Students' self-confidence was boosted in parent-teacher conferences.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, a large group has been put to the test; they form the front line in education here in Hafnarfjörður. The third wave of infections and the resulting lockdown measures are now at their height. Primary schools have not had to close, but staff are being split into bubbles in the staff rooms by year group, and parents are not allowed into the schools.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, a large group has been put to the test; they form the front line in education here in Hafnarfjörður. The third wave of infections and the resulting lockdown measures are now at their height. Primary schools have not had to close, but staff are being split into bubbles in the staff rooms by year group, and parents are not allowed into the schools.
The town newspaper Hafnfirðingur We spoke with representatives from all three school stages at Lækjarskóli, who recalled the main challenges in solution-focused schoolwork and the incredibly positive impact it has had. They are Hulda Björnsdóttir, Ásbjörn Friðriksson and Tinna Ósk Þorvaldsdóttir.
The Lækjarskóli home-school page, which can be easily found as a sub-page of the school.
A survey was conducted among teachers at Lækjarskóli shortly after parent-teacher conferences concluded, which were held in a completely different format due to COVID-19. The teachers who responded to the survey agreed that this type of conversation got students to take more responsibility and boosted their self-confidence. Respondents to Hafnfirðingur agree with this, saying they have noticed various other positive effects of the changed focus, both this spring and at present.
Many positives to the unconventional
Hulda teaches Year 2 and says the pupils have attended the learning conversations incredibly prepared, without their guardians, for the first time in their school careers. „We received wonderful help from the staff at Lækjarsel in sending them to us on time, and then the guardians phoned us on FaceTime or speakerphone, either from home or from work. It went exceptionally well.„ Although the arrangement was unconventional, there were many positive aspects to it, but it is quite clear that the study sessions would not have gone so well without a great deal of planning on the part of the school staff and parents.
„It was so lovely to see how confident they were, but many of them clung to me in excitement to see Mum and Dad on the screen or hear their voices on the phone. All sorts of amusing moments came as a surprise, but the main thing was the rewarding and good cooperation of everyone involved.“ says Hulda. She admits that the situation was particularly difficult last spring, when course materials were driven to the homes of pupils who couldn't get to school, hung on door handles, car horns were honked and people shouted to each other through open windows. „We missed them so much, but we've noticed an increased level of communication with parents during this time, and how everyone is prepared to tackle these challenging circumstances we're living in today, richer for the experience. There is a certain humility and gratitude for what we do have and can do.“
The students' challenges on the home-schooling page were also related to health, which is most important at such times.
Had a valuable chat with each student
Ásbjörn teaches maths to pupils in Years 7 to 10. He says the most memorable challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic were the parents' evenings, but that they went very well nonetheless. „There were virtually no technical problems. Students would come to us and we would just use Google Meet, where parents would join by clicking on a link that gave them access when it was their turn. I want to give the parents credit for their part; they were so receptive and showed no signs of stress.“The pupils had arrived at school on their own, and Ásbjörn managed to chat with each of them for a few minutes before the parents joined the conversation.
„The student steered the conversation on their own terms, and in a teacher's day-to-day work, it's often difficult to find the time to chat with each individual student, in the presence of 30-40 other faces. This provided a great opportunity for that, so this arrangement isn't so mad after all.“ Ásbirni found it most difficult this spring when they could only meet with the supervising students, despite teaching many more. „It was necessary to prepare teaching videos, detailed information and rely on parents being able to help. In fact, many students made good use of this time and perhaps benefited somewhat from not having constant access to a teacher. A good exercise for them and unexpected reflections that came from them afterwards. We need to create such situations for students more often, without Covid-19. Let them take responsibility and follow a plan. Then, the jump to secondary school will undoubtedly not be so great.“
A screenshot from the video with students singing a song by Daði and Gagnamagnið.
Made a music video
Tinna teaches Year 5, but this spring she taught financial literacy on tablets, computers and to Year 10 pupils, as well as running the Mentor programme. She says the situation has greatly increased the use of tablets, as well as video conferencing equipment and Google Classroom. „This spring, I was in the control room, arriving before all other staff and leaving after they had gone. I helped teachers, for example, to get to grips with Google Meet, and once everyone was comfortable with it, I had less to do and created a home-school page – in the form of a website, for all year groups. Now this page exists and can be used if we need to switch to home-based teaching.“
Tinna adds that it wasn't necessarily necessary to reinvent the wheel, and that various things which already existed and had been done by others were utilised. „A great deal of knowledge was shared between schools in Hafnarfjörður, and also between municipalities. We were, and are, all in the same army, in the same war, everyone present to help in different ways.“ However, what she finds most memorable is a video that she, the headteacher and the music teacher got a number of pupils to take part in, by sending in videos of themselves singing a song by Daði and Gagnamagnið.. „We were all in our own places, but it turned into a really enjoyable collaboration and the participation was surprising. It was also lovely to know that students were taking the initiative to use the technology and help each other with their home learning.“
Cover photo/OBÞ: Hulda Björnsdóttir, Ásbjörn Friðriksson and Tinna Ósk Þorvaldsdóttir.