Moving on from the pandemic in school- a roadmap to flexible modalities

Abstract

Teaching during the remote episodes of the Covid pandemic demonstrated that the majority of classroom teachers replicated classroom practices rather than adapting to a new system for learning. During the rapid shift online, professional development of teachers focused on upskilling rather than changing and challenging teaching practices. As a result, students were unmotivated and disengaged. The problem now exists that teachers are stuck with a lack of understanding of how to teach online with the likelihood of further external uncontrollable occurrences. Additionally, there is no roadmap forward on how to harness the benefits of learning online through the emerging flexible modalities of blended or hybrid teaching in schools. The current risk is that schools return to classroom based pedagogies and miss the opportunities that learning online brings. This paper responds to this crucial stage in schooling offering a way forward. To do this, there is a need to pause in time, to reflect on what is known and what is important to consider to be able to move forward effectively. As such this paper firstly examines the rush to get online and the frenzied up-skilling of teachers so that we have a better understanding of what skills were developed. This paper then synthesises the literature to identify what pedagogical skills are needed to effectively teach online in a schooling context. Drawing extensively from theories and empirical studies over the last 30 years this paper then presents a roadmap forward that offers professional development of a different kind identifying how to change teachers’ practices from replicating the classroom to teaching effectively online. Directives and implications are provided for school leaders, teacher educators and researchers in the field of digital pedagogical transformation. It is a critical time in education to shift from classroom based pedagogies to flexible modalities.