Tuesday 2 February 2021

Learning in the time of Coronavirus: part One.


 

I don’t know how it will end. I cannot see a way out of here. I do not need someone to lead me; I do not need someone to tell me; I do not need a hero. All I am looking for is the opportunity to listen and talk over with others; the way we, together, may explore an approach to living that is harmonious, humble, intelligent and healthy.

 

 

 

Schools open or closed? Students at university or not? Months of remote learning; that is if you have a functioning laptop, reliable broadband and a quiet space to work. Teachers planning, recording, marking, communicating with student and parent. Children looking at screens, hour after hour, doing tasks that may be of some interest, some relevance, some enjoyment; nothing communal, nothing face-to-face. University students trying to make sense of Zoom seminars. Everything directed at a very narrow view of what education is.

 

Children are falling behind; they are being disadvantaged; they will not know enough to be able to pass whatever exams take place. The key is knowledge and the feeding of memory. How will children be able to function fully in the modern world if they don’t know enough? Are teachers fulfilling the requirements dictated by the curriculum and policed by OFSTED? 

 

The present model of learning as a commercial activity dictates that the university student and schoolchild gets value for money. The sacred relationship of service provider, consumer and purchaser is well and truly cemented in the world of money. For many the purpose of education is to get a good job and to be able to earn a decent wage: to feed the economy. The consumer is the individual with their specific preferences, aspirations and interests who chooses from a limited table dictated predominantly by the Government. Similarly, the service providers, the schools and universities; and the people who work in them, teachers and academics, are expected to meet the demands of the consumers. There is very little by way of conversation or meaningful discussion that exists across this relationship, which is dominated by an increasingly rigid and authoritarian hierarchy.

 

Space, both physical and psychological is essential to living harmoniously; having the freedom to listen and observe is essential to the activity of learning; as well as having the opportunity to freely explore ideas through friendly face to face conversation. What happens to us if we are deprived of diverse social activity? Can we fully understand one another through limited communication obtained through screens and disembodied voice?

 

In order to enable the return of the coming together to learn whilst the threat of the virus remains ever present, certain conditions have to be met. These generally revolve around reducing transmissions achieved through small gatherings in spacious and well-ventilated places. As successive lockdowns have led to a variety of psychological stresses and strains, there a necessity for teachers and students to meet together in the spirit of care, exploration and inquiry. What will the world that will greet us when the pandemic begins to subside look like? How can it be met with energy and curiosity, and not fear? How can the futured be shared and not be an imposed vision of ideology or privilege?

 

Learning is a process of making connections, cooperating and understanding, firmly based on the joy and freedom of exploration and discovery. The fettering of the education process to an adult view of what future the next generation should expect denies the necessity of engaging with uncertainty. Lives that delve back in time are the context in which we live in the present, but the past does not need to bind the present. The global pandemic is teaching us that any solid vision of the future is built on shaky ground. Learning is movement; time shifts unsteadily; all living things change; all living things end.


We seek to return to our blinkered view of live at our peril.

 

 

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