Early lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic Malcolm Nicolson and Pascale Hertay
T
he 2020 Covid-19 pandemic has led to a period of intense innovation and re-thinking of educational practices, as well as sheer hard work. Much has been shared online around changing practices as colleagues across Asia, and then Italy and Spain, adapted and accommodated as the situation changed. In this article we don’t intend to repeat the detailed thinking around online and blended pedagogy as described in many forums, but will look at the crisis from a leadership perspective and consider school readiness for crisis, in addition to ways in which schools and organisations can Figure 1: Prior to the emergence of Covid-19, did your school have an emergency plan in place to ensure continuity of learning?
51 Responses
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respond in the short- and long-term. The thinking in this article is based around data collected in a survey we conducted in April 2020 which was first presented at the ECIS digital leadership conference. The survey of school leaders provides indicative data from 62 respondents, which enables us through this article to: • consider insights on how international schools responded in the short-term to the Covid-19 challenges; • provide tips to help in developing or improving online learning (strategic, technological and pedagogical); and • identify lessons learned or changes that we have implemented that could become the ‘new normal’ or ‘new possible’ in bringing about a positive impact on student learning.
Crisis Planning As can be seen in Figure 1, prior to Covid-19 a relatively small number of schools had formal planning in place to prepare for an event such as a pandemic, terror attack or natural disaster. According to PWC (2020), it is good practice to put in place a cross-functional response team that has the authority to make decisions and keep leadership informed. Schools are advised to convene groups that bring together leaders and other staff who would be responsible
for a crisis plan, response efforts, and health and safety matters in order to close gaps, and to formalise the crisis plan. PWC recommends that schools create an operations centre that coordinates communications and key messages with all stakeholders. As seen from the data we collected, many schools have a plan, but are yet to formalise it. It is time to re-visit these crisis plans to ensure that they are formalised and fit for purpose.
Being away from our schools physically The Save the Children report of 2015 highlights the way in which children see education as one of their most important needs, especially in a time of crisis. Children feel safe and protected at school, and they feel better at school. Save the Children note that education “is the key to their future, their protection, their happiness and their health – and it cannot be delayed”. This Covid pandemic means that many children have missed school, and will almost certainly continue to attend only partially for months or years to come. How harmful is it to students if they miss long periods of school? Sundstrom and Blackmore (2020) discuss students in Christchurch, New Zealand who missed school for several weeks after the 2011 earthquakes. Students’ results didn’t drop,
