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We use a funnel approach for examining many issues in Education. We consider how a problem affects us globally, then we bring it to a regional level, followed by a national level and finally, we examine the issue as it personally affects our school/ class.

What troubles me as we move to a full re-opening of physical school, is that we seem to be looking for solutions from the bottom-up. It's the individual teachers/ administrators being asked to submit a plan for their school...A plan mind you, that is being shot-down in lieu of a one-size-fits-all mandate. What a weak pretence of consultation.

Having been back out to physical school myself, I'm realising that everyone's following orders differently. And they can't be blamed. Schools are limited by their individual resources, size of their school populations and specific timetables/ day cycles.

Some schools may/ may not post asynchronous work for students on the days that they are home. After all, teachers are physically in school and if the WI-FI doesn't allow for connectivity to Google Classroom/ MS Teams, what can be done?

Live classes in school may/ may not be streamed for the same reason. Additionally, it's not like the 'Zoomies' (students who join class online) can really see the board the teacher is writing on. The "Roomies' (students in the physical classroom) have a clear advantage, as there may also be an echo in the room, making the sound difficult to transmit. And that speaks to the Equity in Education that should exist, but which clearly, doesn't.

Side note: For further info on Roomies and Zoomies, check out: "The Quick Guide to Simultaneous Hybrid, & Blended Learning" by Frey et al. (2021). It's a book that has opened my mind up to the eventualities in Education. Yes...possibilities have become eventualities.

This blog post is about how severely behind our system of education is. Powers that be, bandy about the word 'hybrid', not having the slightest idea of what that type of learning is or how to set up a platform that supports it. Or is it that they're just not interested in financing a crisis-proof learning model? Has the last two years taught them nothing?

And this is where reflexivity comes in. Not reflection...reflexivity. Looking at the mistakes of the past and actively learning from them. How do you actively learn from it? Simple, you do better, over and over again. Designing a sound Education system should be an on-going Action Research (AR). Each cycle of the AR, involves a review and revision of what worked and what didn't. As Taggart and Wilson (2005) state, reflective practitioners "continue the cycle of inquiry and reflection, taking into consideration the new information resulting from unsuccessful experimentation toward reaching a goal." So I ask you, are the powers that be in Education, comprised of reflective practitioners?

Hybrid to them means, some days in school and some days online. Nope, that's not what it means. It goes far deeper. As Frey et al. point out "Hybrid learning has been used to describe any number of different formats of school, and there is a lack of consensus about what the term really means." (p.5, 2021) They go on to point out that "Hybrid learning does not require any remote learning time." So...what exactly are we doing then?

Well, I can answer for teachers, admin and even janitorial staff. We're trying to prop up a system that is, firstly, not prepared for the future of education and perhaps more disturbingly, not willing to get on board.

How are we propping up the system? Personally, I see it in the tireless administrator stretching himself thin by lobbying for both his staff and students. I see it in the severely understaffed janitorial team who're rushing in to sanitise rooms between classes. And of course, I see it in the teachers...lugging around extension cords, projectors (if they have access to one), laptops, HDMI cables...phone hot-spots are more reliable than the school's WIFI connection, so guess who's data bill is going up?

But none of these points are mentioned when we listen to the press-conferences. The re-opening of school is going smoothly. Yeah, okay, but did anyone ask who's bearing the brunt? Or are educators just expected to be like Hercules, and bear the boulder that the system's lack of reflexivity, has put on our backs?

I suppose they'll say we took the load on ourselves. They didn't mandate that we stream classes or continue to teach online. But to ensure equity in education, it's what educators are doing. You see, we're thinking about the ones in our charge.

But who's thinking about us? This scenario continues to remind me of the ancient battle strategy where commanders and generals issue the orders but never fight the actual war. It's the soldiers in the trenches who are engaged in real combat.

And they will claim that they equipped us for the job by providing training opportunities in Blended and Hybrid Learning. I don't disagree that these courses were offered, but guess what? It was clearly a waste of money and time, because the physical/ technological infrastructure to support this type of learning, was not put in place in our schools during the two years we taught online.

We are literally, going back to the drawing board, no, white board in the classroom. On the physical school compound, WIFI is so bad, logging on takes half the period. So we're back to writing copious notes, projecting hand outs and dated presentations. Even playing an interactive game is difficult. You're waiting for students to join the game on Quizizz/ Kahoot, and they can't log in. All the tools we took the time to learn over the two years are slowly being pushed aside, because they just can't work with the infrastructure we have.

Where was the investment in Sustainable Education? We started with a data base that, although a bit boring with just the posting of PDFs, it was still the promise of something. Access to educational resources in case of emergency was AT LEAST a possibility. Where has all of that gone to now? Who's using the data base? IS anyone still using it? And who's reviewing the system, identifying the issues and working to resolve/ eliminate problems? I'm pretty sure that someone got paid a hefty sum of money to put it together.

Additionally, a centralised learning management system should have been be in place by now. All students should have had to register for it because that's the kind of contact tracing we really need during this pandemic. This system would mitigate the 'falling off the grid' of students. At-risk cases could have been flagged and followed up on.

But none of this. We return to physical classes, no better equipped, in some cases, even worse off, than when we shut down in March 2020. Heaven forbid that war or natural disasters come knocking at our door. And with what we're seeing happening in the world? We should be wary that it might just be a matter of time before they do.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

We missed that memo big time. If another global crisis hits, we are no better prepared for it than we were in 2020. And that to me, is both lamentable and irresponsible.

Irresponsible of a system that's supposed to be the stalwart of reflexivity. Dewey (1933) highlights 3 main attitudes that have to be nurtured to enhance reflective thinking: Open Mindedness, Wholeheartedness and Intellectual Responsibility.

As Taggart & Wilson (2005) state: "Open mindedness refers to an intellectual receptiveness to alternatives." Is our Education system receptive to seriously making a switch to Hybrid/ Blended learning?

They go on to define Wholeheartedness as the "mental, emotional, and physical commitment on the part of practitioners to solve problems." Is our system 100% committed to resolving issues that impede the establishment and smooth running of a hybrid learning model?

And lastly, Intellectual Responsibility, which basically involves reflective practitioners considering "long-term and short-term solutions to the problem." If the system was in fact, considering long term solutions for Education, we would have had a resilient hybrid system in place by now. One that could continue to run despite external threats. Or to keep it real, two years in, we wouldn't still be using 40 minute Zoom sessions and asking students to print out work and take a picture of it when done. A short-term crisis response wouldn't have become the normal class flow.

I know I've giving you a lot to digest in this post, and please let me know if I'm being unreasonable. But I just feel that teachers/educators can't be the ones propping up a system that seems to have no plan, other than 'getting things back to normal'.

Normal's behind us...stop trying to go back when it's time to move forward. It's that simple.