Everything Changes

It was Lenin who famously said: "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen." 2020 is certainly proving his point.

Lockdown has simultaneously engendered a sense of suspended animation, with shops, restaurants and schools closing, together with an almost ceaseless turbulence of news and information about the coronavirus. It is a weird kind of hybrid existence with education now involving a combination of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and good old-fashioned pen and paper. Teachers have proved remarkably adept making the switch to this new online environment, but schools are about a lot more than academic work. Those of you who have been attempting to home school children over the past few weeks will have realised just how schools are in looking after children while their parents work. Some worry that the lofty aspirations of education should not be sullied by admitting such a practical consideration, but it is true.

However, in addition, children need to mix with those outside the family. It is an important part of understanding how other people tick and forming ways of working with them. The importance of sharing, the understanding of other pupils’ different backgrounds and experiences, and the working together for common goals as part of a school team or play are all part of preparing youngsters for future life. It is very difficult to replicate that online.

For all these reasons, the government is keen to reopen schools as quickly as possible. Of course, they have not really been closed; like most schools, ours has remained open for the sons and daughters of key workers for the last few weeks. However, what the government is keen to do is to get as many youngsters as they can back into school and not just for the reasons mentioned above. The evidence is unequivocal that the longer time spent out of full-time education, the greater the impact on educational outcomes. This is particularly true for pupils coming from a more disadvantaged background. All of that hard work from teachers to provide an online environment goes to waste if pupils cannot find a quiet space to work in or do not have a suitable device to access the material. We are storing up huge problems down the line for these pupils if they are left behind and reintegrating them back into school grows more difficult by the day.

Competing against these pressures of course is the great unknown that is the risk to the safety of not only pupils and staff in school but the families of both. This is the conundrum that the government, schools, unions and all who have a stake in schools have to wrestle with. Open schools too early and lives will be lost; keep them closed too long and lives will be ruined. It’s a Hobson’s choice. However, with the resourcefulness, dedication and determination that have characterised how schools have approached this crisis, those problems are being addressed. No one likes the thought of socially distanced pupils, taught by teachers in masks, confined to demarcated squares in classrooms. No one likes the idea of one-way systems and taped floor ways guiding pupils around their school corridors. No one likes the idea of pupils being told not to get too close to teachers and other adults that they trust so much. However, the legacy of the coronavirus will be a much-changed world and, certainly for the next few weeks and months, those changes will be seen in schools too. Slowly but surely, life will return to the new normal. Reopening schools is just one small step along the road to a strange and difficult future.