Distance education for newcomers 'almost impossible'
While the cabinet will most likely extend the school closure tonight, some of the teaching staff is stuck. Teaching students who speak poorly or not or Dutch is practically impossible from a distance.
Image: Lataster \x26amp; Movies
In transition classes, language schools and schools associated with asylum seekers' centers (AZCs), all the challenges of distance learning come together. Parents are sometimes not only illiterate, but also digital literate. They cannot accompany their children with school work. Getting in touch with the students in the first place is sometimes a big challenge. Teacher Thijs Roovers posted a poll on the facebook page POinAction. Almost a quarter of the more than seven thousand fillers *Facebook polls are not representative. It is difficult to find out whether all voters actually work in primary education. indicates that they could not reach all children until now. Miss Rita Hooijmans says under the in.: "I did reach them, as in: e-mailed or called, but whether it really arrives with non-native parents ..."
Parents are sometimes not only illiterate, but also digitally illiterate
José Leusink, internal supervisor at the Cobo Language School in Hilversum, handed out paper homework packages to the parents who came to school last week. At the moment, people are working hard to get at least one suitable device in every family. Even then, estimates Leusink, she will not reach 15 to 20 percent of her students with distance learning. “These parents are sometimes not only illiterate, but also digital literate. Their children are exactly the students who cannot use this situation at all. ”
Very worrisome
Miss Eefje van 't Hoff, she works at a primary school in Noord-Holland, is also very concerned about students whose parents speak little or no Dutch. “When I call, I am often told: everything is fine. While I see online that they are not doing anything. If I ask for a photo or an e-mail, I will not receive anything from these students. Zoom doesn't work for them either. We have an interpreter who tries very hard to get everything clear. But it often turns out that not only the Dutch language is insufficient. Very worrisome. ”
The children were still in pajamas
Ellen Scholten, who works for group seven of the Krugerstee primary school in Vaassen and for the AOb, recognize this. Last week she brought extra reading books to a Syrian family and was shocked by the home situation. “The children were still in pajamas at two in the afternoon. You try to act normal. 'Oh, are you having pajama day? How nice, well, just get dressed tomorrow, isn't it? ' It hurts to see these families hit the hardest. ”
The National Education Working Group for Asylum Seekers and Newcomers (LOWAN) also received examples of asylum seekers' centers where the curtains are closed until 12.00:XNUMX noon and the children sit exclusively in front of the TV. Boudien Bakker of LOWAN: “In practice, most children are 'locked up' in a small unit at the center. I cannot estimate whether that is unsafe. There are also many families that are doing well. We hear from the COA that the residents of the AZCs adhere very well to the guidelines and comply with them. They are very afraid of being infected. ”
Back to school
This morning Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer did a call on Radio-1 to allow children who cannot do their schoolwork at home to go back to school. In the news bulletin, Kalverboer said: “15 percent don't do the homework. You can expect that among those children are also children who are having a hard time at home. By taking out this 15 percent and letting them come to school, you may also remove the children who are unsafe at home."
For some teachers it will be a relief if these students come to school
Ib-er Leusink of the Cobo Language School in Hilversum: “It will be a relief for a number of teachers when these students come to school. But not everyone is the same in this. Some teachers really want to stick to the guidelines and stay at home as much as possible. This must therefore first be discussed with the director, the team and the board. I personally think it is a good solution. Even if they only come for a short time every day, or three times a week in the morning. ”
Devoid of language
The next challenge is how to get these children to school, because language schools often have a regional function. And not all AZC schools - there are about fifty in the Netherlands - are located on the AZC grounds. Miss Kiet Engels, who teaches migrant children at primary school Het Palet in Hapert in Brabant, also hopes that there will be an exception to the school closure. “I am not a doomsayer. We are doing everything we can to get practice material to the children and that is going well. It's a lot of work, because every child has their own levels for different subjects. And we try to get the visual elements that we normally use on the IWB on paper. Yet they remain devoid of language all this time. If we stay closed until after the May holidays, I'm afraid we can start all over again with these students.
Taxi vans don't drive, so how do you transport the students?
Even if the children are allowed to come to school, there are challenges. Engels: "The taxi vans don't run, so how do you transport them?" And if the cabinet continues to assume one exception for vulnerable children, who are they, Engels wonders. “How do you make that selection? Who exactly is vulnerable? " The PvdA asked the cabinet late last week 'to be further defined' what is meant by children in vulnerable positions. In any case, Engels hopes that municipalities will be lenient when its students have to stay longer in the transition class due to the corona crisis. "Because that costs money."
LOWAN has made themed pages for distance education for newcomers in primary education (click here) and secondary education (click here).
