Lessons learned: What the pandemic has taught us about our education system

This story is part of Amy Bell's Parental Guidance column, which airs on CBC Radio One's The Early Edition.

It's been more than a year since COVID-19 first shut down schools and sent students and teachers scrambling to their screens. With some students still learning remotely, and others donning masks and following strict rules inside classrooms, what have we learned from a year of schooling during a pandemic?

We've seen teachers and students and caregivers quickly pivot and adapt to keep kids educated and safe, but the mental load of anxiety, new routines and safety protocols has been a big hurdle for everyone. 

Online learning has shown a wide gulf in access to technology, and many families weren't able to keep their children home from school, putting students and teachers in the position of attending classes when those haven't felt like the safest spaces.

Selma Smith, district principal of student support for the Surrey School District, says keeping kids engaged has been a top priority. 

"Maintaining social connections, that we know are crucial for emotional well being, during this time where there has been increased stress and isolation for some kids. How have schools been trying to maintain that?" wonders Smith.

"Schools are working really hard to keep that engagement with students."

'It just made her excited about learning'

But there have been some benefits from this past year.

For those parents and students who managed to juggle at-home learning successfully, it's been incredibly bonding and gave kids a chance to learn through a lens wider than the classroom curriculum.

Science and baking could combine to teach fractions and chemistry, and hikes were a natural gym class. 

Learning became more personalized and exciting.

Vancouver dad Jeremy Stone was able to juggle work from home with at-home learning for his daughter at the beginning of the pandemic, and he was blown away by how engaged his daughter was, and how much he enjoyed being a teacher.

"We did a class on carpentry and built a little treehouse. She was really into Harry Potter so I taught a class on systems of magic and different magical practices around the world.  It just made her excited about learning," says Stone.

In-class learning isn't best for every student

Many schools are already evaluating what things worked this year and how to maintain them when the pandemic eventually ends.

There has been a lot of success with the "hybrid" model of both in-class and at-home learning — allowing kids to take greater ownership over their learning at home, and providing teachers with the ability to focus more on the students in class who need extra attention.

High school teacher Stacey Robinsmith would love to see this way of learning continue long past the pandemic, as he thinks it empowers some students to learn in a way that's best for them. 

"They need to learn to manage their own time," says Robinsmith. "Perhaps they want to start at 10 o'clock in the morning? On the day that they're not in the school building they don't need to be up at 8:30 in the morning working on calculus. They can start later in the day when they're ready after they've woken up and got their brain functioning again."

But Robinsmith also pointed out that not every student has benefited from more independence. Some students struggled, whether due to personal learning styles or lack of access to technology, and that reinforced how important schools and teachers are to their growth. 

We've all learned a lot this past year.

We've learned how important schools are — not just as a place of learning, but as a place of safety and security. A place of connection.

We've also learned that not all learning has to be conducted within four walls of a classroom and that education can be about more than what's in a text book. 

This past year has taught us about patience, independence and connection. It's taught us all how strong kids are, and how fragile our way of life can be.

It's shown the importance of teachers and how we need to make sure they are supported and their concerns heard.

I hope that we don't lose sight of that, and I hope we continue to embrace new ways of thinking and learning, not just in school but in every aspect of our lives.