March.30.2020

Messages from teachers at the coalface as COVID-19 changes everything

By Christine Cunningham

I am a university teacher and researcher who studies the art and science of good school leadership. Most of my students are mature age, full-time teachers and deputy principals from around Australia who want to become principals, and who believe studying my units will help them with that goal. (And it often does.)

Part of my job requires me to fly to China and teach Chinese principals about school leadership in a week of intensive face to face teaching with follow up online teaching. My last trip to China was in early December 2019. My Chinese school principal students’ second assignment was due on 10 th January 2020. I remember that due date well – because that was the day they went into lockdown in their area. They are still in lock down today.

Fast forward to this week, and the COVID-19 tsunami has crashed wave after wave of destruction onto Australia’s shores. I’ve had four months to prepare for the disruption I will face as an educator in Australia (and I did). But now watching my students’ shock and panic (remember they are all full-time teachers and many are already school leaders) has been heart-wrenching and inspiring too.

I have been receiving many emails from my students telling me of their school’s situation and how they are handling the urgent transition to online learning and a very different method of teaching.  I have been offering them assignment extensions; theoretical advice; and stern lectures about putting themselves first and trying not to be all things to all people in the present, crazy situation.

I am sharing excerpts from some of those emails with you today. They speak for themselves. (I have removed specific details, names, and compliments passed my way). Each except is from a different teacher.

Thank you so much for your support. After tonight’s PM address I am feeling more and more distressed and unsupported from our government. At present we are now expected to teach our students online as well as face to face which has made teaching almost impossible. My Principal is trying her best but we have no time to create resources and learn technology to assist our students. Add that with the lack of hand sanitiser (we ordered it weeks ago and it still hasn’t arrived) and the impossible task of social distancing any kids from kindy to year 12 and we are just scared, so so scared.

I work in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory and with ongoing to travel restrictions and other measures that have been put it place over the last couple of days, it has been difficult for myself to get my assignment completed as we have had to urgently go and complete 800km round trip for food. Also, we have now been notified this morning that we have to plan and prepare work for the possible closure of the schools, this is extra work outside of the normal school hours, and we have been instructed to complete this before close of school tomorrow.

We have delivered one week of teaching via distance learning, which has consisted of the creation of online lessons. It has been a real challenge to create music lessons for primary students while keeping them actively engaged in music-making and not just completing worksheets. It has given me a new appreciation for creating varied and authentic online learning experiences.

The constantly changing situation of COVID-19 is challenging us all. I support early childhood teachers across [a large region]. I am getting phone calls and emails all day and into the night because of the high level of uncertainty. The teachers I support are worried for their finances, worried for their jobs, worried for their families, worried for their own health and worried for their students.

Last week, our college conducted a house to house survey of our [hundreds of] students who come from five indigenous communities and less than 10% have access to a computer or iphone.  Two of our communities have no access at all due to finance and no adsl/mobile access.   

As an administrator in a Secondary school the pandemic, has added extra workload at what is an already busy time of year. Workload pressures come not only in the form of the day to day practices but being compassionate with parents/students and teachers and spending time with them to alleviate their fears and anxiety.  I, and my wife (who is immune compromised and works in [another education  sector]), would love to be able to work from home, but we are told that schools need to remain open, and therefore are facing the reality of keeping our own children at home unsupervised to minimise the risk of my wife contracting the virus.

So sorry for the delay, you are correct in that school has been very busy, the staff have done double planning for two weeks and now crash courses on how to be completely online. 

We are still running the school with no clear end date than our original one for our Easter break. We are running on skeleton staffing so I am still required on-site at least one day a week. I feel blessed to still have employment but worry extensively about my health and young family if I get sick. 

And finally, an extract from a message sent to me by administration staff from my child’s high school:

As far as a wish-list goes for our students, our priority is for our Year 12 students to assist them complete their year, achieving their best results, despite the disruptions we are all facing. Anything that goes to the school or students will need to be a donation as they won’t be covered by insurance, nor can we guarantee return from the students homes.

We are currently looking to source 4G dongles (to assist with Connect downloads, Education Perfect etc…) for those students who do not have internet access in their homes, USB’s so students can save documents and can be printed for submission and laptops / tablets / ipads (there are a few who rely on alternative family members or school based resources) to complete work. Anything you can do to assist would be received gratefully by our students

Dr Christine Cunningham is a senior lecturer and teaching-researcher working in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University. Her current role is Higher Degree by Research Coordinator while she still teaches Postgraduate Studies in Educational Leadership. Christine conducts and supervises a diverse range of research in school leadership, curriculum and international education. Christine is on Twitter @DrCCunningham

Republish this article for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence.

One thought on “Messages from teachers at the coalface as COVID-19 changes everything

  1. With staff and students having to use ad-hoc equipment at home, it is important to ensure they are able to access systems and content, by using smaller files, and efficient formats. I use a 4G wireless modem in my home office, of the type being sourced for students, with an old slow laptop. I do this partly so that I am not tempted to provide content the students can’t access. The setup is fine for most purposes, but can slow down or stop with some video conferences. I have found that reducing the video window in Zoom from full screen to postage stamp size reduces the load on the system.

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