Salvaging the academic school year?

The Processes and Procedures deployed by the school Management to foster accountability and responsiveness among staff (Administrative/Grounds/Cleaning), teachers and learners to salvage the schools’ academic year during Covid19.

Preface: Whilst the question would seem to want to cover both State and Independent school sectors, I would suggest that whilst there will be common areas there will also be clearly defined areas of non -overlapping.  I would also wish to question the concept of “salvaging the academic year”- Why does one need to salvage it? More later!

School Management: Loosely defined as members of the school who act within designated management areas and/or roles. These may include teachers and administrative staff.

Covid19 has brought with it change. Change carries elements of uncertainty and fear within the range of emotions often associated with change. Change in itself is inherently non –threatening as the human psyche faces change daily. A change in route caused by roadworks/an accident/inclement weather can at times bring about a myriad of reactions. It is not within the scope of this brief  though to analyse the human reaction to change but rather to place it in the open as the Covid virus has invoked change at all levels of society within a very short space of time and this being so I would posit that a society that is mature is best prepared to deal with the various machinations brought about by Covid.

Having stated the aforesaid my understanding is that the South African society is not a mature one. Allow me to explain the concept of societal maturity. Societal maturity is best viewed through the lenses of reaction to life per se.  Again, the space afforded here does not allow a full explanation of this maturity but I would suggest that in broad terms one is looking at societies reaction to gender issues/race issues/corruption/how violent the society acts within a context (trashing of schools/burning of tyres/looting/xenophobia/taxi wars… These amongst many other, point towards an immature society.

Hence any response by a school governance body/management sector designed to foster accountability and a positive response to “saving” the school academic year has to be seen against this light or through the lens of an immature society.  One may counter this argument by suggesting that not all society needs be classified in this way but without defining the South African context further into economic/culture or any other groups (age/sex…this in itself may need deeper unpacking) we will find that definitive procedures and processes to save the academic school year may not be that simple to find nor be a “one size fits all” solution.

I therefore suggest that a few general points be made first:

·        Acceptance that the academic year at school level has been damaged by the absence of formal teaching brought about by learners not being at school and under lockdown.

·        That whilst many thousands of learners benefited by online learning in various forms, this did not nor cannot (under present circumstances) replace the face to face learner/teacher situation. Society (it seems) is not quite ready for this modus.

With the above as background School Management that successfully negotiates the Covid maze and as the question poses, “salvages” the academic year must:

1.      Be prepared to show servant leadership. For all staff to buy into whatever is asked of them, Management must be prepared to lead the way. This means…

1.1   Covid demands certain actions…wearing of masks/hand sanitizing/buildings/classrooms/offices being sanitized on a daily basis and Management being seen to be part of the process.

1.2   Management cannot be blasé and give the impression that they believe Covid to be nonsense or easily overcome but be supportive of the process.  Personal bias cannot be shown.

1.3   Management must be visible at all times. To listen to concerns and deal with them appropriately…at classroom level/parent level/general staff level.

1.4   The visibility in particular of the school principal is paramount. He she needs to be at the forefront of the battle. This means being at the gate to show the learners the way in/screening/asking the pertinent Covid Health questions/assuring the parents and in every sense of the word being the leader.

2.      The Academic program: Management MUST not place in the minds of the staff, learners or parents that “if we work hard we can catch up”. If this was to be true then why does the school calendar have an average of 190 school days? One could just as easily have 100 and complete the academic year as successfully! No, the rule of thumb is that school is in a process of recovery not catching up. Recovery allows one to define how/when/what and why things are done. There is no intention of catching up at all. (I reject the idea that the school year is extended into next year…this by implication means that every year thereafter should be extended. One cannot “catch up” in the next year unless one is to forgo school vacations. This then presupposes the concept of “catching up” is directly related to time spent in a desk. This is ludicrous and has NO educational foundation whatsoever.  There are countless examples of young people missing even up to a year or more of their formal schooling and still being able to finish within the normal frame of time.

2.1   Working smarter is perhaps a better way of recovery per se. What is lost in terms of the school year is time. It cannot be recovered. Neither can the classroom experience which involves a growing and maturing of the child. It involves a maturation  period which occurs when the child is exposed to a myriad of stimuli within the context of the school/the playground/the sportsfield/relationships. The so called loss of the academic year is not a loss at all.

2.2   At present the situation within the school is alien to the norm of schooling. Masks/social distancing/ methods of playground separation/eating of meals. These are issues which must be focused on NOT academic issue per se. The human mind will easily find a way around the so called work which has not been covered.

2.3   A learned academic Prof Janssens earlier this year suggested that the academic year as such should simply be put aside, that the young people be viewed at the level they had attained and allowed to proceed to the following academic year. This, for me, certainly makes sense. At present most teachers have had sufficient time with the learners to fairly accurately judge the academic level of each and every learner they teach. Whether the child has indeed grasped all the required levels of /basic sums/geometry or synoptic charts in the grades below 12 is irrelevant in terms of the big picture.

2.4   When a shipping salvage operation takes place, very often the salvage company accepts that part of the ship is going to be sacrificed in order for the remainder to be saved.  They do not concern themselves about the lost part but on the saved part. Part of the 2020 academic and more importantly SOCIAL year for learners has been discarded but not lost as the young people have grown immensely in many respects and have learned more about life than they would have without Covid19. Let us not forget this. Nor forget what they have learned to take into the future.

2.5   Many have faced loss in terms of family members. Have faced hunger. Have faced emotions that they have seen etched in parents’ faces. Distress etc. These are things that are far more important for teachers to deal with than an academic program that has been disrupted. We are in recovery not catch up.

3.      The digital world

3.1   Perhaps one of the most important processes that Management has had to deal with is that of the digital revolution which has been foisted on them. Suddenly ZOOM/TEAM/GOOGLE/SKYPE platforms have become part of everyday life. Understanding TWITCH/INSTAGRAM/FACEBOOK/TIkTOK and how they can be used as educational platforms and perhaps even more than that how they, as management need to be seen as up to the task of dealing with these digital challenges.

3.2   The new world for the child/learner as well as the adult is now a digital one.

3.3   Sport is played in an empty stadium with crown sounds pumped in and the world watches on TV. How does the learner see and understand this?

3.4   The grade R child with the facemask/screen.

3.5   The fact that the new learner’s face in Grade 9 who started schooling as lockdown started and is now back at school…his/her face has never been seen.

3.6   The learner/teacher is now starting to understand expressions in eyes.

In my opening comments I made note of State and Independent Schools…also of whether salvaging was needed in the way that society seems to understand the salvaging of the academic year.  I have also suggested that leaders need to show the way by example during times of trial and stress. That change needs to be embraced rather than feared. We are on the forefront of a new world, a new way of life. Many have said that the world will never be the same as it was before Covid19. Many have said that they certainly hope it will not go back to what it was.

Teachers/Management/Parents have the opportunity to move forward in a new way. The old paradigm has gone. We have all gone back to zero. This is exciting! The opportunities are immense for all. Challenges aplenty!

What we cannot do is use the old way of doing things to find a new way of going forward.

The idea that we HAVE to salvage the academic year is therefore ludicrous. There is nothing to salvage but the old way of seeing things, and who really wants to do that!