How the Pandemic Has Changed the Way of Teaching
COVID-19 has adversely affected the education sector in China. The changes in teaching methods have seen some challenges and significant improvements by the government to ensure that education is still provided to Chinese students.
Even though the pandemic has disrupted classes, the Chinese government has implemented measures to ensure that learning is not disrupted. The Ministry of Education in China has embraced online learning as the new educational pattern, which has allowed teachers and instructors to create and deliver knowledge via the internet.
The extreme effects of the pandemic on the education sector continue to be felt to this date. Teaching in China has seen both teachers and students experience the challenges that the change has brought.
Here is how COVID-19 has changed the way of teaching;
- Change in education policies.
- Online classes have been embraced.
- There has been a disruption in teaching new content.
- Communication between parents and teachers has seen more interactions.
This article will explain, in detail, how the pandemic has affected the way of teaching in China.
1. Change in education policies.
Wuhan, China, is believed to be the epicentre of the pandemic. As early as January 2020, the Ministry of Education in China had already implemented school closure policies across China. This meant that regardless of region, 278 million students were instantly affected.
The policies demanded that tutoring centres and daycares should also be closed.
Along with the shutdown policy, the Ministry of Education in China also implemented two virtual platforms to ensure learning still takes place. These platforms are;
- Empower Learning.
- EduCloud.
Empower Learning was a collaboration of efforts between the government and seven of China’s EdTech companies. This platform allows students to stream courses and tap into knowledge from their computers at home.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Education also created EduCloud, which features teaching plans, videos, and a pool of teachers’ lessons recorded over the past decade.
Even though these two platforms have been in place before, teaching changes during the pandemic have seen new features such as scheduling tools added to the platforms. The scheduling helps teachers to choose and share materials with their students.
Another policy that prompted different teaching methods was the dates to reopen schools. For example, in March 2020, the Ministry of Education announced that it would delay some exams for a month.
2. Teaching online has been embraced.
As the pandemic has continued to affect most sectors, including the education sector, the government’s pursuit to ensure uninterrupted learning has seen online learning embraced as the new normal.
In response to limiting face-to-face learning, many provinces, regions, and municipalities moved the start date for the Spring semester and slowly transitioned into online teaching.
ESL jobs in China also faced similar issues. Teachers who have travelled outside the country have been limited and have trouble travelling back to the country. This issue has forced educators to conduct their classes online, which, undoubtedly, has changed the way teaching is in general.
While online learning has promoted uninterrupted learning, it has encountered some controversies. For example;
- Reducing online class time. Recent research states that prolonged hours in front of screens is not helpful to students.
- Students push back. Students have found it challenging to concentrate during online teaching.
- Uneven bandwidth within remote areas.
- Expensive equipment to access online content.
- Failure for some students to attend online classes.
On 3rd March 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology set out plans to strengthen broadband coverage to support online studies. Further, some provinces have resolved to subsidize students to gain access to the knowledge delivered online.
For example, the province of Liaoning has subsidized around 20,000 students to buy equipment and access the internet.
3. There has been a limitation in delivering new content to students.
The effects of online classes have created doubt as not all students will show up for the online classes. As remote places in China experience bandwidth problems, it has been challenging for most students to get content in real-time. Some students can’t access the information at all.
As a result, on February 4, 2020, the Ministry of Education prohibited teachers from introducing a new curriculum until the new semester started.
The ministry, though, encouraged teachers to use personal wellbeing modules like mental health and entertainment resources to deliver online content to students. This is evident as an administrator in Xiaohong Yang, Beijing, shares the mandatory online mental health courses policy.
Also, in-home physical education has been encouraged by teachers.
4. Communication between teachers and parents has seen more interactions.
The transition to switching to online teaching has seen parents get more involved with teaching. Teachers have been open to ideas and suggestions from parents.
This communication model has led to both positive and negative criticism. The positive feedback has been embraced and used to better the already in place structures, whereas the negative feedback has been used to anticipate what to change to support the students affected.
For example, taking parents’ feedback into account, screen time was shortened for younger students. This meant 10 minutes of online teaching followed by 20 minutes of offline work.
Unfortunately, some parents find online teaching hectic as most daycare duties have been fully delegated to them. This form of teaching has proved to be hectic to such parents as they have to work simultaneously.
Final thoughts
While the pandemic has continued to affect teaching in China, more and more solutions have been implemented to support students and teachers.
Online teaching has undoubtedly provided the ultimate solution to ensuring that teaching is not disrupted. Regrettably, some students don’t have access to the necessities to study online.
Kudos to the government and Ministry of Education, though, for funding and supporting such families. The change in teaching structures caused by the pandemic has posed several challenges but hasn’t stopped the delivery of knowledge altogether.