Back to Traditional Classrooms?

The world we will have to continue to tackle coronavirus for the long term. Hand washing, staying at home as much as possible, working from home,  keeping distance – all the measures advised by experts. But careful steps will need to be eventually started in getting industry and schools back to some kind of normality.

Thanks to the measures governments have put in place to tackle coronavirus we are, slowly, moving in the right direction.  Although the situation is still serious, countries are now having to think how to get people back to school and work.

Will it be a phased return? Essential industries? Older children back to school?

There are many situations that are currently circulating to find a reasonable solution to this terrible time the world has been experiencing. Our primary industry is education, and at MPS  we are currently exploring practical ideas for social distancing in schools.

News reports recently have suggested that schools are contemplating letting older students to return to school first.  An interview today with Nicola Sturgeon on the Sky News  website said:

“With schools, classrooms may have to be redesigned to allow social distancing, so maybe not all children can go back to, and be at, school at the same time.”

She added that “some limited outdoor activity might be able to restart earlier than indoor activity”, but “big gatherings and events are likely to be off for some months to come”. Sky News – full article here

In Holland yesterday the government released a statement about measures in the continuing tacking of the virus:

Primary schools, including special primary schools, and childcare centres for children aged 0 to 4 (including childminders) will reopen on 11 May. 

The size of classes at primary schools will be halved. Pupils will go to school approximately 50% of the time. They will spend the other 50% of their school hours doing distance learning. Government of Netherland

Over the next few days we will be posting blogs on how at MPS we think schools could incorporate social distancing. Methods of integration and how the immediate future of schooling could change the way we learn, collaborate and interact while social distancing is still in place. Could the below picture be a vision of how classrooms may have to be designed to enable students to return to education? Will technology be a major factor in remote learning?

MPS will be researching into how we think the educational sector can adapt to the changed world.