Guernsey Press

ESC president: no evidence to suggest live online lessons are best option

NO EVIDENCE exists that live online learning is the best option, according to the Education president as she defends the approach being taken to schooling.

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Education president Andrea Dudley-Owen. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 29253529)

Contrasts have been drawn between what is being done in the States schools and the live lessons being offered by the private colleges and elsewhere.

‘The committee is aware that there is a debate on whether “live” lessons are superior to pre-recorded or self-directed learning. The reality is there is no educational evidence to suggest teachers hosting live online lessons is the best or only option, which is why the Distance Learning policy supports a blended approach.

‘More than 7,000 of our island students are in the States comprehensive education system, which is specifically intended to cater for students of mixed ability and from a diverse range of social and economic backgrounds,’ said Education, Sport & Culture president Andrea Dudley Owen.

‘Our distance learning programme must cater for them all. In many families – regardless of income – individual devices are only provided for older children. Our policy does not assume that each child has access to their own device. Indeed we do not believe that providing six-year-olds with individual devices is a healthy development, nor do we think it is suitable for the youngest of our children to work directly from a screen all day.’

ESC has previously said that devices would be available for those children who did not have them, while the issues around live learning have centred on secondary education.

Deputy Dudley-Owen praised the work being done by staff.

She urged anyone who had questions about distance learning to contact their child’s teacher.