«Corona is forcing us into digital training at breakneck speed»
Mr Himmelrath, why can the coronavirus crisis also become an opportunity for schools?
We have been discussing the challenges of digitalisation in our schools for years. The requirements are great, opinions differ as to what should be implemented and the differences between individual schools are huge. Due to the corona crisis, we now have to enter the world of digital teaching within a few months and push ahead with its implementation in record time. We are therefore being forced to address digital learning faster than ever before. Under normal conditions, it would have taken us three to four years to get this up and running - if at all.
And yet there are currently huge differences between the individual schools. One school is immediately able to send materials to the children on a daily basis, while another is still in the preparation phase.
It also depends on who we have as teachers and headteachers. If they are more digitally reserved colleagues, digitalisation will certainly be more complicated. So at the moment, it's also a bit a matter of luck which school you go to and which teacher you have. It's no different in Germany. There are huge differences. Some schools have the internet, for example, but not enough routers, so there is no stable network.
What advice do you have for schools and teachers in the current situation?
Digital-savvy teachers could advise their colleagues and perhaps even infect them with their enthusiasm. There are so many exciting digital learning tools to discover. A lot of basic knowledge also needs to be taught. Here, too, you can support each other. How do I set up a mailing list for my classes? How do I make sure that everyone gets a message and that my emails don't end up in spam? We should not forget: What has long been part of everyday life for us desk workers is still far from being a matter of course in schools, where face-to-face teaching and working materials on paper still make up a large part of the teaching culture.
What is most urgent in the current phase?
The first step is to lay the foundations so that the exchange between pupils and teachers works, i.e. so that every pupil actually receives the information. The next step is to ensure that tasks are distributed to all pupils. A good feedback culture must be established so that online meetings, video conferences and chats are also possible and established.
Not all children have access to a device. How equitable is the digital school?
That's true. However, 97 or 98 per cent of children have access, so network or bandwidth issues may be an issue for them. Problems can be avoided, for example, by not sending overly powerful or large files. However, the remaining few children have a problem. It is essential to ensure that they can be reached. Those who do not have access to a digital device at home should be equipped with one at school. It is the task of education policy to make this possible. The new form of teaching should and must reach 105 per cent of children. Politicians are responsible for this.
However, the most important aspect of school is social learning.
What the children are missing now is social contact with the other children, but also with the teachers. Children - the younger the more important - need direct contact with the teacher and must be able to ask questions if they don't understand something right now. It is essential to take this into consideration and find a suitable form. Open video chats could be a forum for this, as could telephone conferences in which people can simply chat - just like in real life. However, I don't think that the complete abolition of face-to-face teaching is an alternative.
What do you suggest?
Face-to-face teaching will always remain important. But in future, individual project work with digital didactics and methodology will be emphasised even more than today. For example, homework or group work that has to be assigned, solved and checked digitally. This could be work on a specific topic, for example. The children work on it together, create documents and a presentation, hold video conferences and communicate with each other in chats.
There are no grades or examinations during the coronavirus crisis. The extent to which transfer or final examinations are postponed or partially cancelled is also being discussed.
In Germany, Bavaria has already decided that certain subjects will be made up for in the Abitur. I see that as an important sign. And of course there are also signs that not all of the material that is not being taught now can be made up in full. That can be criticised. But perhaps it is now becoming clear that we don't need everything we think we need to learn and test.
What do you mean?
The discussion often centres on how all the lessons from these times of crisis are to be made up for. And whether the children won't have big gaps in their schooling. I ask the counter question: who says we really need this material? It is possible that the children and young people will learn much more for their lives in dealing with the exceptional situation than if they had had three or five extra weeks of social studies or French lessons. And that explicitly applies to all subjects.
At the moment, the digital offering is huge. How do you keep track of it all?
There are so many good offers that I don't want to emphasise any particular ones - also because it depends on the subject and very much on the age of the child as to what is currently interesting and suitable. It's best for parents to find out from friends or other parents in the class who have had good experiences with which links. And, don't forget: Teachers in particular know what is suitable for a class. So you can also ask them.
How should parents deal with the flood of information from school?
Above all with composure and a clear daily structure. We must not forget: Teachers are also in an exceptional situation at the moment and have to develop and test their ideas for the new form of teaching and coordinate with each other. Things can sometimes go awry, which is why it is important as a parent to take a measured approach to ensure that your child is neither over- nor under-challenged. So: don't simply pass everything on to the child one-to-one, but make sure that there are feasible learning times in the course of the day - and that these are filled, but not overloaded.
Read more about the corona crisis:
- Television instead of school - how broadcasters are changing their programmes
News, series, educational videos: Many TV channels and online platforms have massively expanded their programmes during the coronavirus crisis. An overview.
- Learning in a state of emergency
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- Learning at home with children
Our columnist and learning expert Fabian Grolimund is also at home with his children and has to switch to homeschooling. Read this article to find out how he does it.