{"id":6363,"date":"2020-09-18T07:00:37","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T07:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/?p=6363"},"modified":"2020-09-21T11:21:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T11:21:03","slug":"lessons-from-lockdown-do-we-need-to-create-an-open-school-for-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/2020\/09\/18\/lessons-from-lockdown-do-we-need-to-create-an-open-school-for-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from lockdown – do we need to create an open school for the UK?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Lavender OBE discusses lessons from lockdown, the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on attitudes towards distance learning, and the need to create an open school for the UK.<\/em><\/h2>\n

At the start of lockdown in the UK, educationists were not short of ideas on how things could change.\u00a0 A notable comment included the significant voices of Sir Tim Brighouse and Bob Moon<\/a> in May who called for an open school to provide a service to the schools\u2019 sector and support for pupils and teachers in the new home learning environment<\/span>.\u00a0 Using the Open Schools in British Columbia<\/a> (Canada) and in Victoria (Australia) as examples, the authors call for a national Open School here in the UK.\u00a0 It would use the<\/span> BBC and Open University <\/a><\/span>resources and the benefits would be \u2018<\/span>high quality self-learning, tutored courses and resources in every subject.\u00a0 It should explain how teachers in schools could incorporate these resources into their teaching\u2026<\/span><\/i>[and]<\/span>\u2026create a forum for networking for students of all ages\u2026\u2019<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Almost immediately, the BBC responded, reminding itself that its core mission was to \u2018<\/span>\u2026educate, as well as inform and entertain\u2026\u2019<\/span><\/i> and cited its \u2018Bitesize Daily<\/a>\u2019 package as an example of what it might offer<\/span>.\u00a0 Hall says the BBC is ready to \u2018\u2026<\/span>pick up the gauntlet\u2019 <\/span><\/i>and to join a discussion now, to \u2018\u2026<\/span>create a public infrastructure that would make it easier for all schools to benefit\u2019<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 It is a call for change and Hall rightly concludes: \u2018<\/span>We cannot allow the lessons of lockdown, and the strength of our collective response, to go to waste\u2019.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It would not be the first time that a major national development has grown from an initiative by the independent and third sector, using broadcasting and distance learning as a major force.\u00a0 In 1975 the BBC joined forces with the Government and the third sector to launch the first of three <\/span>national adult literacy campaigns<\/span>. The power of broadcasters like the BBC lies in their reputation as \u2018honest brokers\u2019, change agents and communicators. Without them we would never have got hundreds and thousands of adults learning basic skills.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s response to the education challenge has been to provide \u00a31billion to help pupils \u2018catch up\u2019, taking the form of a national tutoring programme during the next academic year. It has also supported the setting up of the <\/span>Oak Academy,<\/span> an online school to provide backup lessons during lockdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

But until we are clear what the \u2018catch up\u2019 arrangements really look like, the \u2018covid generation\u2019 as it has been called will be harried back to school in September without that precious \u2018<\/span>lessons from lockdown\u2019 <\/span><\/i>being learned.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Peter Lavender OBE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is almost as if no one has noticed that we do have learning going on in free courses provided by the<\/span> Open University<\/span><\/a>, and by many other providers large and small.\u00a0 Or that the <\/span>\u00a0National<\/a><\/span> Extension College<\/span> (NEC) is still going strong, providing courses for children not at school. I am heartened, however, by other calls \u2013 the latest from the <\/span>Labour Party<\/span>, arguing again for a task force to create a proper plan for the future of education<\/span>. The argument is convincing \u2013 don\u2019t just give children laptops or some kind of remedial programme, let\u2019s have a collaborative approach and build a fairer system all round. NEC\u2019s robust and well managed approach needs to be better known – and involved in the thinking of those planning future support for children and young people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter Lavender OBE is the Professor of Education at the University of Wolverhampton<\/a> and a former Trustee of\u00a0 the National Extension College.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Looking for more on the current state of education and lessons from lockdown?<\/h3>\n

NEC CEO Ros Morpeth OBE with Anne Nicholls published an article on SecEd, ‘The case for a national open school’. Read more: https:\/\/www.sec-ed.co.uk\/blog\/the-case-for-a-national-open-school-coronavirus-home-education-remote-learning-students-gcses\/<\/a><\/p>\n

“Coronavirus is an ‘opportunity’ to drive change, says Williamson”: https:\/\/www.tes.com\/news\/coronavirus-covid-opportunity-drive-change-says-williamson<\/a><\/p>\n

Confused about the 2020 exams situation? Learn more with our timeline: https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/exams-2020\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Lavender OBE discusses lessons from lockdown, the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on attitudes towards distance learning, and the need to create an open school for the UK. At the start of lockdown in the UK, educationists were not short of ideas on how things could change.\u00a0 A notable comment included the significant voices […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[69,67,65],"tags":[107,115,98,100,110],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6363"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6388,"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6363\/revisions\/6388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nec.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}