In the following interview, we ask Veron Adderley, an educator, questions about this international day and generally about how the COVID-19 pandemic changed teaching and whether there has been a renewed appreciation for teachers in the wake of the pandemic.
Interviewer: What are some of the ways that teaching has changed for you and your colleagues since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Adderley: Since the beginning of the pandemic, a lot has for me and my colleagues in teaching. We have had to transition from full face to face teaching and collaboration to the full online educational environment. This has resulted in teachers having to quickly learn new strategies and technologies which otherwise would may have taken years for us as whole to learn and adopt. The workload has undoubtedly, increased for teachers but so has creativity. Many teachers find themselves spending less time marking as a result of technology that can do so automatically and more time planning more creative ways to keep students engaged amidst the many distractions that students encounter while they are away from school. Teachers also found themselves in continual training courses and sessions both on their own and professionally as well as in frequent virtual meetings and having to be readily available to the answer the questions of students and parents well outside of the normal school hours. Despite the many challenges that exist with online education, teachers have been become more united and consistent in instruction taught across the various different schools. They have also embraced technology and new innovative ideas on a wider and more in depth scale. Having increased collaboration and meetings through online platforms as educators they have planned, shared and agreed on resources and instructional content that should be delivered to students in a team effort. Many teachers have even been engaged in team teaching in the virtual space to increase effectiveness of content delivery and to better educate our students. Though online teaching has its limitations it also has its benefits and a merger of both face to face and online teaching promises to be an effective and viable path for the future growth of the education system.
Interviewer: In your view, since the beginning of the pandemic, has there been a renewed appreciation of teachers and the role they play in supporting social and economic life of the bahamian society? Please explain.
Adderley: Yes certainly there has been a renewed appreciation of teachers and the role they play in supporting the life of the Bahamian society both socially and economically. People in general have been concerned about how the current lack of face to face instruction from teachers will affect student achievement across the Commonwealth of The Bahamas as online education continues to be the norm for many schools during the pandemic. Their concern is how this will impact The Bahamas in the future as it is widely accepted that face to face instruction is superior to online education for children because the teacher is physically present to manage the class better. Parents themselves have begun to recognize the need for increased communication and partnership with teachers so that their children will not miss out on being taught the knowledge and skills necessary to function effectively in society. Many of them have been calling teachers outside of school hours to ask questions related to their child’s academic performance, classes enrollment and conduct. In some cases where parents did not have the teacher’s contact some of them have reached out to the school as well as fellow teachers to leave their contact for their child’s teacher. Society’s appreciation of teachers and the role they play in supporting the social and economic life of our society is shown in the support they have given during this pandemic even as parents who are home during school hours have ensured that their child is present to class and focusing on the lesson taught rather than being disruptive. Finally, more and more parents are becoming dedicated to making sure that their children have devices to take advantage of online instruction from their teachers.