Teachers, parents, and students’ review the fight
By Tara Bellwood
In 2021, Australia saw the most prolonged and strict lockdown due to Covid-19 than ever seen before. This lockdown forced all activities to hold or move to an online setting, including primary schools, high schools, and universities. Although the online study was not an unknown thing heading into e-learning this time around, from the 2020 lockdown, Australian teachers and students had a small idea of what they were in for. Though no one could have predicted how long this lockdown was and how much it affected the students and the teachers.
Nikki Mortimer has taught for over 25 years and is currently a year six teacher. She expressed that some students have excelled from learning online and become self-motivated. However, she said that "Some students that needed parent input or teacher input struggled, and it was a struggle to get the parent on board as well as the students. So, they are showing the impacts of that this year." Gordon Plunkett is a father of a current year seven student in year six during the 2021 pandemic lockdown. He stated, "I think for her, it really highlighted how far behind in some areas she was when it was me showing her and not the teacher. She had to do some of the workings out herself, as to how I would do it was different. So, when faced with that without the support of a teacher, it caused a large amount of stress." Fortunately, though, Plunkett expressed that his daughter, in some areas, did well despite this stress and feeling behind, which gave her confidence. When asked if he thought online learning set her back overall, he said, "I don't think so. In her head, she was worried she was already behind and that it would set her back. However, I think overall she went into it in the same stage she came out." As a parent, Plunkett implemented different teaching techniques for his daughter to learn and reduce her stress levels and get outside. "We took learning out into the world and did English and maths while out on walks. This side of learning seemed to work better as there was some enjoyment and something more tangible to count or write about or do an art project on. So, we broke it up a bit; she would do something in the morning, exercise, then we did maths, then a break for food and exercise, then she would zoom call her mum at 2 pm for English."
More than thanks, Annette Creighton marches for what she deserves
(Supplied by source, Annette Creighton)
Annette Creighton is a primary school teacher and is currently teaching kindergarten classes; in 2021, she taught stage 2 students during the lockdown. "There have obviously been significant disruptions to the learning and academic progress of all students during COVID and online learning. Outside of academics, I have noticed less interpersonal skills when it comes to interacting with their peers and significantly less patience when they are seeking attention from adults." She says. Creighton expressed how hard it was for the students to jump back into face-to-face lessons, especially being so young. "When my stage 2 students returned from online learning last year, they were exhausted. They could hardly focus for a full 60-minute lesson, and by the last session of the day, their ability to sit and listen to a speaker was basically non-existent. The demands of in-person learning are obviously more intense than online, and being expected to go from one straight back to the other with no transition period was rough on the students and the teachers." She mentioned that the school had already implemented strategies to get the students back to where they should be in their learning and their social skills. "Moving into this year, every year group has a larger group of students who are flagged as working below stage level and/or requiring additional support than there has been in previous years," Creighton said. Creighton expressed that getting the children back to where they were is not going to be easy. She says that her way of teaching has had to change for the students to learn and encourage students to "focus and actively participate in their learning." "I have had to introduce specific time to teach and model social skills with the students explicitly…I think I have also moved away from incorporating technology in my lessons. With how much device time children were required to have during online learning, I wanted to make sure they had opportunities to re-develop their stamina for handwritten work and make sure their handwriting and letter formation was still legible." Creighton said that she has had to do a lot more work than usual, doing more overtime and a lot more at work at home and is worried that this extra work without the extra pay will lead to "Teachers leaving the profession in such high numbers. If the government doesn't fix the unrealistic expectations and sub-par pay, there will not be enough qualified teachers to provide quality education to each student in Australia." She said. "The solution does not lie in changing the definition of "qualified" but changing the treatment and expectations of teachers. If this solution is not implemented now, it will be this generation of students that do not receive the education that they deserve."
Jay Bellwood, teaching Indonesian to his high school students
(Supplied by source, Jay Bellwood)
Jay Bellwood is a high school teacher in regional New South Whales who has just started working this year. He stated that while he was not working as a teacher last year during the lockdown, he can see that "Students have lost important connections with their teachers and school environment because of COVID. Online learning supplemented the at school experience; however, it failed to maintain student engagement and left students feeling disconnected from their school upon return." He expressed that "students have shown a lack of interest in engaging with face-to-face learning. Fewer students attend after-school homework centres and are less likely to speak with the teacher for improvement." Bellwood stated that though he did not have the experience of online teaching, he tried to be less reliant on technology, just like Annette Creighton in her teaching aspects. He hopes that this will bring students back into the real world and integrate the "original way of learning." Education being moved online for so long has Mr Bellwood concerned for the current and future generations; he said, "I fear the use of technology will take away from students' ability to demonstrate independence in their learning and truly understand concepts and ideas."
Finally Graduating, Christopher Seton battled his way through the HSC during the 2021 lockdown
(Supplied by source, Christopher Seton)
From a student's point of view, the Covid lockdown and online learning was not necessarily a bad thing. Christopher Seton Graduated and sat his High School Certificate (HSC) last year in 2021. He stated that "The COVID lockdown of 2021 required adjustment to how I would approach the HSC as there was more focus put into at home individual study rather than in school group study. Being at home allowed me to focus on my studies solely, but it also caused procrastination and laziness as I would think I would find myself waking up later and later each day." The uncertainty surrounding the HSC did affect him the most. Mr Seton expressed that "Whether the HSC would go ahead did alter my study pattern as I thought that if now, I stopped all of it would be for nothing, so that motivated me to keep going until the final HSC exam. I also had to adjust to the mask mandate during the HSC exams, which initially caused much annoyance. However, I eventually just became a part of the overall experience." He stated that overall, his HSC results and study was positively affected by COVID. He said that "it gave me something to still work towards in a time of uncertainty and anxiety."
COVID-19 certainly impacted the education system and all those in it, but overall, everyone academically bounced back, fought back, and is still learning, teaching, and living the best they can. Socially there is undoubtedly much to be done; the teachers' input unquestionably targeted that this will be the hardest thing in the future to battle.
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