The Unexpected Benefits of Distance Learning

[Sponsored Article]

Looking back, describing 2020 merely as a ‘difficult’ year is to understate massively the unexpected events and challenges, which every citizen across the world has had to face.  All businesses and enterprises have had to re-examine, reinvent and re-define the approaches, processes and channels they use to get their job done.

So too for education. All schools have found themselves facing up to and setting out to address unexpected challenges. ‘Digital’ has become the pervasive, everyday reality. No longer a ‘nice-to-have’, ‘online’ is now vital for educators working to ensure continuity in every child’s learning. But switching, at short notice, from our usual default, mainly face-to-face approach to distanced learning has not been without its challenges. 

I am immensely proud of how my colleagues in ESF’s schools and kindergartens have risen to these challenges. Not only have they demonstrated remarkable flexibility and creativity, but they have also responded with single-minded determination to find, wherever and whenever possible, the best fit between learning and learner.  

But what have we learned from this challenge?  It may seem obvious, but we have learned so much more about the many things we thought we already knew and were confident we understood. For example, we know that effective communication is key. We understood that teachers need to be empowered to innovate. And we were confident that, while learners need just the right amount of support, they also need judiciously chosen opportunities to make decisions about and take responsibility for their learning. Our work was underpinned by the understanding that every learner is unique, bringing different attitudes, dispositions and experiences to each new learning task. 

And yet, what did we know? If there is one thing that we had to learn afresh it is that the relationships among teacher, learner and parent are paramount. We have always known about the importance of parents as children’s first supporters, teachers and mentors. We are now even more acutely aware of how much we have depended on parents’ support, understanding and patience over the last 12 months. And it is fair to say that the disruption to our conventional school-based practice and the associated need to find new ways of working differently, have taken their toll on all the partners. None of this has been easy.

In ESF, we aspire to ensure that every student achieves their best. The new way of working has placed additional pressure on us all.  ESF schools and kindergartens, working even more closely with parents and partners, have continued to deliver high quality learning experiences. As an example, our parent webinars were reported to be overwhelmingly successful, strengthening the connection between our teachers and parents.