Challenge
Remote learning is a huge challenge for primary school children and teachers, but in particular for children in Kindergarten to Year 2. Remote learning is challenging for young children as they are just beginning to learn how to read and write, they have limited technology skills and they are very dependent on the assistance and guidance of adults to complete tasks. Compounding this challenge is the realities faced by parents - many are often trying to juggling their own work and carer loads on top of remote learning, they are often not familiar with the learning management platforms used and the language used by their child's school found in the set tasks, there is often a limited number of devices in a household resulting in children sharing devices for remote learning or devices such as smartphones being used for purposes they were not intended and then there is the laggy, intermittent internet connection that is not coping with the current high level of demand being placed on these services. From the perspective of the teacher remote learning provides challenges ensuring all students are engaged and experiencing regular contact with their teacher, it is far more difficult to monitor individual student progress and teachers are far more reliant on the support of parents, teachers are aware that students are increasingly isolated and it is harder to support the well being of students and it is more challenging to cater for the needs of students with disability. All of these challenges listed and experienced by all stakeholders matter as each challenge will have a negative impact and lasting effect on our students and our schools; especially upon our youngest and most disadvantaged Kindergarten to Year 2 students.