Children from privileged background especially studying in private schools have opportunities for learning form home through online classes or at least activities and worksheets given on a daily/weekly basis by the schools. On the other hand children from government run schools and particularly those who are underprivileged do not have the opportunities for distance learning.

That is the problem Tresa Sugirtha those underprivileged children are going to suffer the most because of the lockdown. Moreover, they are going to have problems catching up with the rest of the children if and when they go back to school. I think a lot more should be done by local authorities to identify and help such children.

Here in Australia we have schools that are in all areas of economic statuses and the government is attempting to support all student, particularly older students to be able to attend online learning from their home. This would be 9 year olds and above. It is more difficult for 8 years and under as they are so much more in need on tactile learning as play is how they gain good understanding about life and how it is constructed.

Really it depends on what age students you are talking about...

I agree with Marjorie S Waugh . Supporting such young learners under eight is more challenging than for those who may be capable of some kind of independent learning. They are certainly going to miss the playing and communicative activities with their peers. What can be done to compensate for this critical stage in their development; that's the question.

Now that IS a great question Reda. I am going to think about what I am trying to do before I answer that.

Marjorie.

A good topic for a collaborative research paper? Data collection may have to be carried out online with parents/carers; with remote video monitoring for case observation. If interested drop me a message.

Hello, I am from Indonesia.

Since the internet is not available in the whole country, then not all school children be able to have access for distance online learning.

The Government uses national television as the media for distance learning for elementary, secondary, and high school. Which I meant about national television is a television which is own by Government.

They have different schedules for each level of school.

Although there are still limitations on running this program, but as far as I understood the unprivileged students are able to access the programs and it is good enough.

It is good of you Ihsana Sabriani Borualogo to mention your location because that is very relevant to the question. We in Libya also have intermittent problems with Internet access due to frequent power cuts. National TV is also broadcasting televised classes for school pupils. Proper Online Learning is not yet available in higher education, let alone primary and secondary schools. The bottom line is that underprivileged children continue to be the hardest hit amidst the pandemic crises.

Thanks Ihsana - I think that this would be a problem across the world but more prevalent in poorer nations that have not yet got that kind of infrastructure in place. Only having such a limited time here in Australia to put this in place with our school terms being in the southern hemisphere and having only just come to the end of our first break this current school year, it has been extremely challenging and difficult to be equitable for all students, particularly younger children. Then when you add in availability of devices to the schoolsnet system here and/or availability of good internet it makes it even harder for students to receive a consistent delivery of quality education over this time.

Added into that, is the vastness of Australia with quite a lot of the land being a lot of rural and remote areas. Rural areas would have an area school catering for a large range of ages. Remote areas do have access to School of the Air, over two-way radios (no video capacity) but it is designed for individual participation which is not practicable for larger groups.

The hardest issue I think is being able to accurately assess children, not knowing how much is from parent input, direct or indirect. Next term, starting for us in a week would normally be our first reporting time where extension summative assessment, anecdotal records and formative assessment would be then used ot grade and comment on how each student is going academically and socially.

A lot to think about...

Marjorie.

Reda,

In answer to your question, "They are certainly going to miss the playing and communicative activities with their peers. What can be done to compensate for this critical stage in their development?"

I believe the power lies in giving problem-solving opportunities that involves children explaining their thinking, backing it up with evidence they can cite and through their own reasoning. Of course, this would need to be applicable to the age group and the subject.

I have attached below mini-whiteboard that has some random number son it that one sibling made for their younger sibling. I will ask my 1/2 (6-7 year-olds) cohort to work out the answer and tell me how they go to their answer in, at least, two different ways. I would the have then show me through drawing and writing how they did that explaining explicitly their process. I would then ask them which was the more/most efficient answer - got them their the quickest. They could do it on paper, verbally and or video depending on what they have available to them. They could send it via a mobile communication system like Messenger or Seesaw or online through Google Classrooms (these are what we are using) or take a photo of their work and email it to me.

Maybe you would ,like to tall me how you solved my number picture and explain it to me? It took me 4 -5 seconds...

Marjorie ;)

In Lebanon Missouri all students were provided with a chromebook, as well as a hot spot. Allowing all students to have equal access to the internet.

Students have digital lessons each day, as well as zoom meetings with their classroom teachers and interventionists. It is not ideal, but we doing all that we can to assist all students. As a Reading Recovery Teacher, I have had 30 minute virtual lessons with each of my students 5 days a week, and also provided assistance to the classroom teacher as needed.

To clarify, Samantha is that from 5 years of age through to end of school that all students get Chromebooks? And they are all able to access the internet? That would be soooo awesome.

Yes we have a literacy support person who will be meeting with students most days of the week for our school - 70+ - in small groups, to give them extra support. We also have LSAs (learning support assistants) linked to a year group to add another layer of support for targeted children from our school.

Hey, this is from Ethiopia. Thanks for raising this timely question.

Here in Ethiopia, it is challenging to design strategies to reach and engage kids in their learning in this time of school closure. Some regional governments are trying to use tv and radio programs. I dont think they are succesful as many of the primary school kids are in rural areas with no/very limitted acess to tv and radio. Very few private schools in urban areas are trying to send worksheets and assignments to students. But i dont think they are also succesful. Though students are at home, many of the parents are still working. Supporting students at home requires parents time and literacy. Many of those parents who are staying at home may not have the litercy/knowledge level to help the kids.

Using the internet for this purpose particularly for this group of students is very much ideal in ethiopia. The internet infrastructure is very poor. Even significant part of the country is without electricity. Overall, the pandemic has brought huge unprecedented challenge particularly to poor countries like ethiopia.

For young learners confined at home, schools may assign certain activities so that parents direct their children to seek out the physical exercises they need. Parents then send back video recorded evidence of the activities with child reflections/comments on what they had done and whether they enjoyed it. However, while such activity offers individual opportunities for a single child at home, it does not really compensate for the loss of social interaction and interactive play at the school playground.

However, though somewhat digital, social media can be used as an alternative option to compensate for the loss of social interaction. Parents/ guardians again have responsibilities to guide and oversee children’s social media activities. Many pedagogic, technological, and legal issues are involved and need to be clarified to handlers of children when considering engaging them in home-based activities or social media interaction.

For further guidance on using online activities for schools visit Online learning, teaching and education continuity planning for schools at https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/news-assets/coronavirus/online-learning-continuity-planning-en.pdf

Reda - that was a really excellent aspect ot look at. At our school we have included a PE classroom, which many schools are doing I am sure, to assist with giving opportunity for, not just the need to help stay fit, but to also give brain breaks just as we would do when teaching in a regular classroom and to help with staving off some anxiety and other mental health issues.

While online interactions are great we, as humans, have need for physical contact which is why sport and dancing are so popular. I do not believe that you could exclude group activities from future learning; the opportunity to share positive experiences of life together creating important memories for us to draw on as we grow that help us to negotiate our way forward.

Nice Dear Reda Elmabruk

I did nothing because I was confused.