As schools closed, most activity was presented online as the first option to enhance learning at home. What did appear immediately was the obvious inequalities that were already apparent – lack of consistent internet access, lack of hardware at home (larger families perhaps sharing one mobile screen) lack of ‘higher level’ education support for the type of challenges presented online etc…
Edutopia have identified some practical support for families with very young children:
7 Tips for Managing Distance Learning in Preschool
A preschool education director shares what her school is doing to keep kids’ screen time to a minimum while fostering play-based learning at home.
April 29, 2020
Our current health crisis has given remote learning a global platform, with stay-at-home orders closing school buildings across the country. For early childhood educators who promote play- or project-based approaches, going remote can be a particularly daunting task.
Preschools rely heavily on an openness to free play within carefully curated environments. Through play, children develop foundational social and emotional, executive functioning, and academic skills. Early childhood educators often act as facilitators, building upon children’s natural curiosities. To inspire play, we curate spaces with open-ended materials that provoke children’s engagement with each other and their surroundings.
Even as preschools have closed their doors and transitioned to remote learning, it is essential that these core principles remain. It is possible to work with families to establish play-based, child-centered learning that pushes beyond engaging with a screen. At my school, we are keeping virtual meetings short—a maximum of 30 minutes—and instead giving families tools to foster learning at home.
Once a week, we host a large group sing-along with about 30 families. All other virtual meetings are in small groups of three to six children to accommodate turn-taking and ensure all children have opportunities to speak. Attendance is voluntary.
Here are the other things my preschool is doing to help families continue the learning at home—while staying true to what young children need most.
7 WAYS TO MAKE DISTANCE LEARNING WORK IN PRESCHOOL
1. Let children guide you: Although we’re not together, children are still playing, exploring, and learning in their homes. Ask families to submit photos or videos of children’s play. Look for trends in this documentation. During the small-group meetings, we display these photos or videos so children’s voices are heard and teachers are not the only leaders of remote discussions.
To take an example from my school, one of our teachers noticed a trend in the photos and videos we were receiving from families in one small group: Several children were playing with trains, cars, or trucks at home. During a virtual class meeting, this teacher sang automobile-related songs and posted videos of children playing with their automobiles so that children could see themselves and their friends. The children then discussed and compared their play.
2. Provide meaningful alternatives to screen time: Children between the ages of 2 and 7 are still in the preoperational stage, and it is developmentally inappropriate to expect their learning to be entirely screen-based. With the automobile-inspired play, the teacher invited children to continue their exploration after their virtual meeting by building automobiles using cardboard boxes. The teacher then invited families to share photos or videos of their children’s creations.
To inspire these real-world prompts and ensure that they’re feasible in your students’ homes, invite families to submit photos of their spaces or survey them to better understand the resources available to them. At our school, we’ve had at least half of families in each class share these details with us.
3. Remember that families are your partners: Families are excellent allies and can support you by extending children’s learning at home. However, we must remember that families have other responsibilities outside of supporting us with our lessons. Make attendance at the virtual meetings voluntary, and if a family misses one or neglects to complete a project, send a note to check in and share what was missed, but don’t require participation.
4. Remote relationship-building is critical: Relationships are the bedrock of our schools. Although we cannot be together, we can stay in touch and show we care. Work as a staff to connect with families once a week over the phone or via video chat—whatever works best for them. Send a school-wide email every day.
To ensure that this work is spread sustainably across your staff, create a schedule with faculty that rotates responsibility for writing the daily email so that each person’s voice is heard. Ideas for daily emails include: a note of gratitude, video recordings of read-alouds or songs, child-friendly cooking recipes, and directions for how to use household items to make paint or build an imaginary structure.
5. Music is magical: Children respond well to singing and dancing online. For a child, participating in a song or dance is an easy way to engage with a screen because they can follow the leader. The rules of this interaction are clear and translate well into an online format. Try a school-wide sing-along or use songs intermittently to re-engage children who may be distracted during a virtual meeting.
6. Leverage your tech-savvy team members: Even if your school is typically a low-tech environment, there are likely teachers or families who are tech-savvy. Lean on them for their creativity. Taking your school online is a collective effort—any idea is worth trying.
7. Be kind to yourself: Previous metrics of success no longer apply. Measure your success in participation and smiles. If children are disinterested during a virtual meeting, remember that they are young and this is new to everyone. Don’t take abrupt exits personally. If overall attendance is dwindling, call or survey families to find out what they need and try your best to adapt. Lastly, acknowledge that you cannot be the exact right thing for everyone at all times. We are all just doing our best.
A personal reflection:
From my own perspective, and experience of working in a variety of developing countries (we are all developing of course!) these are my own thoughts:
Ministries of Education have provided guidance for educators working on distance and remote learning. However some of the challenges may now be more apparent, particularly as time wears on. Students may get bored, parents may demand more of their ‘study’ time etc. The difficulty in all countries is that no one was prepared for such a critical situation. Below is a list of personal concerns about remote and distance learning and if a spike in the number of cases occurs, we may be better prepared.
i. Access and equity– Not every student has the same access to technology. Not every student has the same device or the same internet connection. Some students are sharing devices with siblings or are in a WiFI/internet dead zone.
ii. Home environment– we know that students are in a home environment where focus might be more of a challenge due to noise and chaos and frequent distractions. It’s easy to assume students are being apathetic,but the reality is often more complicated.
Some students are experiencing trauma and are struggling with basic functional tasks. It’s important to remember that not every student has the same access to a quiet workspace at home. Not every student has the same access to physical materials. Some students are babysitting siblings because their parents are “essential workers.” Some are living in a state of uncertainty with parents who have recently lost their jobs and income. Some students have particular learning difficulties. Each home is going to be different and learning conditions can not be controlled as in a classroom.
Many parents may not know how to support/stimulate their children as they may not have developed confidence in learning themselves, may feel inadequate or just want to ‘leave it to the teachers’ as it is their job.
iii. Student engagement– In some cases, a lack of engagement isn’t actually a lack of access. Instead, students may be confused due to poor language skills or lack interest in the way material is presented (lack of visuals for example). Some will be using small screens which will make reading more difficult. They’ve gone from classrooms explicitly designed to support learning, to bedrooms and kitchen tables where distractions are plentiful and expert support isn’t always on hand
iv. Student skills– Students may fail to complete assignments because they are disorganized and perhaps the tasks themselves have not been thought through as teachers are rushing to get materials online. It may be necessary to provide tutorials for technology access and use.
V . Student empowerment –some need to take more control over their learning –but they also need to learn new skills and to be more self directed. Choice of assignments – students may be empowered when they have some choice over which assignment/task to complete.
vi. Collaboration –try to encourage peer learning. Some students may not work so well on their own. Some students will struggle with certain basic technology skills, when working on their own. It may be possible to encourage some students to help each other as ‘Tech buddies’ for specific use of the technology or ‘study buddies’ who can help with peer learning.
vii. Teachers – may not have the technical skills or experience to seamlessly provide relevant online tasks for individualised learning. Differentiation is already difficult in standard classes, let alone online where everyone is now an individual. Personalised feedback –often difficult for teachers to achieve this, but this can be a powerful motivator.
Some teachers may be able to construct a more ‘Multigrade’ curriculum so that siblings can work together on projects at home.
viii. Deadlines – Teachers need to be patient and empathetic –may need to extend deadlines and accept some excuses for non-completion of tasks.
ix. Who can benefit and who may be at risk? Apart from those students who are tech savvy and have good support at home; shy students, those who are subject to physical bullying, and those who do not work easily ‘to the bell’ may benefit from individual work at home. Now that testing is less apparent students may feel more relaxed in their learning. Some will enjoy the independence and ‘freedom from the timetable’ that working at home can bring, however cyberbullying may be on the rise as more students are now available online.
Hacking of individual sites and video-conferencing apps like Zoom have also been on the rise (e.g. online classes in Singapore were hacked during virtual classes).
x. Resistance – Changing mindsets is one of the challenges – especially among educators who have been resistant towards adopting technology and online learning. Those families living with considerable disadvantage may not be able to take the pressure of providing space and devices at home and may not support the way teachers are expecting students to work. Some students themselves may be resistant and disengaged and in need of the ‘discipline’ of a timetable and cooperation with friends.
And from the Aga Khan Foundation:
Aga Khan Foundation provides support for families to help children learn at home during COVID-19
Meeting the demands and expectations of supporting children to “learn at home” can be overwhelming.
Whether it is receiving new instructions from teachers or navigating hundreds of online resources, it has become stressful and tiring for many families and caregivers to adopt and adapt available materials for what could really work for children within their own homes.
To meet this demand, the Aga Khan Foundation has curated a number of suggested tips and resources to support children’s learning at home during the COVID-19 crisis.
The three resource documents that were developed affirm and reinforce the important role that parents and caretakers continue to have in supporting their children’s learning and growth during COVID-19. The three resources documents are linked below:
1. Supporting Families to Help Children Learn and Grow at Home during COVID-19 – An overview and introduction to key tips and learning resources that families may consider to help their children continue to learn and grow while schools are closed during COVID-19.Download
2. 12 Tips to Support Families to Help Children Learn and Grow at Home – An abbreviated set of 12 tips to provide parents and caretakers with a quick guide of suggested ideas and reflections to consider during COVID-19.Download
3. 75 Suggested Online and Offline Learning Activities to Help Children Learn and Grow at Home – A curated set of 75 suggested offline and online learning activities and resources to support families to help children learn and develop during COVID-19.Download
