Simon Carter, Director at RM comments on schools and teachers’ willingness to turn to hybrid learning.

Simon touches on the current situation with COVID and the new omicron variant; before discussing the willingness to operate a hybrid model amongst teachers and finishing with schools building on the excellent progress made with hybrid learning capabilities in the last 18 months. 

Simon Carter, Director at RM:

“With the number of COVID-19 cases rapidly rising, amidst the Omicron variant, workers up and down the country have been told to work from home for the foreseeable future. But the government is committed to ensuring schools remain open until the very end of this term, and start back in January as normal, despite the latest data in England showing that 236,000 pupils were out of school last week for COVID related reasons.

“Whatever happens, it is clear that some students will spend some time away from the classroom, and that is why more than 30 local authorities have already moved classes to online, with students being told to take home laptops where possible, in case they are unable to come back into class the next day – demonstrating just how digitally far the education sector has come over the last two years. Following a year spent in a pandemic-induced flux, educators have now accepted that this is the new normal and, irrespective of what might change with these revised restrictions, having adaptable processes that underpin teaching and learning are now essential.

“With the looming fear of interruptions to schools opening at the start 2022, ‘hybrid learning’ is a term that has again been bandied around but it’s up to schools to build on the good work achieved over lockdown to make it a reality in the new year. After all, it can only be a success if it’s implemented in the right way and schools over the Christmas period should prepare as best they can to ensure processes, systems and technology are ready to go no matter what the situation at the start of the new school term.