FEATURE: VIRTUAL LEARNING Stamford American School Hong Kong
Future of Education The past year has seen parents juggling working from home with remote learning for their children. For teachers, the experience has provided both challenges and benefits. – By Sarah Graham
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s I sit in front of my laptop conducting a Zoom interview with a schoolteacher on the topic of distance learning, I am interrupted by my six-yearold daughter asking me whether it’s time to join her next online lesson. The irony is not lost on me. For the best part of an entire school year, I, along with countless other Hong Kong parents and helpers, have been tasked with overseeing schooling from home. This has involved being at my daughter’s side as she has navigated her virtual school day while I’ve flitted between various bursts of productivity while working from home. The challenges of online learning have impacted parents of every age group, from helping children of primary age to learn to log on and sit still, to making sure older students attend all their lessons. As early as March last year, the Hong Kong Institute of Family Education, a non-profit group, reported that 80 per cent of
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parents surveyed revealed they were ‘highly stressed’ at school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most parents would agree that online learning has itself been a learning curve. So imagine the effect this unprecedented change has had on teachers. Schools are, by their very nature, a face-to-face affair. While many of us, pre-COVID, could request a work-from-home day if we didn’t want to go into the office, teachers could not.
Wycombe Abbey School
