Many things changed forever following that moment. One of them is how education is delivered. The creation of online learning platforms and hybrid teaching methods showed how technology could be utilised to deliver a good quality of education. Many parents became hands-on “teachers” to supplement the support offered by schools while limitations on spending time outside meant families combined a walk in the park with outdoor learning and play. As daunting as it was for most parents, it opened the eyes of many to new ways of learning.
The change in relationships with parents is a key factor raised by education leaders in the rising number of children missing education (Analysis). At the recent “Lost Learning” conference, organised by CYP Now and therapeutic education provider TCES, delegates heard how 100,000 children regularly miss education equating to 32 million days of lost learning. There are many factors for this including rising levels of childhood trauma, poverty and unmet special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), but changes in expectations and attitudes of parents towards school was also cited by educators.
There is no quick fix. The pandemic turbo-charged a trend that was already emerging – a feeling that the school system, with its emphasis on testing and streaming, is not meeting the needs of a growing number of children. The result is more children being excluded or self-excluding, more being electively home educated and more being flexi-schooled – where students spend part of the week at school and the remainder learning at home or alternative provision, or undertaking enrichment activities (Feature).
Whether it is push or pull factors driving parents’ decisions, the likelihood is that more are going to look for alternatives to mainstream schooling until some fundamental issues are addressed – such as exam pressure, inadequate support for SEND pupils and the narrow nature of the curriculum.
This presents a challenge for national and local policymakers to ensure all children get a good education in a safe environment. But instead of trying to block it, the government and teachers’ leaders should consider, as part of the move to inclusive schooling, how it creates a more flexible education system that incorporates a variety of teaching and learning methods as, quite clearly, one size does not fit all.
