Covid lockdown: Online learning should not be seen as a stop-gap solution to school closures but an opportunity to improve education – Scotsman comment

“Of all the small nations of this Earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind,” Winston Churchill once remarked.
The need for online learning during the Covid pandemic is an opportunity to find new ways to improve education (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)The need for online learning during the Covid pandemic is an opportunity to find new ways to improve education (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The need for online learning during the Covid pandemic is an opportunity to find new ways to improve education (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Whether that’s true or a piece of politically astute flattery, the Scottish Enlightenment and the numerous inventions created by Scots – the list is still long even after erroneous entries are excluded – have earned this country a good reputation on the world stage.

And it is almost entirely due to one thing: education.

Scottish education – and, in particular, the engineers it produced – was once rightly world-famous. While we may have slipped down international league tables in more recent years, that is partly because other countries have improved. We are still one of the best educated nations on the planet – and that is a credit to our universities, schools and teachers.

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Disadvantaged children can access free broadband and mobile data during lockdown...
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The Covid pandemic, however, has caused serious disruption to the education of the next generation. With schools closed as part of efforts to stop the spread of the virus, online learning has proved to be a poor substitute for the classroom experience for too many children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A new poll by Savanta/ComRes for The Scotsman found strong support for the Scottish government’s decision to close schools with 72 per cent in favour – either “somewhat” or “strongly” – and just 11 per cent opposed.

However, a substantial minority, 31 per cent, thought the government should provide more support to parents as they try to ensure their children receive effective home schooling.

Clearly there has been a steep learning curve for all involved and there were bound to be some teething problems. And we can all hope that mass vaccination programmes and the effect of the other lockdown restrictions on the virus will mean children and teachers are able to safely return to their classrooms soon.

But, in the meantime, we need to be inspired by our historic inventiveness.

This should not be seen just a problem that requires a temporary stop-gap solution because education can return to ‘normal’.

Instead, it is a chance to discover new ways of teaching and learning that take greater advantage of the computers and the internet.

For example, it may be that a lesson by a teacher who is particularly good at explaining a subject or topic could be shown to children all over Scotland.

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A little star quality can also help maintain children’s interest. Perhaps a famous musician, writer or ‘celebrity physicist’ could be persuaded to join an online class not of 20 or 30 pupils but thousands?

There are almost certainly plenty of other ways in which online learning could actually improve the quality of education in Scotland – and continue to do so when schools re-open.

The internet has revolutionised society in ways we hardly guessed at when it first appeared in the 1990s and we are still discovering how great an effect it is having on our lives. There is no question we are moving towards a world that is ever-more online.

So the current need for online learning – and to improve it – represents an opportunity to fast-track Scottish education into that future. As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention.

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