According to a recent report by Ofsted, the UK’s education regulator, recovery from the pandemic is still “a work in progress” for many schools and students. The key to complete recovery could depend on EdTech.
According to the report, preexisting problems with children’s education and care, such as a shortage of qualified teachers, insufficient funding, and a lack of assistance for students with disabilities and special needs, have been made worse by the pandemic. What are the long-term consequences of the pandemic?
Effects and challenges
There was a shortage of teachers even before the COVID pandemic; they were leaving their jobs and taking sick leave for a variety of reasons. After the pandemic, the economy suffered a shock in which the annual GDP fell by 9.3%, thus, the cost of living increased. The unemployment rate also increased, and the nation as a whole was impacted. In this environment, teachers were even more strained.
After that, the cost of energy rose dramatically, and education saw significant budget cuts. As a result of the government’s decrease in education spending, teachers’ pay was low, which reduced teacher retention. As a result, it was challenging for educational institutions to adopt cutting-edge tools and methods that would support the remaining hard-pressed teachers. The workload for teachers grew from the constant need to improvise. Hence, the looming threat of teacher strikes is currently present in the educational sector.
As more teachers quit their jobs to pursue positions with better pay, a new issue has arisen: students do not develop relationships with teachers. These relationships are necessary to facilitate improved learning. To fill in the gaps, the remaining teachers must now take up extra classes that are beyond their specialties. With this increased workload, the demands of their jobs are more challenging and they are also thinking about quitting.
Imagine the extra work each person has to do to make up for the absent teachers. Teachers who are worn out, anxious, or depressed are of no use to a school because a school is only as good as its teaching staff. These educators may feel that their time and efforts are wasted, which leads them to resign. In order to meet the 2030 education goals, UNESCO estimates that the world will need to hire about 70 million new teachers. However, despite the framework in place and the use of scholarships and bursaries as incentives, recruitment and retention rates are declining by 20%. How can this gap be filled?
Solutions
The future of education, according to Omar Chicane, founder and CEO of an ed-tech company based in the United Arab Emirates, “lies in the integration of technology and, specifically, learning with a digital teacher.” How? “We can build a more accessible, adaptable, and inclusive education system for all students by embracing new technologies and teaching methods,” he said. According to Omar Chicane, educators can design creative and easily accessible learning experiences for students by utilizing digital technologies.
Consider what happened in one Croatian educational institution. They established a learning center to help teachers during the COVID pandemic, where teachers can email or call for assistance, including assistance with digital learning materials. Online training courses to assist teachers were done in Croatia. This is one example of how the education sector is adapting to the changing needs due to the pandemic.
Furthering online education could be the solution in situations where students and teachers are not constrained by time or geographical restrictions. This will give the educational system access to teachers who may not be able to immigrate but are free to work. This is referred to as “remote education,” and it results in a decentralized education system in which students can learn at their own pace and on their own schedule, with the assistance of a digital teacher. As a result, wherever they are, students can find a great teacher in a particular subject. In turn, that teacher won’t feel burdened, and the struggle of teaching will be greatly diminished.
Overall, teacher shortages will be lessened. filling vacancies for a single class, school, or entire district immediately with qualified remote teachers addressing significant knowledge gaps, broadening the range of available courses, individualizing learning, utilizing blended or entirely online programs to cut down on class size, and providing students with the resources and tools they need for high-quality education. By providing these benefits, teacher shortages can be addressed, and there will be a significant improvement in the quality of education for all students
Not all schools will be able to make such a significant adjustment. What else can be done using EdTech? A school can use a straightforward tool to assist teachers in taking on less work and concentrating more on teaching. This mobile application provides real-time digital tests that are marked and scored right away in the classroom. As a result, marking-related stress would be lessened. Second, the teacher only needs to read through the teaching resources included in this tool to get ready for a lesson. The teacher will be aware of what needs to be emphasized before moving on to the concept in class because the lesson content will be coordinated with the test scores from earlier lesson assessments. Furthermore, since the marking and scoring are done digitally, the teacher will be able to save a great deal of time
Finally, this turns into a fantastic tool for data analysis, allowing one to identify trends and the student’s distinctive skills. These can be used so that a new teacher can quickly assess the class’s progress and carry on teaching with the fewest possible interruptions.
With the adoption of remote learning, students will be able to learn from anywhere in the world while having their progress tracked, making this tool even more futuristic. It includes information that a student may need in the future, such as suggestions for programs based on their individual strengths. Finally, it offers them a chance to acquire crucial soft skills for using digital tools in the twenty-first century. To begin preparing for the future, schools can sign up for the beta version here.
By addressing the teacher shortage through outsourcing and reducing workload through the use of digital tools that lighten the load, EdTech can therefore help with pandemic recovery. EdTech can form the entire learning structure.
