#BTColumn – COVID-19 and schooling loss

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.

by Ralph Jemmott

One of the problems facing school systems across much of the world is how do education officials make up for disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic and other issues. In Barbados’ case these would include the ash-fall and the problems arising out of tropical storm/Hurricane Elsa.

It is approaching a year and six months since the pandemic disrupted the smooth running of schools. It is now being recognised that COVID-19 might be with us for some time and that schools may have to make some critical adjustments. These are unusual times and adjustments and compromises have to be made in an effort to recoup valuable instructional time loss.

The British government appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner. He requested what the Sunday Telegraph called, “a very considerable sum of £15 billion” to get a “catch-up” program going.

One of measures proposed by Sir Kevan was an extension of the school day by 30 minutes. This did not meet the approval of Telegraph columnist Janet Daley who saw it as “counterproductive, resulting in more truancy and alienation from the educational process.”

Closer to home, Jamaica has initiated a Recovery-Smarter National School Learning Intervention Plan, for which some 17,000 students have signed up. The Minister of Education had estimated that about 120,000 students have been altogether outside of the embrace of the education system since the pandemic began. In Jamaica, there must be a lot of ‘catching-up’ to do.

To reverse learning loss, the Barbados government has come up with a ‘Bounce-Back’ initiative. According to Acting Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson, some 2,400 students in primary classes 1 to 3  have “expressed an interest” in participating in the Summer School Programme.

Initially it was due to begin the week immediately after the teachers ended the Trinity or third term, no respite given. The assumption seems to be that teachers had been lounging for the past year and a half watching YouTube and Netflix movies. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Online teaching and the hybrid of On-line and face to face teaching has proven very exacting. Many older teachers struggled to come to grips with the G suite online teaching platform. One quite conscientious mature tutor questioned how well the instrument had worked, given the frequency of technical hiccups.

Apart from the technical hitches, the most onerous issues concerned converting lessons to a digital format, monitoring student learning with the format and assisting with persistent off-screen difficulties. In spite of all the claims made for on-line teaching, it is obviously not an adequate alternative to face to face classroom interaction. Like it or not, our collective future is in the hands of a virus and our capacity to deal with it.

The Ministry’s insistence on instant summer schooling speaks to a certain disrespect for teachers and the teaching profession. It is not surprising that in some of the education literature, teaching is being labelled a blue-collar profession, to distinguish it from the more prestigious white collar professions.

One commentator responding to the BUT’s rejection of the instant summer school idea, stated that if teachers could not sacrifice more, they should get out of the noble profession. My question to the lady is, “and get who?” Bright young persons, particularly males are not lining up to become career teachers.

The Nation of Tuesday 13 July showed ten teachers who were awarded for outstanding work in academic year 2020-2021, of these, there was  only one male. It is regrettable that the school-teaching experience is being increasingly
viewed as feminine.

By the same token one questions the decision of the BUT and its president Pedro Shepherd to reject any participation in the Bounce Back initiative. I am and
always will be a strong supporter of teachers, but that decisions seems somewhat callous.     

What has happened to the present cohorts of students will almost certainly not be reversed by Bounce Back or Recovery programs that simply extend tuition time. Tuition time is important, given the general tendency to overload the content material in much of the curricula.

Finland which enjoys a reputation as one of the Western world’s best performing school systems, requires only 190 contact days per year, compared with South Korea which demands some 220 contact days.

I once suggested that there is no sphere of human activity that is subject to more variables than education generally and formal schooling in particular. Contact-time is an important variable, but not necessarily the most significant variable.

Recognisably, some tuition time has to be recouped. It should not be expected that children can spend another eight weeks out of school and teachers should know and recognise this. Of course what is ultimately important is how that time is used and how effective the teaching-learning process becomes.

Regrettably too many students today seem insufficiently engaged from their studies. Accommodation must be made to those students whose education is adversely affected. All students should be promoted, first to second, second to third, etc. The difficulties are not of their making.

Their progress should be monitored. CSEC and CAPE should be given the choice of resitting those subjects they feel were affected by the current distress. This will require an assessment of placements in relation to physical accommodation within each school.

Ultimately the efficacy of the Barbadian education system in relation to actual learning outcomes will depend not on any  extension of the school day or the school term, but on critical factors that too often appear to be tangential to learning outcomes.

It will depend for example, on the improvement in the material conditions of the lives of children, particularly those from the lower socio-economic strata in society. It will depend on the motivation and support of children through their parents. It will depend on our capacity to improve the behavioural and learning ethos in our schools.

It will depend on the educational system’s capacity to attract and retain a sufficient cadre of bright and well-motivated teachers and perhaps, most importantly, enhanced outcomes will depend on the improvement in the broad culture in which schools function. Gladstone liked to quote Colm Brogan’s dictum that an education system hardly ever rises above the culture in which it functions.      

Ralph Jemmott is a respected retired educator.