In an interview for Teacher Magazine, education expert, Deborah Price, discusses practical ways early years educators can provide inclusive learning opportunities for children under eight during the pandemic. Acknowledging that children are always learning, Price suggests taking advantage of the household items and the students’ natural settings in lessons to connect school to life. Price also notes the importance of connecting with peers for even very young children, and provides suggestions for assessment.

The author points to the “grammar” of schooling – the rules by which schools operate that is taken for granted as just the way schools are. He says the grammar of schooling has persisted despite the vast changes in the world outside schools, and that even now, when students cannot attend physical school, the “mental image of school still rules our thinking.”

Education policy and research experts at the Centre for Global Development report on how there’s no one size fits all approach for opening schools around the world. They caution that the models being implemented by European countries, such as Denmark, are not transferable to developing countries.

Education expert, Yong Zhao, discusses how online education is not a replacement for face-to-face learning and points to how this is an opportunity to reimagine schooling. Zhao encourages that education systems rethink curriculum and high stakes examinations, while creating space for global and digital competencies.

People for Education is monitoring the differences across the country in educational policy and approaches to distance learning during the pandemic. In this regularly updated “COVID tracker”, we will highlight the successes, challenges and evolution of each region’s response.