The Challenges of Education Post-Pandemic

There is no denying that the pandemic has had a massive impact on the education sector. Over the past 12 months, students have spent more time at home than at school or university. It would be naive to expect everything to return back to normal, so what will happen after lockdown and what sort of challenges will educators face post-pandemic?

Knowing where to Draw the Line with Distance Learning

Distance learning has been propelled into the spotlight due to COVID-19. While distance learning offers a number of benefits, there are some evident drawbacks too. It can be very didactic and solitary when students are purely clicking through presentations or reading documents online. Just because we have gotten used to learning in this way due to school closures it does not mean that we should fall back on this as a teaching norm. Those who fall behind can end up falling further behind when there is a heavy emphasis on distance learning. What happens after lockdown depends partly on whether the vaccination does put an end to lockdowns forever.

Ed-Tech Buy-In

Ed-tech buy-in is another challenge we are likely to see in the education sector as a knock-on impact of the pandemic. We know that some students using technology during the pandemic will have had a negative experience because they are not used to it. We need to use these poor experiences as a critical learning tool in terms of technology and education training so that we can adopt ed-tech successful.

Educators May Feel Unsupported and Overwhelmed

We are sure that this is something that a lot of educators can relate to at the moment. After all, a lot of teachers had no notice or very little notice about school closures and shifting to an online learning experience. This in itself was a challenge for everyone, especially as teachers pride themselves on being organised. It is important to recognise that educators are going to need support as we move out of the pandemic and transition to what will happen after lockdown. While trying to deal with the realities of the pandemic themselves, educators need to make sure learning continues while also helping students who are struggling with the impact of COVID-19. It is a lot to take in, so support is a must.