Unprepared Europe learns lessons of digital education

By Serife Cetin, Bayram Altug, Hasan Esen, Senhan Bolelli, Yusuf Ozcan and Erbil Basay

BRUSSELS (AA) – European countries were caught off guard not only in combating the spread of coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic, but also introducing distance education in the wake of locked schools.

The pandemic is not only affecting health and economic sectors but also education all over the world. After the outbreak of pandemic in China, Europe became the epicenter of the diseases, before it attained more dangerous proportions in the U.S.

Because of lockdown and social distancing policy, European countries are adopting distance education and digital schooling to keep students on the learning stream.

Although Sweden and Iceland have kept schools open, other counties had closed schools on March 16. Most of the countries, whose national curricula are quite different from one another, had to suddenly switch to distance education with some panic.

The situation, which has affected millions of students in Europe, appears to have impacted public schools more.

-Belgium

Belgium was not able to develop a nationwide distance education system for its schools since they were closed.

Students in public schools have been submitting their homework by e-mail, but this is merely an old method employed during normal conditions. New methods could not be devised because there was no platform accessible to everyone.

Some private schools impart education via virtual platforms such as Zoom and Google Classroom.

They regularly take attendance to make it look at a normal classroom for students abiding by most of the school formalities.

-Germany

Federal states are responsible for education policies in Germany, and this has led to employing various methods during the COVID-19 crisis.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government attempted to coordinate states’ education policies at meetings with the heads of federal states.

At the last coordination meeting, it was decided to open schools on May 4. However, some states have decided to prepone the schedule.

It was also decided that Abitur exams, or high school graduation tests, will take place by May 4 in all states.

On the other hand, there are certain differences in states in terms of distance education.

For example, in Berlin, most teachers send weekly homework to students by e-mail.

Students can also study the subjects in the curriculum through applications they voluntarily install on their computers.

In Bremen, teachers have a choice to decide teaching methods.

The Bremen Ministry of Education has announced that teachers can educate their students through video conferencing or upload assignments to pages created for students online.

While many other states have similar practices, students at private schools often attend classes through video conferencing applications.

-France

France has been struggling with online education.

Although the Ministry of Education developed an app for this purpose, only a quarter of the country’s teachers are using it, according to researchers.

Local media suggests that most teachers are educating students on their own via WhatsApp or Zoom.

Families told Anadolu Agency that students’ education continues via e-mail between students and teachers.

-Spain

In Spain also, schools were closed on March 14. They are expected to re-open in September.

Education in primary and secondary schools continues in a very limited manner through the internet.

Except for extraordinary situations, students are expected to be promoted to the next grade level. High school graduation exams are scheduled in late June or the first two weeks of July. There are different education systems and curricula in 17 autonomous administrations in the country. The term education in universities is expected to continue with the wider use of online means.

-UK

With schools closed since March 20 in the U.K., private schools have started online classes.

However, students studying in public schools could not be taught for a month. Meanwhile, the BBC produced 14 weeks of course content in line with the curriculum.

With the BBC Bitesize platform, renowned names were asked to be guest teachers for the lessons, which started on Tuesday.

Brian Cox, a famous physicist has been roped in to teach topics like the solar system and gravity for science students.

Sergio Aguero, premier league club Manchester City star will teach children around the country to count in Spanish.

Children who do not have a computer and internet access in their homes will be able to follow their lessons with a tablet fitted with a 4G connection provided by the Ministry of Education.

-Switzerland

While schools were closed in Switzerland on March 16, the students have been hooked to online education.

The country, however, has decided to gradually open the schools.

If the number of COVID-19 infections continues to drop in the country, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools will re-open on May 11.

Universities are planning to open their doors from June 8.

*Writing by Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak