Home Schooling Assistance !

In Australia we still have many homes that lack a computer or have access to the internet, but there would be few homes that do not have television, and that seems to be the logical starting point to assist parents now that home schooling has replaced classrooms because of the virus threat.

It is obvious that many families are ill placed to deliver a teachers role when it comes to educating their kids because of either the education level they obtained in their youth or the difficulty in learning a new language when they arrived in Australia.  We do not know how long this state of emergency will last, but it certainly has the capacity to retard the educational level some kids were attaining in the school system.

It looks like the ABC is the national broadcaster with the coverage to fill that gap and already plans are under way to work with state and territory educational authorities to create teacher-led  mini lessons which will be broadcast on the ABC educational portal and ME channel to support student learning at home.

This will commence from April 27 and take the form of educational programming between 10 am and 3 pm,  It is envisaged that this will be directed at primary students in the mornings and switch to secondary students in the afternoon. It will cover a range of subjects and it is expected that it will be of great help for parents struggling to provide an agenda.

What is glaringly obvious is the lack of a common educational standard in Australia.  The states and Territories can't even agree on holiday timing, let alone a curriculum.  Everything is different in each state and that even includes the books set for reading on which examinations will be based.  As a result, the ABC will either have to create a separate educational programme for each state or put together a common programme which will have gaps caused by these differences.

Reaching uniformity has been a failed goal because of state bickering and each state claiming to attain the highest educational standard.  This present crisis simply highlights that shortcoming and it is hoped will cause the Commonwealth to move education out of state hands to create uniformity. The present educational system harks back to an earlier age when there was little movement between the states.  We are now a very mobile nation and education needs to adapt to that mobility.

This unexpected virus has created an opportunity to reform the educational system and we are fortunate in having both the ABC and SBS as national broadcasters who can reach almost every home in Australia.   That will relieve the load from the shoulders of many parents who are not suited to performing both the duties of parent and schoolteacher.