Back to school: A framework for remote and hybrid learning amid COVID-19 By Emma Dorn, Frédéric Panier, Nina Probst, and Jimmy Sarakatsannis published by McKinsey & Company (8/2020).
“As school systems prepare to reopen, here’s how to create a safe and effective learning environment for everyone
In much of the Northern Hemisphere, it’s back-to-school season. But this year’s preparations are fraught with added anxiety as educators, public-health officials, and parents try to balance the need to reduce the spread of the coronavirus with the desire to get students into more productive learning environments.
The first priority of every school system must be to reduce virus-transmission rates and protect the health and safety of students and staff. System leaders at the national and local levels must adapt their strategies to reflect the level of transmission in their communities. In a fast-moving pandemic, that’s no easy task. Circumstances change weekly, and even countries with low case counts today should be vigilant and ready to change course in the event of a resurgence.
At the moment, there is no common template for determining whether to educate students remotely, bring them back into the classroom, or create a hybrid model that combines both. In the United States, for example, more than three-quarters of the 50 largest school districts have decided to start the school year remotely as a result of continued infections. Kenya recently announced that its schools will stay closed until 2021, while officials in the Philippines have vowed to keep schools closed until a vaccine becomes available. In the Netherlands and other parts of Europe, by contrast, many schools plan to resume teaching all students full time in the classroom.
No common template exists to determine whether to educate students remotely, bring them back into the classroom, or create a hybrid model that combines both.
In every model, the first step is to get the health protocols right. Once officials have a clear sense of what’s required to reduce transmission rates and save lives, they can develop robust models to minimize further learning delays and support students throughout the crisis. In this article, we focus not on the health side, which is being addressed by public-health officials, but on the learning imperative. For many students, a full-time return to the classroom won’t be safe for some time. It’s therefore important to understand three lessons to get remote and hybrid learning right (see sidebar, “Tools to help educators around the world navigate the pandemic”)…”
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