After nearly three weeks homeschooling and teleworking families are already settled into a new, unexpected routine. Families, as the living cells of society, are the first who (must) adapt to the crisis, and must carry much of the weight of it.
While schools and teachers were preparing themselves for online platforms and a remote system of homeschooling, this was also the first telework experience for most parents, dealing with crowded lines, slow connections, diverse IT skills. Everyone did their best to remain loyal to their own priorities: teachers sent daily emails with links and attachments as well as brilliant suggestions to parents about how to explain Lutheran revolution, the use of subjunctive in French, column divisions and how to write a poem paraphrase. Even in the nursery section kids have received instructions about creative activities to be undertaken with the help of their mothers and fathers, finally enjoying a 24/7 time together like they were on vacation. The school administration from its side, sent almost daily communications showing parents that they are not alone, that the school is still working hard. This communication also included a handout created by the psychology team with precious recommendations.
The outcome after the first weeks is an imminent parent burnout: those who did not have all the IT infrastructure needed for homeschooling their kids had to run to buy printers, toners or, in the willingness to be paper free, laptops and tablets. Many have not received them yet, because apparently Amazon is experiencing long delays and shops are closed, besides, except for essential goods it is not recommended to go shopping anyway. Teleworking is limited 6 to 8 am (if they don’t have babies) and after 10 pm (if they survive the day), because in working hours the priority is download, print, show, explain, discuss, scream, help, reassure, not panic, not let panic, cook, clean, workout, walk the dog, play, set Skype guitar lessons for the older ones, online speech therapy for the youngest, language lessons for themselves and Skype couple therapy during naptime, change nappies, learn how to solve column divisions and check if the kid did well, learn how to shop online, read 135 unread messages from the class Whatsapp groups, keep themselves informed (but with moderation to avoid depression) and remotely take care of their loved ones in the country of origin. And this is the best scenario. What will happen next? At the same time, parents are now realizing how challenging the job of a teacher is and are learning the hard way to better appreciate the fundamental role they play in their children’s lives. They are grateful for some teachers’ resilience, openness and true closeness to families. They finally realize how most of the teachers care about their kids and they feel comforted by their presence through the screens. But they certainly can’t wait for school holidays!
Despite all the best efforts by the institutions and schools, parents are feeling overwhelmed because they cannot effectively count on anyone’s help in family management, house-keeping, kid’s education or in their own health and work. Not to mention lone parents and those that have critical jobs, and have to go to work anyway. When everyone focuses on their own job, it’s easy to forget about others.
In this situation, more than ever you should set the priorities straight: do the work that you can by prioritizing the most important, postpone or skip the rest, focus on your family. If telework gets too difficult to use, you may take relief that it is not your fault that the IT systems are down. In short, a new settlement of priorities is required, both from the school and the workplace, and remember, we are all learning.
According to our information, there is no one common approach followed by the schools on how to proceed. It is not enough to send a program to be followed by children/parents. An active role for the teachers is indispensable. There is an urgent need to ensure daily contact with teachers via eg. Microsoft Teams (available, though not yet rolled out as we understand, in all schools and with all children having an account) for at least 1-2 hours per day. And teachers must receive concrete instructions from the direction of the schools, who in turn should be guided by directives from the Central Office of the European Schools.
In any case, the priority right now is to think of health, both individual and public, as a civil responsibility.
Stay safe and remember we are here for you [1]!