Blended learning: a thread.
1/ In August we will probably be returning to school under a blended learning model, with pupils attending part time and doing some of their learning at home. As educators, we need to come to a solid shared understanding about what this will look like.

2/ And what we need to do in terms of support for staff, learners and their families, and infrastructure. Staff are working flat out just now to develop online learning resources. They will not have time to teach full-time in school AND develop resources for learning at home.

3/ My feeling is that a flipped classroom model is the only way to make this sustainable. Staff would prepare videos etc to allow pupils to engage with the learning ahead of time in school. Classes would then be used for practical work, discussion, practice and consolidation.

4/ This will be entirely new for pupils too. We will be asking pupils to be more organised and more independent in their learning than we have ever done before. How do we support them to develop these skills? How do we help their families to nurture this?

5/ What about learners with chaotic home lives, young carers, or various others for whom this will be especially difficult? What are we already doing to support them, and what can we do in addition?

6/ And infrastructure - we need pupils (and staff!) to have access to suitable technology, and connectivity, at home. It won’t be enough to send books home for those who don’t have broadband or a laptop.

7/ We will also need dedicated staff at national/local authority/school level to support all of this. Because it's too important to do in a half-baked way. We have a generation of young people whose education is at stake.
/end of thread.