Why Today’s Education Must Focus on Upskilling for Teachers
The dramatic shift to distance learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged the mindset, knowledge and skills of every teacher across the globe. Skills that were once thought to be nice additions to our careers now became “must-haves” as digital integration took shape. Traditional classroom management and instruction methods no longer applied, while guidelines and expectations shifted on a weekly basis. As this new school year approaches, the global pandemic continues and educators seek to brace for more temporary and abrupt changes.
This coming fall, regardless of the learning models (virtual, in-person, or hybrid), educating and learning will not look the same. We know that schools must increase virtual readiness with upgraded digital platforms, virtual norms and technical skills. They must also prepare for health and safety protocols that will affect class size and instructional strategies. Students may also lose out on learning or experience trauma that affects readiness, while some students and teachers will need to stay at home.
Given these conditions, education systems face the huge task of preparing teachers for teaching and learning in the years to come. However, school districts can take notes from organizations both in and out of the education system to inform and guide the growth process. Here are three considerations that will help develop teaching talent in the aftermath of COVID-19.
1. Identify Upskills within Existing Core Competencies
Training and updating the skills of our educators was a priority before the pandemic. In 2019, the World Economic Forum indicated that the effects of automation, virtual work and tech advances would require over half of all employees to be upskilled or reskilled by 2022. Work from home and social distancing rules have only accelerated those needs. Educators are looking to the healthcare industry to reflect how they similarly have to rapidly upskill their roles across America’s three million teachers. Medical professionals had to meet the “all-hands-on-deck” approach of the pandemic, getting trained on the basics of treating infectious diseases. Similarly, educators require upskilling. For instance, in a post-COVID world, teachers will need the following skills for classroom management:
Camera use, online chats, and headphones
Screen monitoring, digital FAQs
In-person teaching and learning with face masks
Adjusting student seating and no-contact collaboration
When it comes to instructional methods, teachers will need to:
Focus on models for small groups
Use differentiation tactics or strategies to address learning gaps
Implement no-contact collaborative exercises
2. Reskill New Competencies
Education has faced various staffing pressures since the pandemic and will likely continue to do so in the year ahead. Budget cuts, limitations on class capacity, and a significant amount of teachers required to teach from home will exacerbate the teacher shortage. Leaders will need to think about how to reskill both traditional and newly created roles to meet capacity demands. Teachers may need to model their reskilling strategies after healthcare once again. For example, as hospitals became stretched thin, some companies resorted to training their workers in nursing so their abilities could be repurposed elsewhere. Scandanavian Airlines designed a three-and-a-half-day training program for their flight attendants to become assistant nurses to maintain their paychecks and serve supporting roles in hospitals.
If we are to improve similar shortages in education, school districts may need to consider reskilling new and existing roles. Parents could receive training on teaching or guiding independent learning sessions with students. Counselors may lead daily groups on health and wellness to ease classroom sizes. Bus drivers could deliver WiFi or other basic technical support for virtual students and educators. In the hopes of meeting these unprecedented demands on capacity and classroom space, districts may need to think beyond traditional teacher roles to support these demands on education.
Regardless of the job role or title, reskilling and offering new knowledge and training will need to occur in all positions. The knowledge held by virtual educators or mindsets for dealing with uncertainty that wasn’t previously required will need a revamp in training and reinforcement as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 landscape. For instance, digital content and instruction will require daily integration of a districts’ virtual learning systems, use of virtual instruction software and digital formative assessment tools, along with IT support for hybrid and virtual learning.
3. Recalibrate Hiring, Development and Evaluation Efforts
Upskilling and reskilling demand significant resources and efforts to hire, onboard, and pursue continuous development. By analyzing the present and future needs of skill development, teams can start to learn the barriers and the hurdles that come with new and existing core competencies.
Teams might reconsider who they hire from now on. For instance, additional attributes like digital instruction or high comfort with ambiguous applications might become necessary for hire. New interviews will need to include questions and performance tasks that reflect these new protocols. For example, virtual lesson demonstrations or questions indicate how candidates maintain productivity and quality during shifting conditions. Onboarding and PD structure will also need to incorporate these upskill and reskill focus. Teach for America is taking similar steps. They now have in-person teaching and intensive coaching in summer schools. The program emphasizes social and emotional learning strategies, training in digital tools for lessons and rethinking traditional classroom management structures.
Finally, school districts will need to reexamine their coaching and evaluation processes and revamp them according to new expectations. Some companies have implemented similar Return to Work strategies to help workers get back to work. Districts will need to add similar guidelines that include virtual instruction practices, classroom management and updated instruction strategies with social distancing measures.
Redesigning Education for a Post-COVID World
Those who will be the most successful in the future of work are those who can learn, unlearn and relearn. The abruptly changing landscape to virtual and socially distanced learning is challenging our workforces’ capacity and traditional competencies. However, educators have an opportunity to redefine these skills and develop processes that allow teachers and supporting roles to relearn the knowledge, skills and mindsets necessary to succeed in this new normal.