We have a serious period behind us. This is true for us as Hungarian citizens, but also for our parenthood.
One method of controlling a coronavirus epidemic was quarantine. The forced stay at home fell during the school period, so the children spent the last three months at home instead of at school. Not hanging out, as digital education was a real test.
We were in such a situation for the first time, which was completely new in all respects. Using the internet and technical gadgets is not far from today’s kids at all, so if the conditions were at home, maybe they enjoyed digital education the most. Parents were forced to take forced leave, while who was luckier was able to work in them as part of a home office job. The worst were those who even lost their jobs due to the coronavirus.
Surviving the challenge of digital education, parents and educators are now breathing in as another wave of the virus threatens, starting the 2020-2021 school year according to the normal curriculum. It was more difficult for educators to implement digital education, but the lack of personal contact was an even bigger problem. Some of the children were happy to be able to learn from home using the internet, but there was almost a consensus that this feeling was only a pleasure in the first few weeks. Later, the closeness of classmates and schoolmates was lacking. As a parent, there are basically more roles to play outside of that, but the role of educator is rarely mixed into this. Enthusiastic and devoted parents pay attention to their children and monitor the student’s progress. Home-based learning has not been known so far, but it has still fallen far from the teacher who submitted the curriculum.
Chaos and tension
A lot of mothers and fathers do not have a pedagogical degree, so if they had studied with their children before, now it had to be raised to a new level. Participation in learning had to be more intensive, as it was up to the parents instead of teacher guidance. The problem arose from the fact that due to the lack of proper education, due to the lack of basics and methodologies of education, the parent was not called to do so.
Anyone who was able to overcome the use of the digital learning support system and tools used by the institution still faced the difficulty of teaching. Yet they were in a much better position than those who had no easy use of the tools. And the most disadvantaged were those who, due to their financial situation, could not afford the Internet, smart devices at all. They were all able to create a tension-generating situation that was not pleasant for either the parent or the students. On the other hand, the educators also found themselves in difficulty, as they were not - could not - be prepared for this.
Calm down
We can start the new school year with a little breath, hoping that another wave of the virus will not interfere with our lives in this way.
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(Source: marmalade.co.hu | pictures: pixabay.com)