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.
