ELIS Murcia intensifies personalized educational attention to minimize learning gaps due, among other things, to the loss of social interaction and face-to-face teaching.
The center provides guidance and training to parents, teachers and non-teachers to better understand the needs of children and young people.
Since its inception in mid-March last year, with the decree paralyzing face-to-face classes for more than a quarter, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a major shift in the approach to work in schools and institutes. The situation continues despite the return to class due to the multiple changes experienced both in and out of school, to which children and young people are particularly sensitive due to age and vitality.
In this context, some schools have opted to increase the attention that has already been paid to the emotional well-being of their students, intensifying mechanisms and protocols to ensure their proper personal and intellectual development in a time of instability and difference in use and habits. .
In the words of Stefania Pimblett, ELIS Murcia coordinator, “supporting emotional well-being has always been one of the priorities of our school. We want to make sure that our students benefit from the best educational opportunities and develop their confidence to reach their full potential. For this reason, in addition to their general care and protection, this course focused on physical and emotional well-being. “
During this pandemic, keeping in touch and having a constant dialogue with the students and their parents proved to be very positive and helped them both to feel supported from school. “Recognizing progress, flexibility, connectivity and providing support were key elements that helped our team build a strong connection with the parent community, and we believe this dialogue is one of the strengths that has allowed us to work to support our students. during these difficult circumstances, “he explains.
A task for everyone
To achieve this, ELIS Murcia has developed a plan that includes not only the Department of Educational Inclusion, but all teaching and non-teaching departments of the school, as well as parents themselves. In this way, the emphasis is on recognizing the importance of the well-being of parents / carers by providing information, guidance and support both through a newsletter for parents and through concrete actions: virtual workshops and personalized meetings.
In addition, continuing education is provided to teachers and non-teachers to better understand the emotional needs of children and young people in the current stage, providing them with strategies for managing complicated situations. All of this continues to incorporate socio-emotional learning into the curriculum, focusing on the development of emotional and physical well-being, both through the subject of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), Physical Education, mentoring sessions and meetings, such as through events. schools, such as Global Be Well Day, where the whole day focuses on promoting physical and mental well-being and promoting its care throughout the year.
The importance of relationships and technology
The rapid evolution of digital technologies poses challenges that previous generations of parents, caregivers and teachers have never faced. The shape and nature of these challenges seem to change almost every week, and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused children to spend more time connected to the Internet.
According to Maria José García, educational psychologist at ELIS Murcia, “until recently, it was enough to advise parents to keep the family computer in a busy part of the house, where children’s activities can be easily controlled. This advice is now outdated, as many primary school students and most secondary school students sleep at night with an internet device in the bedroom.
WhatsApp terms and conditions state that the minimum age of use is 16 years. However, primary school students across the country use it as a tool to communicate with their peers on afternoons and weekends. All social services have recommended ages for a reason, and their use before these ages should be discouraged. The risks on the Internet for children are many, varied and constantly evolving. The social platforms that adults (especially Facebook and Twitter) are most familiar with are rapidly declining in use and popularity among children. Given the current circumstances, outside the school and family environment, young people are “doomed” to develop a large part of their social relationships through these new and new networks (Instagram, Snapchat, Tik-Tok …), as María José Garcia explains. “For this reason, at ELIS Murcia we consider it very important to provide information and training in these aspects to our entire community, teachers, parents and students; and we take special care of this through newsletters, discussions and workshops to help keep our students safe on the Internet. “
Personalized educational attention to minimize learning gaps is another aspect that is emphasized. In this sense, technology plays a key role, as it allows all students to benefit from the fact that they can continue to advance with the curriculum both at home and at school, regardless of their personal circumstances. In this context, ELIS Murcia has also taken the initiative with programs such as “A student, a device”, offering a large part of its students laptops fully configured with state-of-the-art educational software that they use both at home and in face. hours ago.