Despite the devastating pandemic, this global calamity has provided an unparalleled learning opportunity. We are learning about the adaptability power and resilience of the educational systems, policymakers, instructors, students, and families. This blog synthesizes lessons acquired in many countries, focusing on instructors and how they had to reinvent human relationships and interactions fast to enhance learning. Teachers’ jobs are constantly changing, becoming more difficult in many ways than when learning was done solely in person.
What impact has the pandemic had on teachers’ roles?
Due to the epidemic, two critical aspects have transformed. First and foremost, pedagogical adjustments have shown to be critical, as typical in-person lecturing techniques do not transition well to a remote learning setting. Teachers must adapt some additional practices and be creative to keep students engaged, regardless of the type of channel used, such as radio, TV, mobile, online platforms, etc. Every household has become a classroom – more often than not – without an environment that supports learning.
Teachers are being helped in some countries. For example, in Sierra Leone, where radio is the primary distant learning medium, students can call teachers with questions via a “live” and toll-free phone line. In addition, radio lesson schedules allow children to assist their families with everyday tasks employee case study.
Second, the pandemic has shifted how teachers allocate their time between teaching, student interaction, and administrative responsibilities. According to an Instituto Peninsula survey, 83 percent of instructors in Brazil do not believe they are equipped to teach remotely, 67 percent are concerned, 38 percent are fatigued, and less than 10% are happy or satisfied.
The pandemic has led to attention to the need for additional flexibility and time for student-teacher engagement. For example, Estonia teachers were granted autonomy over curriculum, lesson planning, and time allocation What Are Some.
How have systems aided teachers in their new roles?
UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank supported teachers by sharing guidelines emphasizing the importance of providing student feedback. It is done by maintaining constant communication with caregivers and reporting to local education units. In addition, they keep track of learning in a survey of Ministries of Education on National Responses to COVID-19 conducted by UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank (2020).
Fewer governments took a different approach. For example, Costa Rica created a digital toolbox with pedagogical resources such as a guide for autonomous work. The Brazilian state of So Paulo organized frequent two-hour conversations between Secretary Rossieli Soares and teachers via a state-developed mobile application.
These discussions and technologies enabled governments to maintain an open communication channel with instructors, allowing them to understand their problems better and alter remote learning programs.
Teachers found themselves balancing educating and delivering feedback to students online, filling administrative reports, and caring for their families as they began to adopt these standards and recommendations. Some governments saw early on that their well-intentioned teacher support systems were leading to burnout. Peru’s Ministry of Education was receptive to input and quickly changed the standards to decrease administrative burdens on teachers.
What impact has technology had on this shift in the role?
Faced with the epidemic, governments have merged high-tech and low-tech ways to help teachers facilitate student learning more effectively. Education officials in Cambodia, as for example, devised an approach that mixes SMS, printed handouts, and ongoing instructor feedback, taking advantage of the country’s high mobile phone use.
The shift in technology also provides information on how to access learning programs, ensuring that students have access to paper-based learning materials, and involves home visits to supervise distant learning activities. Teachers are also expected to provide students with weekly paper-based resources and meet with them weekly to distribute their marked worksheets and issue new ones for the coming week.
Technology has also improved government-teacher support by allowing existing coaching programs to be delivered remotely. Such as in the cases of Nigeria and Uruguay. They created spaces for peer support programs such as the Virtual EdCamps initiative, allowing teachers to learn from one another, and establishing EdTech hotlines for teachers.
As outlined in the World Bank’s Platform for Successful Teachers, the effective use of technology is one of the key principles to make sure about the cadres of effective teachers. In addition, the technology interventions should improve teacher engagement with students through improved access to content, data, and networks, allowing teachers to better support student learning.
What can lawmakers do to support teachers as schools reopen?
Countries will need to implement teaching efforts that have proven effective during the remote learning phase and integrate them into the normal education system to rebuild stronger education systems. To fully utilize the promise of remote and blended learning, it is vital to empower instructors by investing in the necessary skill development and capacity building.
It’s also critical to liberating teachers’ time from administrative responsibilities (as Brazil, Peru, and Uruguay have done), focus on what’s pedagogically effective, and provide instructors with socio-emotional support. Teachers’ roles have changed due to the pandemic and extended school closures, and most of them were unprepared. A comprehensive socio-emotional monitoring and psychosocial support strategy are required to ensure teacher well-being and avoid burnout.
Conclusion:
The education and the society have a long way to go together to get support from our teachers so that each classroom has its own pathway. Especially at this point when the entire world is facing the education crisis, we all need to work together and act to empower the education system.
Author bio:
Harvey Allen is a Research Analyst at MyAssignmenthelp.com, where she provides essay help to the students. In her leisure time, she used to do career counseling for students willing to study higher studies.
