Blog series [3/4]: ‘Transparency is Key'​

I recently invited parents of learners, teachers and inclusive learning organisations across the UK to share their perspectives on Covid’s disruption on learner experience. This blog shares a sense of the messages from parents.

well-being is a priority

Learners with Additional Support Needs need time to prepare for change. Parents want reassurance. They want to trust that learners’, and teachers’, well-being is a priority.

Parents see dependency, withdrawal and decreased well-being in their children and young people. Less structure and routine continue to induce worry and fear. Parents want children to understand their new routine. Shortage of accessibility to tools and resources is hampering academic progress they say.

Young people need emotional support from teachers, professionals, and peers. They miss their friends. Though, some learners feel relaxed at home. There is less sensory overload. They are doing well. How will they adjust to returning to school?

emotional support

Parents want to know what learning environments will consist of. What will the staff-to-learner ratio be? Some learners need support by specialised staff. Will learners have social ‘bubbles’? Learners at home also want to feel included in the classroom experience.

There are concerns around the certainty of cleanliness. Is PPE needed, and available? For parents, the restart is about understanding the new ‘normal’.

Parents also worry about childcare. And the challenge of successfully working-from-home and acting as educators. And, what about key workers? Many special schools are not within walking distance.

planning time is as important as planning space

Professor Sir Harry Burns, Global Public Health lead at Strathclyde University often talks about the ‘architecture of hope’. For him, the foundation of good health is coherence. The ability to make sense of the world, our inner personal world, and trusting the outside world around us.

For parents, this is about building readiness, and transparency. They want to build trust and feel involved. This is a team effort, by parents with learners, by schools with families, and by communities.

Parents want and need respite, and nurture for their children. They want places to reconnect, and retreat.

safe places and real choices.

Please note that this blog was written in 2020.