With Covid-19 disruption, education professionals now have high levels of confidence in using edtech

New research from Renaissance, a global provider of leading edtech solutions to improve outcomes and accelerate learning, has revealed that over 20% of teachers believe addressing the attainment gap arising from Covid-19 related disruption will be the biggest challenge this school term.

The research asked over 300 senior school leaders, department heads, and teachers about their thoughts and concerns as the new school term got underway. Respondents cited sequential disruptions caused by school closures or isolation bubbles 14% as among the largest expected challenges.

The majority 44% of teachers believe that the remote learning environment has had a greater impact on pupil attainment, while 26% of them said it has not affected the attainment, and 32% of them recorded a small impact. The literacy attainment gap was of particular concern to teachers with 57% reporting they felt it would be the hardest gap of all the core skills to close this current school term. In comparison, only 25% of teachers said that the mathematics attainment gap would be a challenge.

Regular feedback from teachers 27% and tailored work programmes for each child 22% were seen as top solutions to close the attainment gap. Teachers also said that more mental health support for pupils and engagement with peers may improve their performance.

But there is a silver lining to the past 18 months as education professionals indicated high levels of confidence in using edtech since Covid-19 disruption. Around 71% of teachers said their confidence in using edtech had increased.  Edtech and digital learning platforms were appreciated for offering quick access to key resources 24% and providing interactive learning methods that motivate students to learn 21% along with the freedom to learn at one’s own pace 14%.

With such a variety of online tools available, experts at Renaissance are encouraging schools to take advantage of teachers’ improved edtech confidence and expand their digital offering, whilst also leveraging resources such as Focus Skills™ Teacher Workbooks, to help tackle the attainment gap caused by Covid-19 school closures.

Renaissance believes that teachers can use their complete literacy solution to address the literacy attainment gap. The solution consists of a range of offerings such as Star Reading assessment, myON, and Accelerated Reader to engage students, motivate reading practice and improve reading progress. Working with over 120 regional and local schools, Renaissance is actively promoting literacy and numeracy development to combat the challenges faced by schools as they provide distance learning to young students. The products and solutions also support differentiated instruction and personalised learning to optimise overall student development.

Gene Kerns, Chief Academic Officer, Renaissance said, “We know teachers continue to face a wide range of challenges presented by Covid-19 in their classrooms. However, there’s an opportunity to take some real positives from the pandemic – building on the way in which so many teachers have embraced technology and worked tirelessly to upskill. Clearly, the attainment gap continues to be a concern. At Renaissance we’re committed to supporting education professionals – building on the great strides in the use of technology and providing teachers with the right tools to identify and address areas of need, providing a roadmap for closing the gap. As we move forward through the pandemic, it’s time teachers were able to focus on what they are really there for – to educate pupils, guide their learning development and plan tailored programmes.”

Michelle Thomas, Director of Education, School of Research Science in Dubai said, “The pandemic changed the way we work and think. We’ve always believed that reading is at the heart of what we do, and we believe that all teachers are teachers of literacy. We have all had to deal with different challenges, from going from face-to-face learning, to distance learning, to blended learning, but as a school, we are thankful that we chose to use the literacy solutions from Renaissance. It offered everything we needed and supported a high level of consistency across both primary and secondary school. The tool myOn was a saviour for online learning, and we used it both as a whole class and as an individual resource, which has seen our reading results skyrocket across the school.”