Professor Lynne McKenna, Dean of the Faculty of Education and Society at the University of Sunderland (pictured left), has expressed serious concern about the challenges currently facing education providers in a sector still trying to play catch-up from the pandemic.

Speaking to more than 100 Department for Education (DfE) staff at an online DfE Women’s Network, Professor McKenna outlined the obstacles which she warned were contributing to what has become known as the ‘Great Resignation’ of teachers from the profession.

Professor McKenna said: “For school leaders, the challenges are clearly around catch-up and recovery as the world emerges from the pandemic.

“Our children have had over two years of disruption to their education. Of course, school leaders are managing this at a time in education where teachers are feeling rather bruised, battered and exhausted.

“Once the heroes of the pandemic, the teaching profession is once again finding itself under enormous pressure, with increased workloads and bureaucracy.

“All of these factors are contributing to what is being known as the ‘Great Resignation’, as experienced teachers are leaving the profession and there are not enough new teachers to replace them.

“Alongside this, there is an unprecedented decline in initial teacher training (ITT) applications which means the sector is facing a teacher recruitment crisis like no other. This at a point in time when we need teachers most to support with the recovery of ‘lost learning’.”

Professor McKenna highlighted the disruption that had been caused to providers of ITT due to the implementation of new DfE requirements.

She added: “ITT providers have endured four major disruptions which have been distracting to their own operation and to recruitment.

“There has been the unnecessary and inexplicable market review of ITT, the creation of the Institute of Teaching, the requirement for ITT providers go through a nonsensical accreditation process in order to deliver ITT from 2024, and changes to the Ofsted inspection framework, which has resulted in more than half of providers inspected under the new framework being artificially downgraded.

“Added to this, there has been the introduction of the ‘golden thread of teacher development’ which includes the introduction of the Core Content Framework (CCF) for ITT ), the introduction of the Early Career Framework (ECF) which is a structured two-year induction into the profession, and a suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs).

“The ECF requires schools to provide a mentor for early career teachers. While I wholeheartedly agree with and support the Early Career Framework, schools are experiencing difficulty in providing mentor support.

“The capacity to release teaching staff to mentor new teachers entering the profession, and trainee teachers on school experience, placements is severely constrained due to pressures on staffing within schools. Schools are therefore prioritising mentor support for ECTs rather than those undertaking initial teacher training. This is all contributing to a crisis in initial teacher training.

“Consequently, the future of the teaching profession, and thus the education of our nation’s children, is in serious jeopardy and will have far-reaching effects for years to come.

“We look forward to further embedding the CCF with our school and college partners, supporting schools and colleges with the early career framework and working with our partner teaching school hubs to promote the new NPQs. “Of course, there are opportunities ahead. For us at the University of Sunderland, we have much to look forward to. We have the introduction of a new BA (Hons) Primary Education with SEND which has been developed with our school partners. Most importantly, we are delighted that we are one of the pilot providers of International Teacher Qualified Status (iQTS).

“This is an opportunity to demonstrate that in the UK, and particularly in Sunderland, we truly are a world-leading provider of initial teacher training. We have much to be proud of and to look forward to in the future.”

A recent independent evaluation by the NSPCC confirmed an ongoing need for Speak out Stay safe (SOSS). Whilst most primary children have a good understanding of what abusive behaviour looks like and which trusted adults they can speak to, the children’s charity safeguarding programme is designed to boost schools’ relationships and sex education (RSE) teaching. Headteacher Sarah Oliver from Rowledge C of E Primary in Farnham shares how her pupils have engaged with the online assembly.

My sixth year in post also marks the sixth year we’ve rolled out the Speak out Stay safe (SOSS) programme. At Rowledge C of E Primary we feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to have the NSPCC in to speak with our children. Tapping into their expertise and resources has been hugely beneficial in enabling our pupils to understand abuse in all its forms. Their team made the initial outreach and the process of bringing them into the school was seamless. More recently due to COVID-19 restrictions we’ve taken advantage of their brilliant online assembly.

Just this term we ran our first online offering with our children to support them in feeling empowered – knowing how they can speak out and stay safe with the support of classroom resources. Making sure that pupils then have sufficient time to reflect on these sessions is a key priority for our teachers. Tapping into thought books that they use every morning, pupils are encouraged to write down any thoughts or feelings that they may want to share with their teacher. Having this tool available means they really took the content of the assembly seriously.

The SOSS online assembly is well-made, and the introduction of Ant and Dec is genius. The children absolutely love them, and it makes the film very current. With the programme’s goal of ensuring children know how to access support, if they need it, it wouldn’t be everyone who can deliver such difficult content. However, Ant and Dec and their co-presenter manage it with just the right level of sensitivity. At primary level if you don’t grab the pupils’ attention from the get-go you’ve lost them before you’ve even begun. So, the delivery being engaging and entertaining without trivialising the seriousness of the topic means the children really want to listen.

One of the pupils’ main takeaways from SOSS is that they are supported in telling someone if they think there’s a problem. Teachers encourage students to critically think about if something doesn’t feel right and listen to any butterflies in their tummy which might indicate that they need to confide in someone. From experience we know that a child is more likely to first disclose to a close friend than an adult, especially if they feel the grown-ups in their life are too busy. So, leveraging the NSPCC’s content, we have also developed extra materials around keeping friends safe.

It’s likely a friend may not know what to do or where to go with such information. As such we’re aiming to upskill the children as to next steps if they heard something that makes them uncomfortable. On top of my role, I am working with the Hampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) which prioritises keeping young people safe and ensuring their wellbeing in the local area. One of our focuses is how children can keep their friends safe, so collectively with the NSPCC’s resources, we’ve spearheaded the idea of upskilling into Rowledge’s classrooms. The overarching message we are trying to put across is that it is okay to talk. However big or small the problem is, there are adults they can approach who are available to listen and help.

SOSS has also helped support our safeguarding duties while linking directly to the curriculum. Working in the education sector you’re often told to deliver a subject but aren’t given the right resources to do so. For example, when it comes to PHSE subjects such as abuse or sex education, teachers naturally worry about getting it right. It’s critical that resources can either be delivered by external organisations or are made available for teachers, so SOSS is pivotal for tackling an issue that’s close to my heart. Other NSPCC resources such as Talk PANTS have been invaluable. With the help of the friendly dinosaur Pantosaurus, children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell someone they trust if anything worries them.

Given that some of the abuse that can be experienced as you get older isn’t always obvious, the impact of nuances in relationships is important for pupils to be aware of early on. Despite the sensitive nature of the topic the SOSS online assembly manages it superbly. Not shying away from difficult subject matters and approaching them in a way that is accessible for children is crucial, so they’ve really hit the nail on the head in my eyes. Available to every primary school at no cost I’d highly recommend SOSS to all. Unless you’re specifically teaching this in your own way, and you have a clear programme of study it should be 100% compulsory. It’s a non-negotiable that children know that abuse is never their fault and that they have the right to be safe.

Interested in the NSPCC’s online safeguarding programme? Receive their online assembly and supporting resources to use in your classroom discussions by signing up your primary school today.

What’s changing when it comes to new technologies in education?

Remote learning is something that students, teachers, faculty, and staff are really starting to embrace. But unlike businesses that can apply security policies to their own workforce’s devices, the education sector does not have this option as Bring Your Own Device is the norm for further education students. Therefore, collaboration solutions with a high level of security are of paramount importance.

Schools, colleges, and universities are learning that the right digital tools can go a long way in helping navigate online educational environments when required. Digital communications – particularly cloud-based communications – are being adopted to support teacher and student practices from anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Are the changes all in the classroom?

The chance of a great digital experience is certainly not limited to the classroom. Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral makes it possible to connect your entire institution with a single app. This means that admins, headteachers and IT, for instance, can keep in contact with everyone on campus without switching screens making it easy to meet with department heads, faculty and staff, students, parents or IT at any time, and from anywhere using a phone, PC or tablet. From an IT point of view, Avaya Cloud Office is easy to implement for all users without lengthy training and constant interface questions. In addition, compliance and security is built in.

Is the purchasing behaviour of schools, colleges and universities changing? How?

As with the market overall, we see a shift from CapEx based investments periodically to more services based, OpenX expenditures – which can present some budgeting challenges in the short term as education establishments make that transition. The appetite to move to a SaaS model though is clear, as are the numerous benefits. Within our own customer base, Avaya is seeing significant uptake of the overall Avaya OneCloud proposition to help this migration from on-premises to cloud at their own pace.

Are there any regulations or projects education providers should be aware of?

Data security is absolutely key and will become increasingly important as the education sector reviews the “freemium” solutions that may have acted as a “sticking plaster” during the initial need for remote learning. Just as GDPR is a key concern of the private sector, we will see an increased focus within the education sector and most likely further consolidation of services to limit the number of solutions that potentially have access to school and student data. All-in-one solutions that allow educational organisations to streamline data sharing and limit the number of online storage spaces within their networks will become increasingly desirable.

We enjoyed the John Wallis Academy customer story in last month’s edition. Does Avaya have other education customers?

We have an excellent customer base within the education sector from small schools and larger academy trusts, through to colleges and universities. To-date many of these customers experience benefits from the reliable solutions that our on-premises and private cloud portfolio provides and increasingly these establishments are now looking to move more of their services to the cloud. Traditional communications for schools are telephone and email but cloud based UCaaS is a secure and compliant way for schools to integrate multiple communications methods through a single cloud provider. For our customers, the Avaya OneCloud solutions provide the flexibility that they need.

What trends are on the horizon?

The evolution of teaching strategies is set to continue with an ongoing drive towards blended learning. For schools to deliver the best online learning experiences possible, they need to create and deliver memorable experiences, which can be done by assembling and combining different education apps and capabilities to achieve the outcomes a teacher and school need at any one time.

Furthermore, as we have seen in the corporate world, the increase of gamification in eLearning is set to continue to increase motivation and overall engagement. We know that, almost at a moment’s notice, students and teachers might find themselves collaborating remotely and therefore the ongoing adoption of secure, scalable solutions such as Avaya Cloud Office will continue to grow.

Why is the education sector of particular importance to Avaya?

In addition to our existing install base of customers in this sector, we noticed an increased “cry for help” at the beginning of lockdown restrictions in the UK. At that time, Avaya provided free-of-charge remote working licenses and free conferencing and collaboration to all existing customers and education establishments. The uptake of this offer was unprecedented across schools, academies and larger colleges and universities.

Avaya is totally focused on delivering experiences that matter – and in today’s education sector, that experience has to encompass students, parents and staff. Avaya’s passion to deliver this total experience ensures that we align to the most important facets and principles that are of paramount importance to the UK’s educations establishments.

To learn how your school, college or university can benefit from creating better communications experiences, visit https://www.avaya.com

Ahead of last week’s launch in Paisley of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK ( the free

Can you firstly tell us a bit more about About Us and the event itself?

It’s one of the 10 UNBOXED projects, a celebration of STEAM and of creativity across the UK. We’re bringing poetry and STEM together and showing how they complement each other. It just takes a bit of imagination (and some fantastic technical know-how) to bring these different disciplines together.

In its simplest terms it’s a light show, part of a collaboration between Stemettes, 59 Productions (who create productions like this), and The Poetry Society, who work on poetry and the promotion of poetry. It aims to engage with young people, and engage them with STEM and STEAM. The light show takes you on a 30 million year journey from The Big Bang to us here in Paisley, looking at civilization, what happens with cells and early human life and how we’ve ended up here, looking up at Paisley Abbey and how we all are connected to the universe. Technically we’re all made of star stuff, so that that’s what the whole event is about, it’s a celebration of Paisley and its place in the universe.

We’ve done a lot of work in the community and in local schools in the last couple of months, working through poetry workshops, working through STEM and coding workshops, and so what the children have created is a big part of the light show as well. We’re hearing their poetry and seeing it, we’re seeing the avatars that they’ve created in elements of their animations.

Awe was the key word that we had in mind when we were pulling this together, so that’s in essence what the show is about – awe and bright lights and a celebration of Paisley.

Can you elaborate on the STEAM acronym for those maybe unfamiliar with it?

STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts (and design), and maths – it represents a combination of all those disciplines. You can’t do STEM without art and design, without that creativity and expression. If you look at something like product design, it’s easy to see that the most impactful have that appreciation for the arts. All of them have leant into some of the skill sets that we have in the arts. Indeed, you’re much more likely to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences if you’ve engaged with the arts during your upbringing, which runs counter to the image people maybe have of scientists, that the best scientists have only ever done science and only ever do science. In fact, being able to recognise those softer artistic skill sets, combine them through collaboration and communication, that’s really where we solve problems properly.

So that’s the heart of STEAM and of course this About Us project and the whole of the UNBOXED Learning Programme.

Has asking schools to combine very different disciplines like this been a challenge?

When the proposition is explained clearly, and the benefits of this sort of cross-curricular work are articulated in a way that makes sense for schools, then we find buy-in comes pretty quickly. The resources that we’ve put together as part of this allow teachers to see for themselves how it can work in the classroom and benefit their pupils. Obviously, schools have been through a really tough time during the pandemic, and we’re now approaching exam season and all the stresses and demands that come with that, but fundamentally we’re aiming to build something here for the longer term and we really do hope, through the excitement of events like the light show, that we will inspire the younger generation to take their first steps on this great journey.

You are very passionate about this, where does your inspiration come from?

Creativity inspires me, curiosity about how things work and how the things we build create a legacy long after we’re gone. I took a VCR apart when I was younger, trying to understand how the cassette went into the machine, how the mechanism played the tape – basically breaking things down to understand how they fit together and how, once you understand that, you can solve problems with the knowledge you’ve gained.

Of course, once you talk about solving problems, then you can start working for the greater good – and that inspires me as well, the idea that things don’t always have to be harder, faster, stronger, bigger or whatever as an end in itself, rather that those attributes are really just a means to an end, and that the goal is using all of the resources at our disposal to make life better for all of us.

I’d also like to see us drawing on a much more diverse pool of talent than we do currently, and I’m inspired to realise that goal, because the more diverse the pool, the more diverse the voices we hear and the better the things we create will be.

How do you show children that STEAM is fun and not just “boring” technology?

Children like to play. If you give them the right environment to play and to create, who doesn’t want to express themselves?

Recently we were running a hack on Healthcare and getting young children to build apps. They loved it – I’m thinking of two little girls who spent the weekend building a house app because they had included talking fruit in their app and to them it was the most hilarious thing they’d ever seen. It’s one of those things where you don’t have to force them because they’ve made something, they’ve explored, they’ve played with the technology.

A couple of years ago we did a big data hack using Twitter and it was so interesting to see what interested the young people we had at the hack. One of them was obsessed with Chelsea Football Club and so that was what she dived into, analysing the Twitter feeds of Chelsea players at that point and generating infographics from them. Her little sister was obsessed with Build-a-Bear so she went around and collected some fantastic information on that. There was another girl who wanted to find  out the best member of One Direction.

Everyone has passions. Everyone sees problems that they’re very aware of, and they’re growing up with all of these, and so they’re really, really aware of what needs to be solved. They really care, and so I think it’s being able to show technology in that context, and allow people to get creative.

What age range are you targeting with the resources you mention?

Basically from 4 to 19, the gamut of primary and secondary education.

Knowing what you know about STEM in schools, do you think there’s enough collaboration between these disciplines in mainstream education, or do you think that there could be more focus on collaborating and skill sharing?

There could always be more. Collaboration is one of those things where the more you do, the more you learn, the better you get, so I think there’s definitely more that could be done. I do actually think it’s an interesting one. Teachers are between a rock and a hard place I think on this, because exams are not (for the most part) collaborative. Most SLTs have particular KPIs and metrics they look at to gauge how well their schools are doing, but I think with a bit of imagination these metrics can actually be made to work to provide a more collaborative setting in schools – for example, how can school leaders reward time that’s spent in collaboration? How can they reward this future skills work by teachers which is happening in their schools? Obviously, it does require investment, experimentation, and a little bit of thinking outside the box to give teachers agency to be able to try new things.

I think teachers do want to do this, but at the moment there’s a sense that there’s not enough positive reinforcement and support for those teachers when they do go a little bit outside the box, so we do certainly need more support and buy-in from SLTs to help build these core skills of collaboration – don’t forget, these skills are going to help close up the gaps that have been left by the pandemic and really address many of the issues around wellbeing and lost learning which we’re hearing so much about now.

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK – funded by all four governments of the UK – is the biggest, most ambitious creative programme ever presented on these shores. The programme offers a once in a lifetime opportunity for pupils aged 4-19, to become immersed in science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths (STEAM), through a range of remarkable projects across the UK and FREE online learning experiences. Explore the free resources today https://unboxed2022.uk/learning-programme

One of the few positive outcomes from this pandemic experience is the opportunity to rethink the tools we use to communicate and what could be possible if all the separate siloed pieces of technology worked together in an integrated and holistic way. Ask yourself just how many apps you’ve been using? Probably one for video meetings, another for messaging and at least one specialist education app.

One app for everything

Advances in technology are ushering in a revolution against centuries-old protocols. For education institutions today, communication isn’t simply about a phone system. For some, the priority is to be able to connect an entire school across multiple dispersed locations, helping to create a cohesive campus. For others, it’s about simplifying the communications experience with an all-in-one communications solution – calling, messaging, audio and video conferencing, screen-sharing, task management, presence and more, with all files and communications kept in one secure place that can be accessed anywhere, anytime, using any device all through a single app.

Unified communications in the cloud

Cloud-based Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a secure and compliant way for schools to integrate multiple communications methods through a single cloud provider. From just one interface, it’s simple to coordinate with colleagues and instantaneously communicate with the whole school as well as parents and staff. A UCaaS system enables easy collaboration with faculty via calls, private or group chats, or in the same virtual room via an app or browser. Events run more smoothly thanks to file sharing and management tools that make it easy to create, assign, and manage any task. Teachers and admin staff can monitor everything through built-in-analytics and tailored dashboards to track things like equipment spending and inventory or use built-in reports to track budgets. UCaaS also allows for the creation of individualised learning programmes and provides for changing needs as well as making life easier for IT admins.

John Wallis Academy

Based in Ashford, Kent, The John Wallis Church of England Academy is a mixed school, from nursery to sixth form, where the legacy desk-phone system had run its course. With multiple buildings located on the Ashford site, the new communications system needed to help create a virtual campus as well as simplify all the different technologies that were being used.

The Academy was assisted in its search for a communication technology partner by Red Rose Technologies, which understood its requirements, did the research, and provided options, working closely with all parties to make sure the project met the functionality, budget and performance needs of the Academy. Red Rose’s role benefitted John Wallis Academy as the supplier marketplace is busy and over-crowed. It takes time and effort to root out the noise and non-applicable suppliers, which the school does not have. Red Rose believed that Avaya was one of the standout vendors due to its demonstrated history supporting the education community and the fact that when the school needed service and support, they could deal directly with the technology vendor, meaning only one number to call for support 24/7/365.

Matthew Connolly, Data & Systems Manager at John Wallis Academy said: “We decided to go for a UCaaS solution after our own initial research indicated that our existing system was struggling to meet the demands of the Academy. After reviewing several options, Avaya were by far the best provider, delivering a simple, self-administered platform that incorporates the latest communication technologies. We can now manage our users, call queues, groups, and hardware allocation from a single website. Not only are we saving time using features such as automatic voice mail transcription and the ability to access anyone, anywhere, through the excellent softphone application allowing staff to connect to each other the way they want on the device they want, but we are actually saving money against our previous solution.”

Creating better communications experiences matters more than ever, so visit Avaya to learn how unified, cloud-based digital communication technologies can benefit your school.

Parents and children across the country experienced joy and excitement earlier this year when schools re-opened, putting an end to remote learning. However, the reality of the latest COVID-19 outbreak – and the potential of more to come – means that we may not be able to count on in-person classrooms being permanent just yet.

To slow the spread of the latest variant of concern, in-person learning may well have to be disrupted. The uncertainty created by this looming threat is not only challenging for students and parents, but school staff and administrators too, who may have to pivot lesson plans and adopt new requirements with little notice. Technology to do more than teach The UK’s EdTech market has grown tremendously since the start of the pandemic, and will likely reach £3.4bn before the year is up. But technology for education should do more than just enable remote teaching. It should also help with the streamlining of everyday administration and management tasks so that all stakeholders – administrators, governors, parents/carers, teachers, partnering organisations and the IT department – can do their part to ensure the whole school ecosystem runs efficiently and cost effectively.

The right digital tool can go a long way in helping stakeholders navigate shifting online school environments. Digital communications are a great place to start as they are a small change that can have a huge impact, supporting teacher and student practices anytime, anywhere. Cloud-based digital communications solutions have even more to offer, as they bring added capabilities and flexibility.

School-wide communication with one app Cloud-based Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions enable schools to securely integrate multiple communications methods through a single cloud provider. School communications systems traditionally included telephone and email, but a UCaaS solution can bring messaging, calling, audio and video conferencing, screen-sharing and task management into the mix, all while securely storing files in one place, accessible from anywhere, anytime, using any device. The best UCaaS solutions should offer a single interface that allows for coordination between colleagues and departments, as well as instantaneous communication with the whole school community, including parents and staff. Not only does a UCaaS system enable easy collaboration between faculty, but it can also assist with event coordination though file sharing and management tools that make it easy to assign and manage tasks. Through built-inanalytics or tailored dashboards, staff can monitor everything, from equipment spending to inventory, or use built-in reports to track budgets.

When it comes to learning itself, UCaaS also allows for the creation of individualised learning programmes, which can even incorporate provisions for changing needs. The right UCaaS will also make life easier for IT admins. Creating experiences that matter Learning from home doesn’t have to be a poor imitation of a classroom – it’s possible to create truly memorable remote classroom experiences which matters for students, teachers, and parents. UCaaS is key to building these experiences, but the right solution will be composable, allowing schools to assemble and combine different education apps and capabilities to achieve the specific outcomes a teacher and school need at any one time. Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) technology can achieve this. CPaaS is made up of building blocks which enable schools to extend it, build on it, and customise it quickly to meet shifting needs. In this way, CPaaS acts as a ‘force multiplier’ to elevate the value of UCaaS experiences, bringing the agility and flexibility needed to adapt to changing restrictions and guidelines.

Inside and outside of the education sector, all of us have had to adapt the way we work. Technology has fundamentally changed how we collaborate with one another. The rise of online learning accelerated the education sector’s move towards the digital age. Though many scrambled to keep pace, streamlined and extended communications capabilities will mean richer learning experiences for school children both now, and in the future.

www.Avaya.com

SPOKEN WORD POWER is a 3 year national spoken word poetry programme for school age young people. SPOKEN WORD POWER embeds spoken word poetry teaching, practice, writing and performance skills into the nation’s school life. By first providing young people with the support to create and perform their own spoken word poetry, then supporting schools to provide a platform to showcase their work, SPOKEN WORD POWER will engage a whole new generation of primary and secondary school students with the spoken word art form.

Matt Lane, Eastside Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director said: “Creative education in many schools across the nation continues to be threatened by Covid restrictions, demanding STEM targets and reduced budgets. At Eastside, we believe that training in the arts is more important than ever.

“The three year project that we are launching today, SPOKEN WORD POWER, will provide thousands of young people with exciting opportunities to use the spoken word to develop their creative thinking, unlock their imaginations, broaden their horizons and build up their confidence. The project will support young people to articulate their opinions and develop their voices, approaching key issues with a critical mind and a positive attitude.”

James Bridge, UKNC Chief Executive and Secretary-General, commented: “The UK Commission for UNESCO is delighted to work with Eastside Educational Trust and partners in supporting SPOKEN WORD POWER. The project and the young people’s poems are inspiring and help unlock creative potential. The SPOKEN WORD POWER poetry slams are a key contribution to UNESCO celebrations on World Poetry Day.”

Through participation, young people will develop the confidence, skills and creative acumen to write and perform their own spoken word poetry, showcased at over 180 school slam events, 15 major regional spoken word events (celebrating World Poetry Day) while becoming published in annual SPOKEN WORD POWER anthologies.

Matilda Thaddeus-Johns, Eastside Schools Programme Manager said: “We are excited by the potential of this project, and would like to encourage as many schools as possible to engage with our free classroom resources online to get their pupils writing and performing their very own original spoken word poetry.

“This year’s theme is Speaking My Truth and Eastside’s experience of running poetry programmes for schools has demonstrated just how effective spoken word poetry is in enabling young people to find their voice whilst accessing the English curriculum in new and exciting ways.”

By first providing young people with the support to create and perform their own spoken word poetry, then supporting schools to provide a platform to showcase their work, SPOKEN WORD POWER will engage a whole new generation of primary and secondary school students with the spoken word.

Find out more https://www.eastside.org.uk/eastside_programmes/spoken-word-power

World Poetry day is on 21 March https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpoetryday

Much has been said about the enforced shift to online education for schools and universities due to the pandemic. As we begin to emerge from the worst of COVID-19, what do all these changes mean for the future of education?

Of course, it’s not just school and college students who have switched to online learning. At Shaw Academy, we’ve seen our student enrolments shoot up since COVID-19 hit. And even before the pandemic, numbers were growing as millions more people take advantage of the flexibility and relative affordability of eLearning.

Online learning trends for the future – Shaw Academy’s view

A recent survey by Shaw Academy showed that registrations were up by 582% during 2020 as more people turn to online learning. We live in the digital age and the data reflects this, with social media topping the list of the most popular courses, followed by photography and baking.

Online learning platforms like Shaw Academy have grown out of this demand for at-home online learning. Offering an extension of self-learning in a more formalised way, with relatively much cheaper and more flexible courses than formal institutions.

Can online learning match formal education?

Due to the pandemic, we’ve seen that online learning now plays a vital role in education. The flexibility, accessibility and ease of use that it offers thanks to modern technology opens up education to anyone, anywhere.

That’s the beauty of online learning. We welcome students from all around the world and from all kinds of backgrounds. Some are looking to enhance their current job role, while others are training for a brand-new career or to start their own business. The flexibility of twice-weekly lectures in the form of live webinars that can be watched back at any time works for everyone, regardless of other commitments.

It’s not just students at school or university who were existing learners before the pandemic who have been taking up online learning. Since the first lockdown in the UK there has been a huge increase in people looking for online education opportunities.

Fundamental changes to education sector due to the pandemic

COVID-19 has forced the whole world to rethink how they live and work. And while many of the measures put in place regarding work and education may be temporary, an equal number are likely to be here to stay. Such short-term changes within education are inevitably going to change the entire landscape of the sector going forward.

Technology plays a major part in the changes we will see within education over the next few years. There is a stark difference between accessible high speed Internet access between the developed world and emerging economies. These issues are now being addressed due to the impact of the pandemic and the obvious urgency underlying the need to get everyone online.

Aside from the tech infrastructure, there are many exciting developments that will be applied to online learning. For example, it’s likely that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will be incorporated as standard features by 2030.

Shaw Academy believe there will also be developments in the kinds of subjects that people want to study. A growing interest and understanding that coding, IT, programming and design will be in demand is reflected in the number of people who want to study emerging technology.

Furthermore, the development and improvement in online learning is a great leveller. With accessible, deliverable, and flexible education available online, digital learning becomes accessible for people who live with disabilities.

As a parent, it can a hard thing to process when you see that your child is struggling with schoolwork. That powerful instinct to help them no matter what it takes can clash with the knowledge that you don’t want to put too much pressure on them, but how can you encourage them to see that they can do better without pushing too hard?

One of the most important words to remember in this situation is support. We all need a helping hand every now and again, and here are a few ideas to help you give your child that boost they need to get over this wall.

Find Them A Study Buddy

When you’re struggling with a particular subject, it can feel pretty isolating. We all remember that feeling of looking around the classroom and feeling like we were the only ones who didn’t get it, right? Well, one way that you can help shut that down is by talking to other parents in your child’s class and seeing if you could set up a study buddy system or a homework club. This can be a tricky tightrope to walk without feeling like you’re overstepping into your kid’s social circle but remember to present a reward element as well as the encouragement. It’s also a great practice to get into for studying in the future.

Online Tutoring Can Make A Huge Difference

We mentioned the isolating feeling of not understanding a subject, and what that can lead to is an unwillingness to put your hand up and tell the teacher that you’re having a hard time. If some extra help is needed, online tutoring can provide that support with focused, targeted learning that they can take at their own pace.

With papers sent through the post and in-depth video tutorials, these classes can be targeted at the areas that your child is finding particularly challenging to create a personalised learning experience that won’t leave them behind. Test Teach helps students pass the 11+ with online and offline classes, with specialised tutorials from a range of expert tutors, and they offer a free sample pack.

Remember To Talk

We mentioned the many and complex feelings that you can have as a parent when your child is struggling in class, but it’s just as important to remember that they will be finding this just as hard. So, remember to keep talking to them about how they’re doing, and to remind them that you are there to support them no matter what their grades are.

There may be many different reasons why they might be having a hard time in class, so it’s vital that you be patient and ready to listen if there’s something that they need to get off their chest. You should also be sure to talk to their teachers to voice your concerns and to get their perspective. They may have some ideas about how you can help structure time for homework, or suggestions for activities that you can do outside of school that may help.

Comment by Charlie Smith, Consulting Solution Engineer, Data Protection at Barracuda Networks

As students and teachers are forced out of the classroom due to the COVID-19 crisis, cybercriminals are exploiting the security vulnerabilities in distance learning and virtual teaching setups to launch ransomware attacks against education institutions.

This increase is in the context of a broader rise in the number of ransomware attacks anyway – research shows 51% of businesses were impacted by ransomware in the last year and that an attack now takes place every 11 seconds since the start of 2021. But the UK education sector is now firmly in attackers’ cross hairs.

The threat is so serious that the UK’s Department for Education and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) put out an alert to school leaders last autumn and the NCSC said it has been investigating an increased number of ransomware attacks affecting UK education establishments since August 2020. Even prior to the pandemic, almost a third of UK schools admitted suffering a malware or ransomware attack in 2019.

This trend isn’t limited to the UK either. The Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency and the FBI have both warned about increased ransomware attacks targeting K-12 (primary and secondary) institutions in the US, too.

Research by Emsisoft also shows that the education sector in the US disclosed 31 ransomware incidents in the third quarter of 2020 – up from eight incidents the previous quarter (although there is a caveat here that there is a historical year-on-year trend for ransomware attacks on schools to spike after the summer ahead of the academic year starting in autumn).

How safe is your Microsoft Office 365 cloud?

The growing use of cloud environments by schools and colleges to support home learning, particularly Microsoft Office 365 – Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive and applications such as Satchel One, is just one of the ways that attackers are able to find a way in and steal data or hold an organisation to ransom.

Yet there is still an all too common misconception that because your data is in the cloud it can’t be affected by ransomware. That simply isn’t true.

For example, a child browsing the web on their school tablet or laptop at home can easily be tricked into clicking on a malicious link by accident. If that device is connected and synced to OneDrive as part of the school’s Office 365 account, a ransomware file can be automatically uploaded to OneDrive and encrypt school’s files and data held in the Microsoft cloud.

I’ve also seen examples where SharePoint, Exchange and other data sources have been hit. And if network drives are mapped to document libraries in Office 365 using the ‘open with Explorer’ feature, the ransomware can also scan for and infect files on connected drives.

Despite these examples, many organisations still labour under the misapprehension that they don’t need to worry because the data hosted in their Office 365 cloud is protected by Microsoft. In our own survey, nearly 40% of respondents said they believed that Microsoft provides everything they need to protect their Office 365 environment.

Yes, Microsoft does have some limited features to restore deleted files. But surely it doesn’t need to be said that recovering deleted files from the recycle bin in OneDrive isn’t a recommended backup strategy. Neither is email archiving, which doesn’t allow you to restore a complete mailbox and all of its contents to a single point in time.

It may be buried in the terms and conditions, but even Microsoft recommends that organisations use a third-party solution to backup and protect their data.

Charlie Smith is a Consulting Solution Engineer, Data Protection at Barracuda Networks

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Education Today