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Children have missed weeks of education, but it& #39;s patchy. Many will have diligently done homeschooling and some may have done little to nothing. Part of the problem is that we have a view of education which is devoted to children learning certain bodies of knowledge... 1/12
...for each year they attend a school. We base our tests and examinations on this premise - you learn X in year 2 or 5 or 11 etc. But when something like this happens, perhaps we need to rethink what we teach when (also with how given social distancing). 2/12
Why do you have to learn about X in year 7? Why must we teach how water travels in plants in Yr3 or identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator in KS2. Yes I know there is an argument that everything follows on and it& #39;s all related... 3/12
...so you can& #39;t do Y until they know X. BUT this year everything has - to a lesser or greater extent - gone to pot. Surely the 2 key things that have to happen when children return to school is, first to take stock (not necessarily by testing) of where our children are at. 4/12
We need to work out where the gaps are. Once we do this we need (point 2.) to radically (in some cases) change the curriculum to address the gaps and it may take a term (or more) to catch up. This will have knock on effects especially for years 10 and 12. 5/12
In those examination years the curriculum has been severely disrupted so changes to the examinations would, at first sight, appear sensible BUT, what we don& #39;t know is who missed & #39;what& #39; in each of the exam specifications so you can& #39;t simply cut this or that topic. 6/12
We need to be smarter. In the 60s & 70s O levels were much smaller in content & the exam papers very different. What was common was the element of & #39;choice& #39;. Part A was common, everybody had to answer. Part B was choose 1 or 2 essay questions from a selection of 3 or 4. 7/12
Perhaps we need to return to such examinations - examine the core that tests basic common content that does not rely on being taught X in year 10 or 11 necessarily and offer choice questions from a selection of topics. 8/12
We also have to acknowledge that when children return the world of school will be VERY different from what it was. - social distancing, hand washing, smaller classes (not all being taught by QTS teachers) perhaps rotas for when you see your & #39;usual& #39; teachers. 9/12
Children will also have many needs other than subject knowledge or curriculum needs. They& #39;ll have suffered from loss eg parents, grandparents, older siblings etc. many young children will be bewildered &. There has been the separation from friends and family for months. 10/12
Time will be needed in the curriculum to help children deal with these issues, putting more pressure on the subject learning. We must also remember that staff will also have to deal with their own issues and support should be there for them as well. 11/12
To sum up next academic year (whether it starts on 1st June or September) will be like no other academic year. We mustn& #39;t try & pretend that we can return to school & do everything we did last year, that things will not be very different. 12/12
