TS-9.3

N ever has the run-up to examinations been so fraught. We have a linear system where everything relies on maximising performance during the summer examinations. Following the introduction of enforced social distancing, however, traditional methods of teaching have had to be suspended, with the result that new forms of long- distance learning have needed to be swiftly incorporated to ensure that all students get the very best support at this crucial time. The solutions to which most of us will turn will be technological. Schools and teachers have been left with a whole host of issues to address – a central one of which will be how students can be supported in maintaining their interest and motivation to study, and how our current Y10s can be helped to prepare for their GCSEs. Longer term, could this need to adapt to unprecedented uncertainty help bring about a new and uniquely sustainable form of independence for our students? A new paradigm in which they’re better equipped to revise for themselves and develop their own ways of learning? If implemented well, digital technology could well help to bring this about. Students love technology Many of us have frequently bemoaned the smartphones that have become almost permanently attached to teenagers’ hands in the last few years, not to mention the headphones constantly attached to their ears, yet it’s entirely possible to channel teens’ love of technology into a positive force for good. Mobile technologies, and social media in particular, have received a fair amount of bad press, but at times like this they can provide young people with an emotional and educational lifeline. There are digital products on the market that can provide an outlet for learning that goes far beyond the classroom, allowing young people to approach and develop their own studies in their own time, and at their own pace. This, after all, is what will be expected of them in the 36 ChristineThomas considers whether the world-changing disruption we’ve seen this year will forever change how digital learning is used across English and other subjects Where next for edtech? teachwire.net/secondary