform, The Online School.
The Online School holds a core value in offering a truly immersive and personalised learning plan – everything is adaptable, changeable and pupils can carve out their own education path, anytime and anywhere. Features includes a dedicated mentor, ongoing program launches beyond the core cirriculum. Carfax Education will be also be the first mainstream education provider to launch its own crypto token as part of the platform, incentivising students to earn as they complete courses and modules. The earned tokens can either be spent on Carfax services such as consultancy, additional tuition and extracurricular courses or withdrawn when the student completes a programme.