How can students be supported to learn independently? Acknowledging intersections of social-emotional with cognitive skills, made explicit in times of trouble

• In Event: What’s context got to do with it? Cases of SEL programming

Proposal

This paper discusses an approach we developed to creating curricular materials for students in locations without teachers or schools, recognising the need to engage with students’ social-emotional being. During the COVID pandemic, one strategy for delivering education to students at home was to simplify or ‘slim down’ the curriculum. This strategy can make it easier to deliver curriculum, or to ensure that students will at least focus on essential learning. The first function is purely logistic while the second understands learning as a progression. Students must have access to essential knowledge and skills if they are to have any chance of resuming studies at their designated grade levels post-pandemic. The EdTech Solutions for Last Mile Schools in COVID-19 initiative, implemented by the Asia Development Bank in the Philippines, is one example of the complexity of such initiatives. The Philippines’ Learning Continuity Plan, developed in response to the pandemic, proposed that the curriculum be restricted the Most Essential Learning Competencies which would enable students to progress from one grade to the next. Beyond revision of curricular materials for students to study at home during long periods of school closure, the Department of Education needed to identify media to deliver these materials for students in many remote areas, the Philippines’ ‘Last Mile Schools’. In addition to digitizing learning materials for 3,400 students to access through tablets, designers needed to find ways to support students’ metacognition, self-direction, problem solving, and engagement. Without access to teachers, particularly where telecommunications are unstable or non-existent, the materials alone are the only formal education resource available to students. This situation guided the pilot team in their materials design to account for the need to enhance students’ reflective practices as they work alone, their motivation to continue, and their engagement with learning.

Author

• Esther Care, University of Melbourne