ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Peter Jackson
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
As Newfoundland and Labrador unveils its plans to gradually relax health restrictions today, parents of school-age children in the province have expressed significant frustration with the lack of consideration for their plight.
Elise Thorburn of St. John’s is one of them.
“I am frustrated with the lack of transparency around plans to ease restrictions on the part of our government — not because I want to rush a return to ‘normal,’ but because we are adults and we deserve to be apprised of plans, and also because I feel that (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau has presented plans for many constituencies, but working parents have been completely left out,” she said in an email.
Thorburn, who is a full-time medical student, said the challenge of two working parents being at home with a primary school child has proven to be almost impossible.
“Coronavirus may not kill me, but this ludicrous demand to work and educate and do childcare and cook and care all at the same time just might,” she said.
A Facebook request for observations from parents Wednesday elicited several responses about the patchwork state of virtual learning in the province since schools closed in mid-March. As most of them also worked in the education system, they wished to remain anonymous, but did reveal their identities to The Telegram.
Selected comments are included below.
• • •
“I just emailed (my child’s) teacher yesterday concerning the lack of structure/direction. He has a video call for an hour once a week. I’m hoping they will get their act together. I don’t blame the teacher. The principal keeps harping on the children that don’t have online access. … Is it fair to cater to the less than one per cent who may not have access?”
• • •
“Our teachers have set up Google Classroom, but it’s up to them what they’re doing, and I’ve heard other teachers at the same school are not doing online stuff. The school board seems to have directed them to ensure it says all learning is optional. Our Grade 3 teacher is working very hard to ensure there are lessons in every topic, and there are online music classes. … There’s no structure, but there are times parents can choose, optional, for each student to have a small group Google Classroom check in. Our kindergarten teacher is recording videos for the kids to watch and has a lot of fun challenges set up for the class. … We were about to get a full package of printed materials, and then the school said they were directed not to allow parents to come pick them up. I would give anything for those materials now.”
• • •
“As an (education) administrator, we are given little direction to pass on to our staff. Maintain weekly contact is the guide. For teachers, this means different things. I have some teachers in my school who are doing individual Google meets with their students as well as two or more group sessions weekly. I have others who are doing weekly newsletters through email. … Teachers are new to this medium of online learning and there is a learning curve for us as well. I think parents seem to have forgotten that. There is a lot of pressure to have this figured out, but ‘teaching from home’ is not the same as ‘working from home.’ Our work involved hands-on interaction with 20-plus children at the same time — that is just not possible through an online forum.”
• • •
“(My child's) teacher has been very much on top of keeping in touch with the kids. She arranges a video call with four to five kids at a time, once a week. She posts links to kids’ learning sites and little assignments, covering a wide range of subjects. This is both good and bad. Good because we are not teachers and have no idea what to do with him to expand his mind. Bad because there is an underlying pressure to do these assignments, even if they're not compulsory. The biggest issue for us is having (him) listen. What kid listens to his parents? … Both the kid and our jobs are being neglected. Neither gets the full attention it needs. It's a very stressful situation.”
• • •
"(High school students) have been told that they can do work that’s posted by their teachers to raise their marks, but their marks will not go any lower than what they’ve already been given. It’s not hard to figure out what the average teenager will do with that information. ‘I’ve passed the course. I can do more work and get a few extra per cent, or I can just cruise.’ No brainer. … Marks are extrinsic motivators that the whole business model of education is based on. Take away that, and all you have left is the innate human desire to learn, which that same business model systematically destroys.”
• • •
“Our school has been touching base with students every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We’ve set up web pages and Google classrooms, but it is all supposed to be optional to not pressure parents. I think one of the major problems is that it’s very inconsistent across the district. Some teachers are very keen and post all day long, and I know some who have only touched base once or twice.”
Peter Jackson is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter working for The Telegram.
