Much has been written about the benefits of reopening schools on children, parents and teachers. The effects of what has been lived through are multiple in impact. According to this FT article quoting some research by No More Marking, secondary school starters in September in the UK were “22 months behind” where they should have been with their writing skills. Teachers also reported that this age group were the “least mature and weakest they have ever come across”. While the article goes on to say that for many the home-learning and subsequent return has been okay, for others it has not been, with some having lost “self-confidence, who are depressed, anxious, not sleeping, or all three”. But learning just to pass exams, which in some countries have been cancelled, makes no sense at all. The journalist suggests that perhaps we should be reconsidering what we want an education to give to children and concludes that “education could serve both functions — to learn useful and interesting things about the world and to get some qualifications that perform the same signalling function”. The opportunity to reset is lost as we get back to education as usual and focus on a system that has not changed in over a century, while the world, and jobs have changed beyond comparison.
https://www.ft.com/content/13231302-8443-4652-b751-4082a936b282