Coronavirus: Technology vital in communicating with parents and supporting children at home - study
Annette Rawstrone
Thursday, September 24, 2020
As nurseries and schools deal with possible coronavirus outbreaks and the worry of future lockdowns, research reveals that 95 per cent of early years practitioners and teachers want there to be better communication with hard to reach parents in place.
Four-fifths of more than 200 early years practitioners and teachers surveyed by Tapestry, an online learning journal, also said that families still need better access to technology and more support to help their child with learning at home.
Encouragingly, 83 per cent of those surveyed reported that they engage with parents differently following the national lockdown and are more confident to approach parents and carers to discuss their child’s learning and wellbeing.
Rebecca Swindells, owner and co-manager of Blue Door Nursery in Seaford, East Sussex, said, ‘I’m not surprised that early years practitioners feel confident about talking to parents and carers. We have, as a sector, always understood the value of excellent parent partnerships. We know that children do best when they are surrounded by adults that know them and understand their needs.
‘However, with partial closures a very real possibility in the upcoming months we need to be sure that all our communication lines are strong. If we can’t chat face to face then using technology enables us to support children when they are away from nursery as well as enabling families to show us what they are doing at home.’
The majority of respondents (87 per cent) feel schools and early years settings will make greater use of technology to stay in touch with parents and carers if classes or bubbles need to quarantine or they have to close during a local lockdown. Despite this, 70 per cent of those questioned believe that early years staff need more training in remote learning to support children.
Co-founder of Tapestry Dr Helen Edwards said, ‘Practitioners and teachers have had to get to grips with lots of new technology in the past few months and I’m not surprised that they need more training. Supporting remote learning requires new skills and expertise, the technology is the enabler, but it’s staff that make it effective.’
Following the national lockdown, early years practitioners and teachers are now more likely to use technology to support their work. The survey found the top three uses to be:
- Communication with parents and carers (93 per cent)
- Sharing resources and activities (91 per cent)
- Supporting children with remote learning (83 per cent).
Outdoor learning is also believed to now hold a greater priority, with 93 per cent hoping that it would increase.
