Remote learning has set children up for life after school, survey shows
Months of learning from home using laptops, tablets and smart phones, and grappling with connectivity, has taught children and young people skills life beyond school, a survey has found.
Tech company, Lenovo, surveyed 500 teachers and 2,000 parents in the UK with children aged four to sixteen years old and found that 70% of respondents believed digital skills would be useful in youngsters’ future careers.
Almost six out of ten teachers said that the way that education was delivered has changed for the better due to the pandemic, while four in 10 parents and a third of teachers believed remote learning had improved children’s independent learning skills.
More than three-quarters — 78% — of parents and six out of ten teachers said they wanted to see desktops or laptops become an integral part of classroom learning.
The survey, published as schools were breaking up for the summer after a second year of disruption because of the Covid pandemic, showed that 53% of parents thought that the way education has been delivered had changed for the worse due to the pandemic.
Teachers were more positive about the situation, however, with almost six in 10 believing the situation has improved. Of these teachers, 51% said it is a result of increased emphasis on independent learning while almost half 48% believed it had enabled children to work at their own pace and revisit topics at ease.
Demand for a blended approach to learning, combining online interaction with traditional classroom methods, was set to increase with 54% of teachers and 47% of parents in the UK wanting to see the approach carried over into the future school curriculum.
More than half of teachers — 55% — and 49% of parents believed that children’s digital skills had improved because of remote learning, compared to before the pandemic. A quarter of teachers and one in 10 parents disagreed and said that children’s digital skills had worsened as a result of home-schooling.
Independent learning was one of the main skills that parents and teachers cited as a benefit of remote learning, one that would set them up for further education and the future world of work.
There was also a huge demand for increased technology in the classroom, with 78% of parents and 60% teachers wanting desktop PCs or laptops to be incorporated into classroom learning and the national curriculum. In addition, over half — 54% — of UK teachers would like to see virtual or augmented reality devices incorporated into classroom learning compared to four in 10 parents.
Both parents (64%) and teachers (39%) said this is because classroom technology gives children opportunities to learn in different ways. Making homework more interactive was also identified as a reason by 53% of parents and a third of teachers, whereas giving children more opportunities to learn at their own speed was cited by half of parents and just over a third of teachers.
Rich Henderson, Director, Global Education Solutions, Lenovo, said: “The rapid adoption of remote learning has accelerated digital transformation at warp speed, creating radical shifts in the new “everything-from-home” environment that will forever impact how technology is used in education.
“As a result, schools and the EdTech industry need to utilise key learnings from the pandemic to maximise the capabilities of technology and improve online learning. The industry must work alongside schools to improve accessibility and accelerate the impact of technology investments.”
He added that Lenovo planned to launch a Digital Education Equity Programme “to give more back to children and schools that need it and help close the digital divide”. It will involve donating money, devices and employee time to support schools with technical assistance, digital skills training, careers advice and mentoring. Lenovo aims to raise £1 million with the help of partners and customers to support local, regional and national charities with a focus on digital poverty, education and technology.
