“Never has so much been done, so quickly, to educate so many. Big shout out for the half a million teachers who taught 9 million UK children online today in what will go down as the most extraordinary education evolution in our history. (excuse rough figures)”
That was my last tweet today and it really is an extraordinary change. Last week teachers were teaching children in classrooms. This week they said hello online. No time to train or test the platforms. No time to perfect methods. They just had to get on with it. And they did. The UK has followed other countries in what will stand as the biggest education experiment in the history of state education.
There will be many questions. How will our poorest children far – do they have anything like the technology they need to do this? How will the digital platforms hold up? What about the online resources?
However, over the last few days, there are many many examples of resources being made open and free for all to use, teachers have been buying computer screens and finding a corner of their homes to work from, often with their own children to keep an eye on too.
This is a global effort to ensure that school and its power enable young people to get on in life, is deployed even during this terrible moment in public health.
We’ve asked the impossible of our teachers, schools and school leaders and they have done what they always do, and delivered it.
I salute you all.