It’s been a good two years since Covid 19 has stricken our lives and turned them around once and for all. We have learned to live with the pandemic. Our personal and professional lives are now altered and adjusted to harmonize with the new post-pandemic social order. While most of us have now managed to find a rhythm amidst all this chaos, some are still struggling to regain their lost pace – including our children. We might have often failed to see that they had been dealing with a lot, too. Schools closed, academics stalled, and socialisation dreaded – our kids are way too young to comprehend all the sudden changes. The pandemic has taken a toll on them as well.
Our children weren’t just affected socially by the pandemic; their education was also gravely compromised. It is true that online schooling and online tuitions were able to repair the harm significantly. But it is high time we realised that e-learning is not an all-encompassing solution for closed schools. While in the whole of Australia online tutoring was opted and we lead our kids through this new path, there are many socially disadvantaged students who had to stay outside our narrow boundaries of inclusivity. This is when the government brought in fresh schemes to safeguard the interests of all the students of Australia.
Why your kid needs online tutoring and why they should start early
While in the whole of Australia online tutoring was opted and we lead our kids through this new path, there are many socially disadvantaged students who had to stay outside our narrow boundaries of inclusivity.
What is wrong with Australia’s online tutoring?
Students from kindergarten to year 12 have now returned to their schools after ages of uncertainty and disrupted education. Our kids have been learning to get acquainted with online tuitions over this time period, but that doesn’t nullify any of the struggles they had been encountering with regard to their curriculum. Learning loss occurred as a result of the pandemic and lockdowns is a reality. With the absence of an immersive schooling system, kids who were struggling with their lessons before pandemic have become even more helpless. Apart from them, students who were doing fairly good in schools were also pushed down during the online tuition days of lockdown. It has become necessary to pay more attention to the kids who are in need, and help them overcome this divide.
Learning loss has severely affected students from diverse social backgrounds. This set of students predominantly include kids from Aboriginal communities, kids who learn English as an additional language, and other children from disadvantaged classes. Their needs are as diverse as their social conditions. If classes are going online, then these virtual classrooms should definitely secure a place for all our kids. Care has to be given to those in need of it. It is to bridge this gap that the NSW Department of Education has come up with a program.
“Tutoring in Schools”: Australia’s answer to lockdown learning loss
Online tutoring in Australia has turned out to be inadequate for all its stakeholders, which is why NSW Department of Education has envisaged a program to help high priority schools in the state. The government wished to ensure that each and every child gets the best quality education, even when the world has been toppled over by the pandemic. NSW Department of Education had spent $337 million to aid Primary Schools, High Schools, Central Schools and Schools for Specific Purposes as early as 2021. This pilot program proved to be successful, and yielded wonderful results in all the beneficiary schools. The project is now moving to its next stage, extended to 2022 as well.
“Tutoring in schools” program will provide learning support to more than 2000 schools in NSW this year. Fund set aside for the program has been increased to $383 million this year. This Covid intensive learning support program will have its focus on strengthening literary and numeric skills of the students. The program is also directed to popularise and intensify the existing online tuition system. More than anything, the program will work towards increasing accessibility to all the online tools a student needs, including online tutors, and thus make sure that no student or school is left behind in this process of learning.
Australia goes online: How does the program work?
NSW’s “Tutoring in schools” is an intensive small group online tutoring program. Students are gathered in small groups, preferably of five, and provided with online tutors for a closer interaction. Learning gaps can be identified and dealt with, if students are attended to individually or in small groups. Students from remote locations, rural areas and other disadvantaged backgrounds can reap great benefit out of this program. Online tutors meet them at their school virtually. They can engage in learning activities without any fear of bandwidth failure or technical glitch. Schools are also rather pleased to be benefitting from this program.
The pilot program was run in selected schools, where the students were provided with online tuitions in English and Maths. Children were divided into small groups to attend these classes, and sometimes were also rendered one-to-one personalised online tuitions. Australia’s leading online tutoring platforms were welcomed onboard for the project. They provided all the study resources, online tutors, and expert guidance to the schools, where the students would attend their classes. Teachers in the schools and online tutors worked hand-in-hand to track down each hurdle in their students’ path to learning, and brought about exemplary results in tackling the lockdown learning loss. This model will be followed in the extended project of 2022, in more schools.
Did online tuitions and the project do any good?
The trial run of “Tutoring in Schools” turned out to be a colossal success. Schools that had participated in the program have reported significant progress in their students’ learning potential. Online tuitions provided by experts as part of the program has visibly enhanced enthusiasm and confidence in students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Authorities claim that the program could remove the gaps in learning, and introduce online tutoring as a ‘fun activity’ that kids loved. This change in perception has indeed encouraged students to look forward to meeting their online tutors, and enjoy the process of e-learning.
The program was rooted on the findings from recent studies that stated small-group tuitions are effective in creating a favourable learning environment for children. Targeted attention has, by all means, transformed the way children responded to their online tutors. As an additional benefit, “Tutoring in Schools” program could also find employment opportunities for more than 7,500 educators from across the state. This number will further increase in the forthcoming laps, making the program an adept tool to utilise the pool of skilled online tutors that we have in the country. With the project getting rolled out to the entire state, the scope of progress spreads far and wide.
It was important for our kids to take their lessons forward, for which online tutors were of immense help.
Why does Australia need online tutoring?
We have realised that unless we shapeshift to fit into the post-pandemic world order, it is impossible to pick up the pace with the rest. Numerous measures of survival were adopted for this – we started hosting zoom parties, the cosiness of our bed became our workspace, personal hygiene became part of our lives. In Australia, online tutoring was also one of these measures. It was important for our kids to take their lessons forward, for which online tutors were of immense help. When learning goes online, it can also lead to disparities in resource-sharing, as we have already seen.
However, online tuitions are not to be blamed for this inherent disproportion in resource distribution. On the contrary, online tutors can work as a whole to tackle this problem, and dispense quality education for all. “Tutoring in schools” stands tall as a good case in point. Online tuitions, when provided by the best platforms and the most efficient online tutors, will effectively streamline the learning process of our children. Kids who require special attention shall receive it through a closer interaction, by means of one-to-one online tuitions. Children who are struggling to find a stable footing in academics as everything crumbles down around, will find a way out if they can get themselves enrolled to the right online tuitions.
Tutormine could be the solution you are in search of
Tutormine, a dedicated online tutoring platform for Australia, shares NSW Government’ commitment in bringing the best of resources to those who need it the most. Team Tutormine recognises the unique learning pattern of each child, which will indeed vary according to their capabilities, interests and social circumstances. Our online tutors are expert recruits who can trace down this pattern and ensure a mode of learning that suits your kid the most. They are selected through a rigorous procedure to evaluate their quality and compassion. Tutormine believes in nurturing a bond between the online tutor and student, thereby creating a safe space for our children to learn, experiment and grow.
Our focus lies in equipping children to continue their education despite any hinderance. On Tutormine, they can join their online tuitions from any location, at any time feasible for them and their parents. This flexibility of Tutormine classes makes it the right choice for any student who wish to develop a healthy learning habit. With Tutormine, online tuitions will never be mere additions to regular schooling, instead, children will benefit greatly from the customised classes tailor-made for them. Tutormine is the right place for your child, specifically in the current circumstances of uncertainty.
When NSW government has recognised the significance of online tutoring in Australia during the post-pandemic era, it becomes important that the parents shall also strive to internalise the role of online tutors in your children’s lives. The “Tutoring in Schools” program has provided us ample reasons to believe that online tuitions will enhance learning capacity in children. One-to-one online tuitions and small group online tuitions have successfully saved students from lockdown learning loss. The government has done its part well, and it is our turn now to take the good work ahead. Get your child the best online tutor today!
