Home learning left public schools pupils behind

On the 24th March 2020, the country was turned upside down at the introduction of a new deadly highly contagious virus. Shops, cafes, schools, offices, everything was closed.

It was first thought: “two weeks at the most, cut the legs off before it takes hold.”

As it became apparent that that was in fact not the case, the emerging feeling was worry. Worry about what was going to happen with people’s work, social lives, health and especially with education.

Schools at this point were still completely closed, and for the older children with exams around the corner, there were a lot of unanswered questions.

Fears were spreading that as a result of this sudden lockdown; children would be left behind; their development stunted; their education would have massive gaps.

Some dismissed it as fearmongering, some used it as reasons to open the schools up faster, and some tried to predict the future.

Just how rooted in fact were the worries?

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the attainment gap.

A severe and noticeable difference between different students’ attainment levels, the gap is measured in consideration of race, disability or socioeconomic background of pupils in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is working to close the attainment gap, but it is not without its challenges. Most recently, the COVID 19 pandemic.

In spring of 2020, 74% of private school students got full school days of learning, compared to only 38% of state school students.

The gap is further shown by the fact that 55% of educators from less well-off schools reported a lower quality of work compared to previous years compared to 30% of educators from private schools reporting the same.

This is largely down to poorer students being less likely to have access to the equipment and private study space necessary to completing online classes, coupled with having no access to tutors to fill in the gaps.

A quarter of state school students had no formal teaching during the height of lockdown.

In the UK, statistics show a worrying trend that students will be left disadvantaged from the pandemic.

Laura Lookess, a Principal Teacher from St. Mirin’s Primary School in Kings Park said: “Honestly, when the country first went into lockdown, my initial feeling was panic.

“Just general feelings of “what on earth are we going to do?” Because I couldn’t see how home learning would work.

“I would say as a school we just weren’t set up or equipped for it.”

When asked what her experience of home learning was, she explained how she was mainly in school for the kids of frontline workers but went on to say, “The wee bit I did do online was very difficult and stressful for everyone involved.

“I don’t think there was a huge number of productive things to come from that. I found the hardest subject to teach was literacy or writing.

“It’s probably the hardest subject to engage the children within school, so when you’re doing it online or when you’re sending them instructions, it’s difficult.”

When asked about the behaviour of the pupils coming back to school, Laura said: “Initially, the kids were great.

“They’re very resilient and I think the adults were more worried than the children, they just got on with it.

“As times went on, I noticed gaps in their learning. At first it seemed okay but as the time went on it was obvious who the kids that didn’t engage were and the kids that did.

“I would definitely say that because of lockdown, the kids missed out on things. For some it was their learning, some social, and lots of emotional things as well.”

From this teacher’s perspective, it has become clear that they didn’t feel prepared at all for the online learning, or the challenges that came with that.

There was obviously a lot of worry for the children and pupils as to how they would cope with such a monumental change.

From speaking to Laura, the impression was given that some kids definitely coped better than others and their home situations had a lot to do with that.

Most of the research surrounding this topic has been taken from teachers and test grades without any consultation from pupils on how they feel they’ve been affected, so the question remains: How do the pupils feel?

To find out, a group of 4 primary 7 students, also from St. Mirin’s Primary School, were asked their feelings on coming back to school since COVID and how they found online learning.

When asked what did they miss most about doing school in person, they all agreed that their friends were definitely what they missed most.

When I asked 11-year-old Jody how she felt about online school, her response was: “I didn’t like it at all, it was boring and too hard to understand”

Classmate Maria shared a similar sentiment, saying: “it was weird and different, there was some parts I really didn’t enjoy and some parts I did.”

One of the children in the group was in school as her parents are frontline workers and she said: “I found it so weird because there were loads of restrictions.”

Liam on the other hand, had a different view of online school. Saying: “It was quite good, I quite enjoyed it and it was good how well the teachers coped with it too.”

Some of the kids said they didn’t struggle with anything since coming back to school, but Maria said she struggled with catching up on work and Emily said she struggled getting used to all the new rules.

Fortunately, all the pupils feel ready to go to high school after the summer, even with the massive disruption to school for almost 2 years.

When asked if they felt they missed out on anything over lockdown, Liam, Jody, Maria and Emily all said school trips, which is understandable seeing as they missed out on their P7 summer trip, which is a memorable milestone in any student’s school years.

Looking at what the children have said about their experience compared to what the data says, it has become apparent that kids are a lot more resilient and adaptable than we give them credit for. Sure, there’s hardships and challenges that come with suddenly switching to online learning while the worlds gone topsy-turvy, but with support from parents and teachers, it seems like the children of the UK will be able to push through them without too much disruption or panic.

Of course, not all children have the same level of support as others, which is why it is vital to make sure no child is left behind, whether this be through extra support from teachers, relatives or even just support from their friends can go a long way.