How the COVID crisis could change schools forever
In our latest blog, we take a look at how the COVID-19 crisis could change schools forever, in terms of teaching and supporting the wellbeing of students.
Over the last few weeks, teachers and support staff have been doing all they can to maintain the education system for children and young people across the country. Whilst some remain in school in order to continue providing lessons for the children of key workers, others have been hard at work at home, providing a range of online learning resources and supporting GCSE and A-Level students who were set to take their exams this summer.
As much uncertainty still surrounds the COVID-19 crisis, at the time of writing it is still very difficult to say what the future holds for our schools in terms of reopening to all students. However, one thing is clear – returning to the status quo after such a monumental disruption as the coronavirus pandemic will be near enough impossible.
Here at Utility Rentals, we are committed to supporting all of our schools and helping them through this uncertain time. With that in mind, in our latest blog, we take a look at how the COVID-19 crisis could change schools forever, in terms of teaching and supporting the wellbeing of students.
A move to more online teaching?
Online teaching has been essential to maintaining a certain extent of educational normality for both teachers and students during the crisis, allowing lessons to take place from home via platforms such as Google’s Teach from Home and video conferencing software such as Zoom.
Whilst Chromebooks and iPads have already become a staple part of many students’ classroom learning experiences, these devices will now be used at home more than ever for distance learning. However, the cost of these devices may be a barrier to some parents purchasing them for their children, and if a certain amount of social isolation is to be required by all education establishments for the foreseeable future or classroom sizes are to be limited, schools should therefore consider whether equipping every pupil with a 1-to-1 device scheme could be a solution to avoiding any inequality.
Supporting students’ wellbeing
When social isolation finally ends, the role of teachers will not just be to educate students – it will also be to support their wellbeing too.
After potentially many months of being apart from friends and family members, spending much of their time indoors and potentially having to deal with bereavements as well, it is likely that several students will need support with their mental health, friendships and self-esteem. In addition to lessons for traditional subjects, will schools need to consider offering more support sessions as part of the school day in order to ensure that their duty of care is being fulfilled?
While many questions remain regarding the long-term impact that the COVID-19 crisis will have on schools, at Utility Rentals we want to reassure our customers that we will still be here to support you. To find out more about how we can work with your school during the current social distancing measures, please contact our team.
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