Whether you are a student or a parent, you can’t ignore how the COVID pandemic is affecting the education system. Indeed, newspapers have highlighted that schools and universities have struggled to adjust their process to the pandemic restrictions. Students who have not been able to take their A-levels have been unhappy with the marking solution developed by the government, and which has affected their chances to pursue their education further.
As kids and students are heading back to school and university, it becomes essential to review how education will change in the future. Indeed, understanding where current challenges are can put us, parents or students, in a better position to make things right!
We can expect more single accommodations
Whether you are heading to university or worry about your child who will be starting at college soon, we can expect the typical student house share to become a distant memory. In the wake of COVID, more and more students are looking into single-hosted options to limit spreading risks. For instance, it is fair to say that campuses with the offer to book student studio accommodation for a single person are going to be flooded with applications. Private landlords can also adjust to bring more safety to their tenants by adding en-suite facilities to each bedroom.
Additionally, the rise in single accommodation or self-contained bedroom and bathroom options may increase test success too! After all, eliminating distractions can encourage students to improve their learning strategies.
Learning and budgeting belong together
A lot of university students or parents are looking for new solutions to secure an education budget. Indeed, parents and students alike need to prepare for the eventuality of a future lockdown. This means that a laptop and a secure broadband connection are essential. For students, the laptop is part of their learning process and could be financed through student loans but also via a necessary side hustle such as tutoring. For parents, the laptop can be the beginning of a no-furlough source of income. They can be repurposed to support their child’s education further. The bottom line? We don’t think of learning without associating the cost of our knowledge, especially at times where schools can remain shut!
Will professors embrace online learning?
The online learning platform introduced in a hurry by schools and universities has been disappointing. A lot of students have been left wondering about the benefits and values of virtual classes. This has caused many to drop out or postpone their university start. As a result, colleges in the UK are losing valuable funding.
Schools, on the other hand, receive public fundings, which allows them to maintain their curriculum online. However, kids from impoverished areas could have been left out from distance learning, as securing a laptop and a connection became problematic.
If we want our schools and universities to become digital-savvy and accessible to all, we need to consider how distance learning can be improved to work for everyone.
In conclusion, our approach to safety and digital technology in education is changing through COVID. More importantly, students are now questioning the value of their education, wondering whether costs can be justified.
For once, we all are in charge of the next step. At school or in universities, parents, teaching professionals, and students can reach out to each other to find and develop sustainable approaches. If we carry on with digital learning, it’s time for universities to transform their funding strategy to survive. But we need to start this conversation to move things forward.
This is a collaborative post.
