Schools should plan for students getting caught up as quickly as possible, says the children’s commissioner.
There have been a number of suggestions put forward on how to get students caught up.
But which structure should be used to catch students up on lost education? This blog post explains.
A new norm for schools
Secondary schools will reopen on 15th June but will occupy an unfamiliar layout.
Social distancing will be the new normal in schools, who will have to occupy on reduced capacity. This can be done through methods including staggered opening times and flexible periods.
Additional cleaning and a reluctance to share resources will also be in action.
For more information on how to teach through Covid-19, click here.
“A window of two weeks before schools start to run out of time”
Children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, has said there is just a two week window to ensure that plans are in place to help students catch up on lost learning time.
“It’s a really urgent to-d0 list on everyone’s part to make it happen,” she said.
David Laws, former UK schools minister, said: “There is now a real need for a proper coherent plan, including for catch-up that schools can implement as soon as possible, certainly by the time schools are hopefully back in the autumn term.
“And for school leaders, local authorities, academy chains and others to do that work effectively, they need to have as much guidance as early as possible from the Government.”
How should schools catch up on learning?
There has been a number of suggestions on how children can catch up on learning.
It is feared that a mainstream classroom layout will not return before November.
Mr Laws said: “There’s a temptation to think we are in a kind of home learning now and hopefully all back in September. Sadly we may end up with considerable disruption to school in September, October and November.”
Ms Longfield said the sheer scale of children not reaching their potential would be immense. “That could be eight million all of whom could well be out of school for six months,” she said.
More stringent online tracking is needed
Ms Longfield shared some concern with the state of online learning – with many packages unable to enforce or penalise absent students without a parent present.
“As things become more interesting, the shops will be open soon and many kids could spend two and a half months browsing in Primark and not going to school.”
She also said the leap that children have had a negative experience of school would have to make, in order to return to school would be “vast”.
Catch up tuition would help
An Education Endowment Foundation study has said that catch up tuition would help.
There has been speculation that summer schools and extended hours could be utilised.
Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, appeared to rule out summer schools in Spring, however this could be back on the table.
The EEF report says that although effective remote learning would limit the extent to which the attainment gap widens, but there would still need sustained support in order for disadvantaged students to catch up.
How EDLounge can help get students caught up
EDLounge is here for you and your aims of getting students caught up on lost education.
Our online platform provides the perfect platform for blended learning. Our sophisticated tracking system means schools can stay on top of student attainment and performance.
For more information on tracking click here.
Safeguarding is EDLounge’s number one priority. A range of alert mechanisms exist as part of the system to keep students safe. These include eyes-on learning, option to speak via chat to raise concern to teachers and all EDLounge staff are enhanced DBS checked. Safeguarding could overwhelm teachers when schools return, so our system can help ease your worries.
Our system provides access to 11,000 lessons. A sophisticated progress system for students can be set up using our platform in order help them to reach their potential. Get in touch with our team today to discuss your student’s needs.
To find out more, call 01909 568 338.
