TERM 3, 2020
DEPUTY’S DESK
51
Embracing the new normal There have been many silver linings to the enforced remote learning experience, one being the shift in how we prioritise an approach to professional learning that truly meets the immediate needs of our students and our teachers.
BY ADAM MA JSAY
Six months on, it appears that teaching is a
THE months seem to have flown by since
remarkably buoyant profession. The need to
Australian schools were compelled by force
respond to unprecedented times has resulted in
majeure to find new ways to deliver teaching and
unprecedented acceleration of professional growth
learning to our almost four million school-aged
and development for Australian teachers, espe-
students, essentially overnight. The shift from
cially in terms of how we have embraced digital
face-to-face teaching with digital platforms as,
technologies as a core driver of student learning.
largely, an adjunct to the ‘real business’ of teach-
The period of remote learning forced us to acceler-
ing students in a physical classroom, to an envi-
ate our adoption of digital learning technologies
ronment in which online engagement provided the
as schools moved rapidly to provide an authentic
core means of connection between teachers and
means of connecting with our students and each
students, occurred at a rate and scale that
other. Many schools achieved in a matter of weeks
required educators to dive into the deep end, with
what might have taken many years to embed
eyes wide open, and (to extend the metaphor even
under the usual circumstances, against the usual
further) to sink, or swim.
competing priorities. However, these were not the
