Organisation of Learning
One teacher plus 30 children in a classroom is not feasible at the moment so we need to think more flexibly about how to enable learning, moving away from the direct instruction model towards one that gives learners greater autonomy. You can have up to 15 students in a classroom, so you’ve got to figure out where the others are going to be and how you’re going to manage learning across groups in multiple locations, which requires a radical change in approach.
The Classroom
Classroom time should be reserved only for those activities where a teacher’s presence is essential, such as direct instruction or answering questions. Tasks can be broken down according to the location in which they can be performed, saving face to face teacher time for when it’s really needed, with learners switching through the zones to control the number of people in any one place at a time.
Individual tasks
Highly individual tasks could be done at home, independently or with parental supervision, or in areas where spatial distribution is easier to achieve, such as dining areas / canteens, sports halls, or outside.
Distance learning
The continuation of distance learning could help reduce the number of children in school on any one day and groups could join the class by Zoom to build a sense of cohesion.
Use community spaces:
Flipped learning could work well here, as could learner-led projects that include literacy and maths skills but are driven by the learner themselves. The national curriculum won’t change overnight but this could be an amazing opportunity to try a new approach.
Also see: “Future of Education?”
Tasks can be broken down according to the location in which they can be performed, saving face to face teacher time for when it’s really needed, with learners switching through the zones to control the number of people in any one place at a time.
