For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
Matthew 25:29
I was quite surprised some years ago now to discover that these words of Jesus get quoted in academic circles discussing special educational needs under the title of the ‘Matthew principle’. Applied to recent lockdown learning, I suggest, they make perfect sense. Consider firstly youngsters with their own desk space, their own laptop with a consistent wifi connection, parents who understand the processes of education and are able – and have the time – to give both emotional and academic support. I remember about 2 months into lockdown in the UK talking remotely to one of my then students who broadly came into this category, who was saying that he was working harder and learning more in lockdown than he did at school. Consider now youngsters from equally loving and supportive homes but without their own laptop or other wifi device, with an intermittent wifi connection, in a home without sufficient desk space for all siblings to be comfortably working at the same time, parents who want to support but do not have the time or overview of the school curriculum to be able to do so. It can easily be seen that there are far more challenges in accessing learning than there would be with school as normal. Now, if you will, go back to the beginning and see if you agree with me – the Matthew principle makes perfect sense applied to lockdown learning. If you’re already in a privileged position you become more privileged, if you’re already struggling to keep up then things are only going to get worse.
Before I go any further I do need to emphasise that here in Uganda I’m teaching at a small Christian independent school and so have no direct experience of lockdown here in the state funded sector. Where things are very difficult indeed, from the beginning of the pandemic the Government has taken a very hard line with lockdown across the board, it is still the case that only a small number of year groups have returned to school, incomes are in the main very low, the demographic is predominantly young, families are large, Internet connections are metered, smart phones are shared in the family…. It’s going to be decades before the impact of lockdown is fully unravelled.
But let me tell you about my own experience, starting in the UK. We used as our platform Microsoft Teams which, given that it is not specifically designed for educational settings, worked amazingly well. Not perfect, as we discovered in the final virtual assembly of the year, when it became apparent that absolutely anybody was able to mute the headteacher. It only takes one miscreant! In the expectation, which seemed reasonable at the beginning of lockdown, that we were looking at weeks rather than months (years?) the mathematics department opted not to teach new material, a policy which was fraying at the seams by the time we finished. We did not attempt to live teach or, in the main, communicate by voice, as a teacher it became quite frustrating when wanting to help during lesson time but being much more reliant on students to come forward than if we were in the same room together. It was noticeable, in accordance with the Matthew principle, that it was students already doing well who were the ones who came forward and asked questions.
In August last year I started teaching at Acacia remotely from my little house in the UK. Which all felt slightly odd, very early mornings to accommodate the time difference for one thing! At Acacia we use Google Classroom, and it was immediately obvious transferring from Teams that this was software which was designed specifically for educational purposes, and a much clearer – and more robust – distinction between teacher and student (the language in Teams is owner and member). School policy was to have brief class ‘Meets’ at the beginning of lessons but not to try to ‘live teach’ which makes a huge amount of sense in the context of intermittent wifi connections, trying to teach a class remotely becomes a major head ache. In considering available options, I fell into a pattern of making videos speaking over PowerPoint presentations with the invitation to pause the video at various stages to do various exercises set. It didn’t feel a very exciting way of engaging students, and so I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that, when students were invited to feedback on their online experiences, my approach was favourably commented on by quite a number of students, as a result of which I was asked to present to teaching colleagues about what I was doing. So much of my work was in the preparation, after the ‘Meet’ students then went to watch the videos so I was left twiddling my thumbs. Slightly non-plussed to discover sometime later that at least one of my students was watching my videos double speed, I’m not sure I understand myself gabbling away that fast!
Perhaps the most frustrating period was the 4 weeks at the end of October / beginning of November, which for me was half in UK and half self-isolating on arrival in Uganda, when pupils had returned to school and I was still working remotely. Really grateful to my colleagues who were actually in class with my students whilst I was teaching through a computer screen, it just felt so near and yet so far.
Since November I’ve been working in the school building – albeit with a number of interruptions largely around the Presidential election in January (it is still, now two months later, only possible to use Facebook with a VPN). To enable the distancing required we’re using a number of spaces not designed to be classrooms, including the library, the chapel, the dining hall and a specially created roof area. Students largely stay where they are with teachers going to them. Perhaps the biggest challenge is sound insulation, in some cases there are partitions rather than walls between teaching spaces, they are very open so sound from the road, building work locally and the playing fields all seep in. Not to mention that students being respectful speak quietly, they’re wearing masks – and I’m listening with a British accent to youngsters speaking English from across the world, including second language speakers. I really want to hear what they’re saying but it’s really not easy!
So, whilst I have experienced challenges both in the UK and in Uganda, overall both school communities – students, parents, teachers, leadership teams, everyone – have worked hard to make lockdown learning a meaningful reality. Acutely aware that not all students are back, tough decisions are being made over external examinations, with ramifications going decades into the future. Would be interested to hear of your experiences wherever you are in the world, maybe there are ways we can support each other in these difficult times. Thank you for reading, I’ll be back again soon.
Geoff Tennant's Blog 