The constant disruption caused by COVID has impacted hugely on the lives of so many, from business to recreation, social to education. Not one part of society has emerged unscathed from the pandemic. Its effects are immediate but will also be longlasting.
Involved as we are with education, we are at the forefront of watching the damage caused to the learning of the young people we work with. It seems now a week goes by when the 11+ tutoring provision we provide does now receive calls regarding the need to isolate, bubbles bursting or the need for additional caution.
Structure and organisation is everything for students. As young children they need to have confidence that learning will take place when it is timetabled to in their daily and weekly timetables. To support this we have taken every conceivable step to support our young learners. We readily adjust timetables and then offer additional online tutoring for any students who are unable to attend the weekly lesson.
As educations though we constantly ask ourselves is there more than we can do? What else can we provide to support the progress and development of the young people that we work with. Our online booster platform offers continued opportunities to review and recap learning from the week and also a community for students to engage with tutors and obtain regular feedback.
Again though, the question remains, what more can be done? The future of the young generation must be nurtured and supported to ensure that they can reach their full potential and in twenty or thirty years time that they are fulfilling their dreams.
Throughout the lockdown the government has urged parents to become teachers as well as continuing full time employment; essentially two jobs in one. Often, despite the very best efforts, this has proven exhausting and often emotionally draining for both children and parents.
Why has this situation occurred? How have the good educational intentions come to become problematic? The answer possibly lies in a lack of direction and advice.
Speaking with a multitude of parents it seems that many were of the belief that it would be necessary to do a minimum of 5 hours of schooling a day (maths, English, history etc). Whilst noble, this unrelenting focus and drive does not reflect the real world of schooling and rather the intensite left students drained and relectuant to learn.
For us, we proposed a more lenient approach. A 'less is more' ethos of trying to support students in achieving two hours of focussed work each day. This would be a mixture of core maths, English and then an option (history, geography etc). By the end of the week we would then have built a review day to enable them to reflec ton the work of the week, identify areas of weakness and most importantly, celebrate their areas of success.