TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Getting children back to school: “We are in a hurry” 2. Launching a new academic year under the cloud of COVID-19 3. School leadership in uncertain times 4. From coping to improving and accelerating: Supporting teachers in the pandemic and beyond 5. Croatia: How investing in information technology and digital competencies of students and teachers paid off during the pandemic 6. Supporting teachers during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic 7. Successful examples of scaling up teaching and learning in response to COVID-19 8. Schools’ readiness for digital learning in the eyes of principals. An analysis from PISA 2018 and its implications for the COVID19 (Coronavirus) crisis response
Getting children back to school: “We are in a hurry” JAIME SAAVEDRA | SEPTEMBER 16, 2020
“We were in a hurry!” That is what Jerrick Mortensen, an education leader from Denmark said recently in an event organized by UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank. Danish authorities were in a hurry to reopen schools even back in May. “Attending school is critical for the most vulnerable children,” he emphasized. Worldwide, a quick critical measure to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic was to close schools. Closing was easy. However, as the world has found, the process of re-opening schools is hard. But the sentence “we are in a hurry” reveals a commendable sense of urgency. Why the urgency? To cope with school closures, most countries rushed to implement remote learning plans. These have generally been multiplatform programs that combine online, TV, radio, and paper material. However, while remote learning can be a great complement of in-person education, it is not a replacement. As a result, learning poverty – being unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10 – could increase in low and middle-income countries up from the 53% pre- pandemic level to a record 63%. Unless we do more. Even affluent children who might be having a decent remote learning experience, are able to advance in their academic skills, and even learning some socioemotional skills, are losing out on other elements of the social experience of in-school education. But it’s the millions of children from more disadvantaged backgrounds that are suffering from a poorer learning experience – their home environments might not be conducive to learning, and they may not have a device or internet connectivity, or even any reading material. Many more might suffer from stress and mental health issues, particularly if parents do not have the skills or mental space during an economic crisis to provide a supportive environment. Many will end up dropping out of the system completely (7 to 10 million, according to World Bank estimates). Children with disabilities find it even more difficult to access the services they need. And others might suffer from various forms of abuse. We were already living in a world where inequality of opportunity was intolerably high. But the schools have always played an important role in reducing inequality of opportunities – giving everyone, including the poor, a space for learning. For many, that is now gone, and the un-equalizing impact of the pandemic is potentially immensely large. By mid-2020, almost 900 million children are still out of school. The closures are meant to protect their health, protect their relatives’ and teachers’ health from the pandemic; but the cost in terms of the future of many of those kids is extremely high and the price being paid in terms of further inequality in our societies is enormous. Can a balance be found? We live in extraordinary times where the only certainty is uncertainty. As time passes, some school systems are opening successfully, others with more angst and confusion. Countries where the pandemic does not seem to be under control yet are struggling to decide if it is safe enough to return, and will have to manage a protracted period of unknown scenarios with unknown probabilities, particularly since a widely available vaccine is still several months away.
Regardless, it is essential to share the sense of urgency of Mr. Mortensen – the urgency in defining a flexible and adaptable path to a return to a richer educational experience and of putting in-school learning back into the lives of all students. How to return to school safely must be an urgent priority for all nations. In many cases, high levels of community transmission rates of the virus mean re-openings are still impossible. But systems must be prepared for a careful return to schools as soon as the sanitary conditions allow. Preparation is key because the return will be – and in some cases already is – quite complex. If local virus transmission rates go down to manageable levels, schools and communities should be prepared to enforce strict hygiene practices and other transmission control measures – physical distancing and others – in order to get children back into school. Ideally, authorities test, trace, and isolate anyone who falls ill, and schools are ready to return to remote learning if COVID-19 cases go up again. The decision to reopen schools is a combination of a public health / science question, balanced with the urgent need to bring kids back. Schools may be able to open only in some areas, in a staggered way, some grades at a time, or for only few days a week or a few hours per day, and in smaller classroom sizes (as some countries are already doing). Not all teachers might be able to work on a presential basis. In other cases, if community transmission rates are not yet going down, it is wise to design creative and pragmatic alternative learning processes: First, it is useful to pragmatically simplify the curriculum, and define a minimum set of essential competencies that can reasonably be expected of students for this year and next. The fundamental skills and socioemotional support might be the priorities, and online, TV, and radio programming should support that simplified curriculum. The school calendar could be adjusted creatively, the 2020 school year might be extended, the 2021 school year might be compressed, and vacation periods adjusted, in order to cover an essential curriculum within each year. Second, teachers require support to continue adapting to a remote environment and continue developing ways to maintain the communication and the ability to coach students in their learning process as well as find ways to remotely assess how much learning is happening. Third, the home environment is as important as ever. Hence, so, too, are policies aimed at drastically improving the conditions at home, such as expanding connectivity, facilitating cheaper – or free – access to the internet for educational purposes, expanding the use and availability of technological resources, and providing printed learning material at home. Across the board, the home environment is extremely unequal, so investing in improving opportunities of the poorest is essential. Fourth, continuous and intensive support to empower parents and caregivers is needed so they can provide a safe and nurturing environment to their children. This is a complex management challenge that requires a lot of creativity, planning, and resources. Fortunately, many of the investments needed to manage this situation will help build many of the traits that will be critical for the schools of the future. Education needs to be more resilient, providing a continuity of the educational experience between the school and the home. Hence, investing in improving the home environment and providing more support to parents is critical for the future. Investing in technology at school and supporting better connectivity at home will make the work of the teacher more effective. Investing in teachers – supporting them in becoming learning coaches and growing their digital skills – is an opportunity. These investments can bring the future to today.
Each country is defining its own path. Countries should be prepared to manage the uncertainty. In some cases, it will mean returning to classrooms under certain conditions, and where that is not possible, improving remote learning conditions as much as possible. The objective is not to “lose� a generation of students and avoid making the already intolerable levels of inequality even larger.
Launching a new academic year under the cloud of COVID-19 TIGRAN SHMIS | MARIA BARRON | KALIOPE AZZI-HUCK | AUGUST 18, 2020
A teacher in Finland prepares his classroom for socially-distant learning.
The next few weeks mark the beginning of the school year across the northern hemisphere. Per the World Bank School Closure data, (School Closures and Affected Students by country; a World Bank tracking tool) sixty-seven countries, almost half of them located in Europe and Central Asia, have reopened or are expecting to reopen schools by September. This year, the safety of students and teachers vis-a-vis the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread is top priority. This is according to countries who responded to the World Bank-UNESCO-UNICEF Survey on National Education Responses completed in June. Results indicate that over 95% of respondents were planning for the reopening of schools and as such, are also stepping up policies and interventions to avoid infection increases. Among these measures are the reopening at national, or localized levels, or phasing back groups/grades (ex: France, Uruguay); recruiting additional teachers to cover shortages resulting from smaller classrooms (ex: Scotland); staggering attendance (ex: Germany); introducing temperature checks and social distancing requirements (ex: Denmark, Finland, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia); and/or providing personal protective equipment to teachers and students when in school (ex: Djibouti). Few countries such as Brazil, Canada, and the United Kingdom, are leaving the decision to states, provinces, and districts. For example, in the US’s largest school district (New York, including New York City) schools will reopen only in districts that have shown consistent low transmission rates (lower than 5% over two weeks). Finding a balance between learning and safety is challenging. Some countries are starting the school year relying solely on remote learning; or using it as a supplement to face-to-face learning. Students in Mexico will begin the 2020-2021 year getting their lessons via TV or radio. In the United States cities and school districts such as Atlanta, Houston, Miami, and Washington, DC suburbs have announced exclusive use of online learning for the first semester of 2020-2021. In Panama, classes started in July
with students using an integrated platform that combines TV, radio, print and online resources. Authorities have adapted the curriculum to focus on essential skills and resilience. Drivers affecting school reopening The decision to reopen schools is very complex, often rendering policymakers, school administrations, parents, and teachers in circuitous debates about lost opportunities and managed risks. Children’s health as well as that of the community have also become paramount to the discussion, along with the longterm consequences on children’s health/wellbeing and learning losses, and the exacerbation of inequalities that hurt the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Consultations with teachers, parents, students and communities are also important to ensure that the decision is context specific and is informed or tailored by the concerns and suggestions of key actors. Figure 1 below summarizes the preconditions and trends among measures taken by countries who have decided to reopen schools. Figure 1: Common Trends and Policies in countries who have started to reopen schools
Ensure quality of learning, regardless of mode of delivery As a measure of mitigating the impact of school closures on learning, and to support their student populations, over 160 countries moved to some type of remote learning by end of March 2020. In the coming weeks, as systems resume or begin a new school year, many of them are planning to continue with this mode, either exclusively or as a as a complementary measure that supports smaller class sizes and less physical presence in classrooms. However, as the recent global human experience has already shown, remote learning poses many challenges in implementation, measurement of its effectiveness, and in reaching disadvantaged children. So not surprisingly, disparities abound in access and quality. The UN Institute for Statistics and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimates that 40% of students whose schools are closed today do not have access to the internet. To address these gaps, most countries have opted for multi-modal approaches that include high tech, low-tech and/or traditional paper-based dissemination. To increase accessibility, some governments are distributing digital devices and improving connectivity options. This is the case in Croatia, where telecommunications providers have agreed to distribute SIM cards to low income students so that they can have free internet access. Similarly, Kazakhstan is introducing unlimited access to 380 domestic educational platforms and resources through a tariff plan "Bilim" (knowledge) provided by all mobile operators for students and teachers. Keep students engaged, teachers healthy, and communities safe
That said, COVID-19 infections among children in the US increased 40% across 49 states during the last two weeks of July according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association released on July 30th. Understandably, this has raised alarm among many parents whose states have announced a physical start of the 2020-21 school year. In addition to children, measures to keep teachers and school staff safe need to be taken as well. First, it is important to determine how many of them may have conditions that put them at higher risk of serious illness if they were to contract COVID-19. An analysis in the US estimates that 1 in 4 American teachers would be at higher risk if they were to get sick. Education systems also need to plan: i) how to respond to shortage of teachers, either if they become sick or if more are needed to comply with smaller class sizes, ii) medical coverage for teachers and coverage of their sick leave. In countries such as Denmark, France, and Italy, teachers’ unions were actively involved in the school reopening discussions and the provision of universal healthcare in those countries alleviated some concerns. Address Infrastructure/learning environment safety As key physical factors contribute to better infrastructure and a safer learning environment for students and teachers, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed vulnerabilities, including in schools of advanced education systems The average 15 year-old student in OECD countries has spent 7,538 hours inside school buildings, where sometimes the lack of proper ventilation and stagnate air create opportunities for virus spreading. Some measures that countries can consider are to enhance proper ventilation, providing hand washing facilities and other sanitization measures inside school buildings and educating people to use them, as well as establishing clear guidance on whether the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) would be required and in what circumstances. There are some good practices of repurposing school environments, like large sports halls into the learning spaces, rearranging the food facilities etc. Many question if it’s possible for teachers to wear masks at all times, countries such as France require them to use masks when they are less than a meter away from students, while England is considering not to require the use of masks at all. The silver lining of COVID-19 for schools is that the learning environments started to be considered with IT infrastructure and remote learning as a whole, potentially expanding ways of learning and collaborating. A path towards continuity of learning – Flexibility is key to mitigate learning loss As the global debate and efforts roll forward, it should be noted that the return of students to physical classrooms on a global scale remains an exception rather than the norm, as over one billion students (approximately two thirds of the world’s learners) in over 110 countries are still impacted by school closures and may not see their classrooms for some time. This will have detrimental impact on students’ schooling attainment and learning, and accumulation of human capital across countries. By World Bank estimates, school closures to date could result in a loss of 0.6 years of schooling adjusted for quality, bringing down the effective years of basic schooling that children achieve during their schooling life from 7.9 years to 7.3 years, resulting in billions of dollars of lost future wages. (Simulating the Potential Impact of COVID19 and School Closures on Schooling and Learning Outcomes: A Set of Global Estimates) For students across the world the COVID-19 pandemic has already changed the way they learn and where they learn. Flexibility seems to be the foundation of any strategy on reopening schools: a cautious reopening, and readiness to close again if outbreaks emerge. This is not easy in education systems that are historically steeped in tradition and rigidity. But to balance safety and learning, a most effective approach has been to couple physical and remote education, allowing a switch between the two with minimal disruptions.
School leadership in uncertain times HARRIET NANNYONJO | CHERYL ANN FERNANDO | AZAD OOMMEN | SAMEER SAMPAT | JUNE 08, 2020
School principal at work The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has forced almost all countries to close their schools. At the peak of the crisis, about 1.6 billion children across the world were not at school. School leaders bear the primary responsibility of ensuring the well-being of their personnel and students and finding ways to ensure that students are learning while in-school learning is suspended. A survey of over 1,800 leaders across 12 countries found that more than 70% of principals felt that the well-being of students in their school was their primary responsibility. Because they have the respect of their communities as well as personal relationships with students and their families, school leaders are uniquely positioned to guide families in many respects. Speaking with education officials from governments in four countries, during a recent webinar hosted by Global School Leaders, it was clear that education systems should be delivering four clear messages to school leaders to improve student well-being and engagement through this crisis and as they move toward reopening schools: 1. Focus on basic needs first Before we think about online learning and reopening of schools, we need to make sure that children’s basic needs like food, health, and emotional well-being are met. George Werner, Liberia’s Minister of Education during the 2014-15 Ebola crisis, said, “You have to think as a leader, what happens when the shadow of COVID-19 begins to fade. We need to take school health more seriously than ever before, and it needs to be part of our strategic planning.” Additionally, he highlighted the need to prepare teachers and school leaders to meet the psychosocial needs of children who have been through difficult circumstances. Programs that addressed students’ psychological needs in Liberia during the Ebola crisis, including a peace-building effort and arts program for children, were found to improve student well-being.
2. Focus on the most marginalized and at-risk children The COVID-19 crisis is severely impacting individuals who are already marginalized relative to other groups and will likely widen the existing gaps between students from poor families and well-off families, as well as between male and female students. Dr. Praveen Kumar, the leader of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, a network of over 250 residential government schools for some of the most marginalized children in India, had this to say: ”The interest of those at-risk children must be at the core of the strategy for every school leader.” When schools reopen, students will have different needs, and resources will need to be prioritized to match those needs. Initial focus should be on the needs of the most marginalized children so that the inequalities exposed by the COVID crisis are not exacerbated. 3. Focus on engaging the community through communication and collaboration While many challenges with connectivity remain, schools and leaders are becoming more connected digitally to the parents and communities of their students as a result of the COVID crisis. School leaders can play a critical role in ensuring school-community connection continues to be strengthened to support student learning and build confidence. Dr. Sara Ruto, the Chairperson of the Kenyan Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and Chairperson of the Kenyan Ministry of Education’s COVID Response, provided an innovative example of how this increased connectivity can be used by leaders to improve the critical skills of social-emotional learning for students. She observed, “[The crisis] is giving energy to some of the pillars of the curriculum that had not found voice before. For example, parental engagement, empowerment, and values-based education. These (i.e., values-based education) are things children need to see, touch, and grow with. And home is the first place where this happens. School leaders should use this opportunity to engage parents to ensure such learning takes place.” Supporting school leaders as they continue to engage communities and families during and after the crisis will also be critical to reducing anxiety and building confidence to return to school and support children’s learning. 4. Embrace new opportunities to focus on learning During the COVID crisis, school leaders and teachers in many countries are working in an uncomfortable situation with little prior experience to guide them in their responsibilities. As a result, educators are innovating and finding their own ways to focus on the needs of the students. Dr. Iwan Syahril, the recently appointed Director General for Teachers and Education Personnel in the Ministry of Education and Culture in Indonesia, captured this when he said, “We are becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. We’ve been talking about student-centered learning for ages. [COVID] is giving us the trust that this is okay. You don’t just teach your curriculum, but you look at your students and start there. This is an opportunity to reimagine the curriculum and ensure that each student is learning” There is evidence that orienting schools, school leaders, and teachers to focus on meeting students at their level can improve outcomes. The COVID crisis presents an opportunity to have school leaders realign their roles and support teachers to focus on doing what is best for their students. A strong response by school leaders is more urgent now than ever before to mitigate the disruption children are facing as they continue to be out of school. Education systems need to empower and support school leaders to focus on student success. As governments develop and refine strategies to
address the impact of COVID across sectors, it’s important to embody the message delivered by Minister Werner when he said, "To close schools during a crisis like this is to ask our youngest generation to make a tremendous sacrifice on behalf of its elders. The way to honor that sacrifice, when the coronavirus crisis abates, is to put learning for every child at the heart of the recovery. We owe them nothing less." These key messages mean that school leaders and their associations should be part of developing the school reopening strategy. Panelists were clear that one cannot discuss school reopening without engaging school leaders. The COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted the imperative of training school leaders on aspects of community partnerships, communication, and instructional leadership.
From coping to improving and accelerating: Supporting teachers in the pandemic and beyond TRACY WILICHOWSKI | CRISTOBAL COBO | MAY 28, 2020
Countries now have an opportunity to build back better and must consider how best to help teachers not only cope through the crisis, but also become better equipped with the skills to succeed in the wake of it.
Averting the damage brought on by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic requires an aggressive education policy response, which involves: i) coping during the crisis to reduce learning loss while schools are closed, ii) managing continuity of learning to promote learning recovery as schools reopen safely, and iii) using the crisis as an opportunity to improve and accelerate, making education systems stronger and more equitable than they were before. Countries now have an opportunity to build back better and must consider how best to help teachers not only cope through the crisis, but also become better equipped with the skills to succeed in the wake of it. Phase 1: Coping Amid an unprecedented closing of schools, education systems have responded by developing remote learning plans, which rely on multichannel strategies that combine different technologies (print materials, radio, TV, Internet, and/or mobile) and incorporate synchronous and asynchronous learning. Given these new modes of delivery, it is not surprising that many teachers are finding it difficult to navigate this new reality. Often, they are burdened with having to quickly adapt lesson content they designed to deliver in a physical setting to an online or remote format. The ability to instruct effectively depends on several factors, such as having the appropriate skills and capacity to adapt to the new context, while continuing to interact and effectively engage with learners and caregivers. To appropriately support teachers as they cope through this crisis, it’s crucial that remote learning plans acknowledge the unique constraints of home-based learning.
How to help teachers cope from a distance: Provide actionable guidance for teachers. This should point to ways teachers can become content curators, and provide recommendations so that they do not overwhelm pupils with excessive lectures, lessons plans, and homework. In the U.S., Uganda, Brazil, France, and Ethiopia, this guidance includes easy-to-implement ideas so that teachers can adapt the content from remote learning plans for their needs.
Phase 2: Managing Continuity This crisis has shown that maintaining quality education is not only about hardware (technical infrastructure and connectivity), software (platforms), and content. It requires significant dedication from teachers, who are expected to maintain strong relationships with their students and deliver lesson content remotely, while also managing children’s learning and coping with the stress related to the pandemic. Simultaneously, education systems need to ensure that schools reopen safely, student dropout is minimized, and lost learning can start being recovered. Thus, ensuring a high-quality remote learning experience for all students is predicated on an education system’s ability to provide teachers with technological and pedagogical support to cope in the short term and remain resilient as we all adapt to the new normal. But technological skills are not enough; simply replicating a lesson designed for an in-person class is ineffective for a remote audience. Teachers’ ability to instruct remotely requires a combination of technological and pedagogical skills. The technological skills cultivate an ability to teach effectively using information and communication technologies (ICT), rather than just training on use of the technology itself. Teachers must learn how to combine multiple modes of delivery (i.e. online, offline, and blended) to effectively facilitate learning. It is critical to develop teachers’ digital pedagogical skills. These are the skills needed to critically assess and decide when and how to incorporate digital tools, and realistically define their impact to support or enhance learning. This is now more crucial than ever, as teachers who cannot effectively use technology may in the future be replaced (or displaced) by those who can.
How to help teachers manage continuity from a distance: Create peer support programs to encourage connectedness and help teachers transition to remote teaching. To cultivate technological skills, volunteer teachers in Korea are paired with peers who have requested technological support to help plan for online lessons and provide guidance on how to adapt in-person content for a remote audience. Similarly, Estonia has set up an educational technology hotline that teachers can access if they have technological questions. In addition, Finland or Georgia have set up a network of teachers who are responsible for helping their peers integrate technology into their lessons. To cultivate digital pedagogical skills, hundreds of teachers from across the Teach For All network have joined “Teaching without Internet” WhatsApp groups. This group provides a medium for teachers to share strategies for supporting students who lack access to technology or connectivity (radio lessons to support teachers are also broadly adopted). Use online training to provide teachers with a short “crash course” on how to teach remotely, like this one developed by the United Arab Emirates. In Lebanon, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education is training teachers to use online collaboration tools to support classes and exchange information. Similar courses and webinars have been developed for teachers in the U.K., Canada, Mexico, or Italy.
Phase 3: Improving and Accelerating For teachers to take advantage of remote learning tools, it takes much more preparation, materials, and thought than education systems can prepare in a few days or weeks. With these limitations in mind, it’s important to think beyond how to support teachers and consider how the crisis can be an opportunity to enhance teachers’ skills before they return to the classroom. As education systems emerge from this crisis, it is clear that a new chapter is waiting to be written with detailed medium- and long-term actions (e.g., increasing investments in remote learning, adopting blended models when schools partially reopen, or creating remedial e-courses), which can help educational systems build back stronger and become more equitable. As part of this process, it will be crucial to recognize the relevance of developing technological and digital pedagogies for a larger sector of teachers. Countries will not be able to build back better unless they address these challenges. This will require increasing funding for teacher capacity-building (integrated into formal pre- and in-service teacher trainings) and not only diversifying and innovating the teacher training methods (e.g. virtual coaching) but also activating regular follow-up plans to support the skills developed, using both (remote) tutors and peers.
How to help teachers accelerate and improve from a distance: Provide teachers with virtual coaching. In Lebanon, the teacher coaching, which is normally carried out in face-to-face sessions, is moving online.This innovation will start when schools resume to ensure teachers in hard-to-reach areas benefit as much as those in urban and more accessible locations. It’s important to caveat, for virtual coaching to work effectively, coaches should get guidance (and ideally training) on how to provide feedback remotely, as like teaching, coaching in person is quite different from coaching remotely. To supplement the support they receive from coaches, provide teachers with instructional videos. For instance, in Cambodia and India, rural teachers receive video lessons that exemplify the teaching of culturally relevant, curriculaaligned content using student-centered pedagogy. This gives teachers a model lesson to follow – similar efforts have been replicated throughout the developing world using interactive radio instruction. The support is interactive; using conference calls or social media, coaches facilitate group reflection and dialogue about the teachers’ pedagogical practices observed in the videos. Facilitate remote trainings that reinforce what teachers learned in previous face-to-face trainings. For instance, in Zambia, teachers and ministry representatives are being trained to become master trainers; they are divided into WhatsApp groups based on their geography. They are given a practical and hands-on video on a specific topic once a week through WhatsApp, and also have a conference call to facilitate a more in-depth discussion.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a stress test for education systems all over the world, but it is also an opportunity to share lessons globally. Countries have responded in innovative ways, whether by rapidly mobilizing existing digital resources or by developing these resources from scratch. We’re curious to hear your success stories. Please reach out to Cristobal Cobo to share stories that have provided education continuity during crisis. In case you missed it, please watch our latest event, Strengthening Teacher Effectiveness During COVID-19, featuring the World Bank’s new note (and blog) on key principles for ensuring teacher effectiveness during COVID-19.
Croatia: How investing in information technology and digital competencies of students and teachers paid off during the pandemic DIEGO AMBASZ | LUCIA BRAJKOVIC | MAY 26, 2020
Children walk through Zagreb city square.
When coronavirus (COVID-19) first appeared in Croatia on February 25, the country responded swiftly, introducing measures such as travel and public assembly bans, restriction of working hours of grocery stores, closing of non-essential services, and canceling sporting and cultural events. In order to ensure transparency and provide support to its citizens the Government set up a website koronavirus.hr with detailed instructions on public safety, daily updates on the spread of infection, and the implementation of economic measures. It seems that stringent measures introduced by the Civil Protection Directorate, early detection of spread routes, and extensive media coverage have contributed to successful containment of the pandemic in the country. Among the early measures introduced by the authorities was also the school closure - first in the region of Istria, which is very close to Italy – and soon after nationwide. Even though such disruption in the education process has not been easy for students, parents, and teachers in Croatia, the country’s education system has been very well placed to deal with this situation. Digitalization of schools and curricular reform created conditions for easier transition to distance learning (DL) In 2015, Croatia launched the pilot of the e-Schools project, providing digital equipment and support tools to 150 schools. The pilot was followed by a nation-wide roll-out that will encompass all schools by 2022. Next, in September 2018 the Ministry of Science and Education (MSE) started the pilot project
‘School for Life’ as part of a comprehensive curricular reform in 74 primary and secondary schools throughout Croatia. The pilot was a precursor to a full introduction of the curricular reform in all schools from September 2019. The reform focused heavily on providing schools with digital technology and equipment and improving digital competences of students and teachers. More than 50 000 teachers participated in these trainings over the course of two years. This experience proved crucial in enabling Croatia’s swift transition to DL. Only two weeks before Government announcement that schools might be closing the Ministry started preparations DL, with a successful launch on the very day that schools closed nation-wide - March 16. The virtual classrooms previously used for teacher trainings now became venues for communication with students, information sharing with fellow teachers, and a direct channel to the Ministry. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, Croatian capital, Zagreb, was struck by a very strong (5.5 magnitude) earthquake on March 22, the strongest earthquake to hit the capital in the past 140 years, causing substantial damage to the historical city center and damaging, among others, many schools, kindergartens, universities, and other educational facilities. However, the Ministry was able to resume DL activities immediately after the earthquake, thus preventing further disruption to student learning. Organization, guiding principles, and available platforms for distance learning In order to provide appropriate modes of DL, the Ministry utilized multiple resources –cooperating with public television to reach the youngest children who cannot use online resources independently. For secondary students, both teachers and the Ministry created 15-minute videos covering the curriculum and schedule in order to enable all students to realize planned learning outcomes by the end of the school year. While preparing for DL, the Ministry published instructions for schools - Instructions to all primary and secondary schools for the organization of distance learning and Guidelines for distance learning for primary and secondary schools. The Ministry based the DL concept on two key principles: 1. “Access has to be provided for every student, taking into account student age; 2. Backup for every solution needs to be prepared.” In practice, this meant that multiple channels should be used to reach students and parents, with backup solutions. Various venues used for DL include TV channels, YouTube, email, messaging apps, social networks, and different digital platforms (e.g. Moodle, Teams, Yammer). In order to maintain a balanced student workload and support teachers in preparing teaching plans the Ministry published Recommendations for organizing a students work day in distance teaching and learning. Next, Guidelines for assessment and grading in a virtual environment considered various scenarios for the implementation of the State Matura national exam for secondary school graduates. Monitoring student participation When it comes to younger students (grades 1-4) who participate in DL through a television channel, teachers have been instructed to connect with their parents virtually – through e-mail, Viber, WhatsApp, etc. Secondary students log in and connect to their virtual classrooms through digital platforms, which makes it easier to monitor their participation. There are specific rules in place to facilitate this monitoring process in case students fail to join their classes – first, the class teacher should contact the parents to gather information about the possible reason for student's absence and offer assistance if needed. If there are students who, despite messages and calls from the teacher, have not yet responded and
registered for DL, the teacher should contact the social welfare center – it is considered a red flag when parents do not support their child’s learning and do not cooperate with the school. Plans and guidelines for reopening of schools and kindergartens On May 7, the Croatian government adopted a decision defining conditions for the normalization of school classes as of Monday, May 11. Under this decision most students will continue with DL for the time being, only kindergarten and primary school students (grades 1-4) will have an option to return to school. The rationale behind this partial reopening is an economic one, aiming to secure continued student learning and childcare for parents of young children who will need to go back to work. However, the Croatian Institute of Public Health encouraged parents to keep children at home whenever possible, since the number of children in kindergartens and schools may be such that the physical distance measures will be difficult to maintain. Children with chronic illnesses or in contact with chronic patients should also not go back to schools, according to the guidance. Distance learning going forward: Making use of the DL experience and resources to provide added value to traditional teaching and learning In addition to making use of DL in the time of crisis, the ministry of education sees it as an opportunity to add value to traditional teaching and learning in the classroom. With that in mind, the Ministry is currently developing an Action Plan that will also regulate the use of DL in “normal” circumstances. Some suggestions for using DL during regular school year include: •
• •
Widening access for students who are (i) temporarily unable to attend regular classes – e.g. students in hospitals or at home due to illness; (ii) talented students with substantial additional commitments – e.g. in sports or music; (iii) students in isolated areas (islands or rural areas); Temporary bridging the shortage of teachers in some areas - e.g. math teacher on an island; and Participating in international communities of practice and knowledge sharing – e.g. eTwinning.
As Croatia is entering its 8th week of DL, we have seen tremendous engagement and dedication of all stakeholders involved – teachers, parents, students, and the government – to ensure the continuation of student learning and their overall well-being. At the same time we are reminded, now more than ever, of the crucial importance of close human and social interaction, peer learning, relationship building, and other benefits of physical school attendance for ensuring a successful and fruitful educational process at all levels.
Supporting teachers during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic TARA BETEILLE | MAY 19, 2020
Teacher in Ghana
We’re in Vientiane, Lao PDR, where my 1st grader’s school has been closed for two months. It will not open until August 2020. But every weekday, he wakes up excited to see the activities his teachers have planned for him ― writing letters or stories, reading, games, experiments, interactive activities for groups of kids, and meditation. Once he’s done with one and posts it, he waits to hear back from his teachers, which he invariably does – detailed, thoughtful comments on every little thing he posts. They do this for all the kids. It’s truly mindboggling. His teachers have learned what works and what doesn’t along the way, innovating and seeking feedback from parents, school management and each other, all while reassuring us everything is in control. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought life to a standstill across the world, with nearly 178 countries reporting school closures. Parents like us have the luxury of knowing our kids will be alright ― their schools and teachers are working overtime so our kids can learn. That isn’t the reality for many parents and school systems. If anything, this pandemic has brought into sharp focus how privileged some students are, and how others have been left behind. It has also shown us how important teachers are ― and how they can succeed, even during a crisis, with the right technology and support system. While many school systems and teachers are trying to engage students, they face at least three serious bottlenecks: (1) stress due to economic uncertainty, concern for the safety of loved ones, and anxiety about the future; (2) the daunting challenge of returning to schools where many students have dropped out or fallen behind ― and increased pressure on teachers to ensure catch-up with little professional development support; and (3) little access to the right technologies or the skills to use them (my son’s school gives all teachers and students ipads with a host of learning material pre-loaded).
A new World Bank note outlines three key principles to strengthen teacher effectiveness during and in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, as well as opportunities for long-run improvement: 1. Principle 1: Support Teacher Resilience to Ensure Teacher Effectiveness: School systems must protect teacher jobs and salaries so that there is a motivated workforce ready to get students back to speed when schools reopen. Enhancing teacher intrinsic motivation and minimizing burnout is also important. Interventions, such as the HealthMinds@ Work-inspired initiative, Education for Wellbeing, in Mexico, can help teachers cultivate important aspects of well-being using simple exercises drawing upon the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology and traditional contemplative perspectives. In the long-term, specialized counselling units can support teacher well-being in both emergency and non-emergency situations. 2. Principle 2: Support Teachers Instructionally to Ensure Teacher Effectiveness: Teachers must be equipped to assess students once they return to school so they can identify what key content and skills have been lost and need rebuilding – as well as detect warning signs of dropping out. Teachers will also need professional development support to undertake effective remedial education. As school systems settle, the focus must return to ensure all early grade children are proficient readers, the foundation for all subsequent learning. Roughly 400 hours of high-quality, properly-sequenced instruction, delivered with appropriate pedagogy will maximize the number of students who become independent readers by the end of grade 3. For this, teachers will require support to master their ability to deliver high-quality early grade instruction. 3. Principle 3: Support Teachers Technologically to Ensure Teacher Effectiveness: Countries and school systems that have weathered COVID-19 more successfully have also ensured their teachers have access to technology. As schools closed in the Kyrgyz Republic, for instance, teachers were provided free SIM cards to access educational material online and WhatsApp. But it isn’t just about providing technology; teachers must also know how to use technology effectively. In Lebanon, the Ministry has been training teachers to record and upload documents and hold virtual classes effectively. Not all teachers will approach technology in the same way. They will need to be supported with diverse strategies. As school systems settle, technology should be integrated into teaching-learning processes as well as routine needs, such as HR-systems. In all these tasks, strong school leadership will be key. The post-COVID-19 phase will offer many opportunities to “Build Back Better”, that is strengthen quality and equity in school systems. Countries will need to devote the necessary financing to achieve these goals ― and they will need to bridge digital gaps ― if they want a generation of flourishing young people.
Successful examples of scaling up teaching and learning in response to COVID-19 CRISTOBAL COBO | INAKI SANCHEZ CIARRUSTA | APRIL 22, 2020
Little girl on computer in Latin America
In a crisis, inequalities are likely to widen. What the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made evident is the gap between education systems that already have a robust platform of solutions to deliver remote learning and those that don’t. These gaps highlight the disparities in access to electricity, the internet, and devices. While those are considered to be the main challenges, there is a whole set of additional gaps that become evident even when the basic infrastructure is available. First, COVID-19 has exposed a large digital gap in how to use technology in a pedagogically meaningful way to enhance teaching and learning. Additionally, we see the school digital gap that distinguishes between education institutions that are simply content suppliers and those that can maximize learning by offering much more than access to educational materials (online and via radio or TV). The latter gap highlights whether a school has the capacity to offer well planned and carefully selected sequences of digital learning, along with appropriate monitoring mechanisms. The emphasis should be not only on the delivery of resources but also on generating engagement and active feedback – a situation where, instead of simply maximizing the time online, educators prioritize the quality of the learning experience. The actions to minimize the impact of school closures can be planned as short-term (emergency mode) or mid- and long-term solutions (allowing resilience, recovery, and reform of the education system). However, in low-resource environments, the emergency action often ends up being the de facto solution. Why wouldn’t education systems adopting proven solutions that can not only minimize the consequences of COVID-19, but also build better infrastructure for education in the future?
The three examples below illustrate how to reduce the current and (potentially) future learning inequalities. These country experiences are organized into three categories: content curation and classification; scalable technologies; and digital pedagogies.
Crowdsourced content, curation and classification: The Spanish Ministry of Education, through The National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training (INTEF) in partnership with the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation (RTVE), and in collaboration with different publishers, collated in record time a comprehensive selection of educational resources, for broadcast on television and available online. The key steps were: 1) Leveraging content that already exists rather than creating new content. As a quick first step, the Spanish team aggregated all the educational content already made available by the administration. Then major publishers were invited to share their educational materials (mainly short videos). In addition, digital learning resources were collected from other sources such as social media (videos from popular YouTuber teachers). 2) Classifying and categorizing resources. Two teams of educators (for primary and secondary) revised, selected, and validated the resources. This process not only focused on the usefulness of the resources but also aligned them with the national plan (structured by age and subject). Given the emergency circumstances, and the need to act fast, flexible quality controls were applied. 3) Multi-channel sharing of resources. Educational resources are now broadcast five hours every day via public TV (three hours in “Educlan” and two in “La 2”, from RTVE) and online (on demand). Learners (and teachers), can either watch television at the times that match their age and grade, or can access these resources online. So far, the results are very promising. Almost 40% of the students between ages of 6 and 10 are watching Educlan, doubling and tripling the channel’s audience. One of the key lessons learned is that constant communication is essential: public and private institutions are in constant contact with each other and with the communities of educators and associations (who are providing additional resources). The next steps will be to fill the gaps by producing specific content that is missing and reinforce the interaction with and participation of students. More information in the podcast where the Spanish team shares their experience (download here).
Scalable technologies to reach everyone: For over 50 years, Mexico has promoted educational television (Telesecundaria), offering remote learning through satellite television benefiting multi-grade schools. The pedagogical model combines short educational videos (5 to 30 minutes), supported by sessions using lesson plans and learning materials. The Telesecundaria model has been different from other teaching models because a teacher teaches all the subjects in each grade, like in elementary school but with videos. Telesecundaria reaches 21.4% of the total secondary enrollment in Mexico (1.3 million students and 72,000 teachers). This modality is especially effective for communities that don’t have regular access to the internet, empowering remote, rural and marginalized populations. Now it is also being used by learners in other countries across Central America and in the United States and Canada. To face the current crisis the Mexican Ministry of Education announced that it will extend the telelectures from preschool, primary, secondary, all the way to the tertiary level. The multimedia materials are structured by content types and by subjects and are broadcast via free and cable
television (also online). The program also includes materials for teachers and parents. Telesecundaria has been used by a partner organization that is broadcasting these lessons via satellite to reach other Spanish-speaking countries.
Flexible digital pedagogies: Since 2012 Uruguay has adopted an innovative model integrating live remote teaching of English as a second language, known as Ceibal en InglÊs. English is taught in state schools through videoconferencing. The project involves a remote teacher and a classroom teacher. Each week the students connect with a remote teacher who teaches their classes via videoconference. Twice a week, students work on assignments using an online learning platform. This initiative was implemented in partnership between the government of Uruguay and the British Council. It reaches 80,000 children in grades 4-6 and over 17,000 students in grades 7-12. The results are promising – kids do perform better in national English exams. During the crisis, the program has been adapted to the new circumstances. A combination of short videos and follow-up activities are completed on a weekly basis using the national online learning platform. Remote teachers work with students using different platforms to interact. These adaptations are not limited to just the telepresence tools. Now educators are adapting the content into targets that learners need to achieve. The next step is to adapt the lesson plans to the new situation, making sure that in addition to having access to content, learning is also about exchanges, interactions and human connections. More information: download podcast. These examples show that it is critical to design scalable EdTech solutions that can offer a good balance between the provision of educational materials, access to multichannel mechanisms, and constant support to enrich the teaching and learning experience. Countries are adopting flexible strategies to maintain learning in this new normal. Appropriate support and monitoring will be critical to ensure that the innovations implemented are not only in the delivery of content but also in enriching the learning experience. This will help address the crisis, but also create resilient institutional capacities to face future challenges. For more useful resources prepared by the World Bank's EdTech team, visit the Remote Learning, EdTech & COVID-19 site. Special thanks to Emanuela Di Gropello, Robert J. Hawkins, and Helena Rovner for the feedback and support.
Schools’ readiness for digital learning in the eyes of principals. An analysis from PISA 2018 and its implications for the COVID19 (Coronavirus) crisis response JUAN MANUEL MORENO | LUCAS GORTAZAR | APRIL 08, 2020
Ministries of education around the world try to ensure learning continuity for children and youth through distance learning.
Across more than 170 countries, some 1.5 billion students have seen schools close as part of their governments’ response to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Now, ministries of education around the world try to ensure learning continuity for children and youth through distance learning. In most cases, efforts involve the use of various digital platforms featuring educational content, and a variety of educational technology (EdTech) solutions to keep communication and learning spaces as open and stimulating as possible. The paradox facing all countries is that, while these technological solutions seem to be the best way to minimize huge learning losses during the crisis (especially for vulnerable students), they also risk further widening equity gaps in education . Thus, if the digital gap in education were to increase while schools are closed, learning inequality and learning poverty would also inevitably increase. Learning continuity would then be ensured for some but denied to others. Initial efforts are focusing on ensuring that all students have access to the Internet, the first dimension of the digital gap. This would allow all students to access online learning materials and digital platforms with educational content. However, even in rich countries where Internet connectivity is all but universal
and there is little gap in access, the COVID-19 crisis has illuminated two more dimensions to the digital gap. The second dimension is the digital use gap: without direction, engagement with online content is less sophisticated and less learning-oriented for students from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds. The third dimension is the school digital gap: the capacities and capabilities of each school to provide individualized, or suitably levelled and sequenced, digital learning for students; to promote and monitor engagement with these materials; and provide to feedback that helps maximize learning outcomes. For example, one school might be sending printed materials only or suggesting that students watch videos aimed at the general public, while another school is able to continue classes virtually or initiate creative ways of using digital apps for collaborative learning and individualized student support. The vast disparity in schools’ capabilities makes it easy to see why this is the most relevant digital gap for ensuring that students can keep learning during the pandemic. Since nobody knows more about schools than their principals, we have looked at the Principals’ Questionnaire in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 to see what they said about the readiness of their schools and teachers to create and manage digital learning experiences for students. Their responses bring some hope, but also a realistic and somewhat disappointing picture. Do principals agree that there is an effective online learning support platform available to their students? Principals in slightly more than half of education systems surveyed said that most 15-year-old students are in a school without an effective online learning support platform. This is the case in all participating countries from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), most of those from Europe and Central Asia (ECA) (not the Baltics, Turkey, and Kazakhstan) and all of those from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), except Qatar, plus a considerable number of high-income and OECD member countries (France and Portugal had 35 percent of students with no access, Germany 34 percent, and Japan 25 percent). While most countries are in the range of 35 to 70 percent, universal access to such platforms is within reach only for a few countries, including all the Nordic countries, Singapore, Qatar, and the four Chinese provinces participating in PISA 2018, and to a lesser extent Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and the United States. Overall, most countries are in the range of 35 to 70 percent of students attending schools in which the principal reports the availability of effective online learning support platforms. Hence the world’s education systems remain very far from universal availability of effective online platforms for student learning. Figure 1. An Effective Online Learning Support Platform is Available Percentage of 15-year-old students whose school principal agreed or strongly agreed
Do teachers have the necessary technical and pedagogical skills to integrate digital devices in instruction? Principals had a much more positive opinion on this question. With just a few outliers (most notably, Japan), most countries have around two-thirds of 15-year old students in schools whose principals think their teachers have the technical and pedagogical skills for digital learning. High-income OECD members, again, do not fare better than middle-income countries. Differences between regions are comparatively small, although LAC and MENA lag behind ECA and East Asia and Pacific (EAP). In the COVID-19 crisis, the responses on this question offer some hope, though two-thirds seems low for teachers while at the same time raises concerns about the remaining third, whose teachers do not have skills that are now indispensable for successful digital learning during the school closures. Figure 2. Teachers Have the Necessary Technical and Pedagogical Skills to Integrate Digital Devices in Instruction Percentage of 15-year-old students whose school principal agreed or strongly agreed
Are there effective professional resources to learn how to use the digital devices that are available to teachers? Principals were reasonably positive in their views on this question. For most countries, between 45 and 80 percent of students are in schools whose principal considers that effective resources exist for teachers to use the digital devices available, with quite a few countries reaching 90 percent and higher. Here again, rich countries are not particularly different from middle-income countries across LAC, MENA, EAP, and ECA. The two outliers are Japan and Hungary, where principals report a lack of such resources (affecting 19 and 29 percent of students, respectively). With close to a third of students having teachers who lack access to these professional resources, the COVID-19 crisis increases the urgency for ministries of education and private sector providers around the world to create and make available more and better resources for teachers (and now parents as well). Figure 3. Effective Professional Resources for Teachers to Learn How to Use Digital Devices are Available Percentage of 15-year-old students whose school principal agreed or strongly agreed
Conclusion: Digital gaps in education are important to address in response to COVID-19 and future crises When it comes to education inequalities, the digital paradox is inescapable. In most of the 82 education systems participating in PISA, there is a positive correlation between the three variables described above and student socioeconomic status (a positive and statistically significant correlation is found in 46, 47 and 56 countries for each of the three variables described respectively). Thus, during COVID-19 and any future need for intermittent school closures, digital learning has the potential both to avoid widening learning inequalities and, paradoxically, to exacerbate them. The good news is that most school principals are quite confident about the pedagogical skills of their teachers and the availability of resources to help them use digital learning while students remain at home. It is critical now to ensure universal access to the Internet, as this can enable schools to use EdTech effectively, in age-appropriate ways, as part of their regular instruction. The aim is a smooth transition to distance learning, to allow continuity of learning during any future disruption in school operations.
