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Fight against the corona virus: pupils wear masks at the Freudenberg institute in Zurich. Image: keystone
Schools are gearing up for a mini lockdown and are learning spring lessons
Do students have to stay home soon because of Corona? A Geneva epidemiologist does not rule that out. The prospect of distance education worries teachers, but they are prepared.
The epidemiological situation is reaching a critical point. Once again, schools are specifically faced with the distance education arena. Primary teachers at the Tannegg school in the city of Baden in Aargau ask in an email with parents whether they are equipped with devices for distance learning, whether individual classes should be quarantined or, for example, be imposes a two-week mini-lockout.
The school offers help if there are too few laptops, etc. in a family. “We want to be ready for possible distance learning,” confirms director Raphael Egli. Expect contingency planning to be maintained.
Egli’s hope corresponds to a broad consensus in politics and science. The cantonal directors of education conference decided in June that lessons should always take place at full capacity in the current school year.
Face-to-face teaching must be maintained
Stephan Schleiss, Zug’s director of education, says: “We are doing everything possible to keep teaching in the classroom.” And Martin Ackermann, head of the federal Covid 19 task force, called last week for stricter measures to prevent school closures.
In front of the “Tages-Anzeiger”, Olivia Keizer, an epidemiologist at the University of Geneva, suggested that primary schools require a mask, as well as good ventilation concepts. However, he does not know if that is enough or if the partial closure of schools is necessary. Keizer participated in a British study that was recently published in the journal “The Lancet Infectious Diseases.”
The finding: Banning major events, home offices, and school closings are the most effective measures to contain the coronavirus. For methodological reasons, the authors were unable to measure the benefits of hygiene measures such as regular hand washing.
“We can’t teach remotely for as long as we want”
Professor Christoph Berger, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Hygiene at the Children’s Hospital Zurich, is clearly against the closure of primary schools.
Studies from Australia, Ireland, Scotland and the USA have shown that children are unlikely to infect other children and teachers if the usual rules of distance and hygiene are observed. “We now know the coronavirus relatively well. Children rarely get sick and therefore transmit it much less than adults. If the children stay with the children, nothing will happen to them. “
In practice, no one wants to go back to distance education. “We would only support such a step if it demonstrably makes a substantial contribution to containing the coronavirus,” says Thomas Minder, president of the Association of School Directors in Switzerland. “Otherwise, we lack the understanding of this measure, which puts a lot of pressure on children, parents and the economy.”
Furthermore, learning is a social process. “We can’t teach remotely for as long as we want.” Schools would be prepared for a new closure. In May, the association asked its 2,200 members in German-speaking Switzerland to prepare in case face-to-face classes were canceled again, Minder said.
Dagmar Rösler, president of the Swiss Teachers Association, also wants to prevent school closures. “Parents tell us that their children are still behind, even though they return to school normally,” he told Tages-Anzeiger.
Schools with disadvantaged students face special challenges
At the close of spring, many voices warned that distance education would widen the gap between good and weak, between students with so-called educated and uneducated parents. “We have evidence of this thesis in our surveys,” says Stephan Huber.
The professor at the Zug University of Education investigates the effects of distance learning and says: “In crises, the differences become clearer, like a magnifying glass.”
The differences increased when the family or school could not compensate for differences in learning behavior and prior knowledge of students. Schools with many students from disadvantaged families face special challenges.
From a pedagogical point of view, some students need more structuring and support for learning. “Learning is much more than acquiring current learning material, it is also about motivational, emotional and social aspects.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)
