Coronavirus According to the government’s recommendation, the class could go to a distance school from one corona case: It is almost impossible to arrange distance education for small primary school children, says the professor.

School bag you can still pack and choose which shirt to put on. On Monday, the school’s spring term begins in contact hours. The government did not issue a recommendation on the transition to distance learning on Friday night.

Although the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s plan for a distance school for all has been canceled, distance learning is likely to be allowed for a large number of pupils on a periodic basis in both primary and secondary school.

There is a point in the government’s recommendations that in a severe disease situation, the entire class could be quarantined if any student has a positive corona test result. Now there is so much on the move about micron transformation that schoolchildren will have enough infections.

According to the government, home tests would be offered to schoolchildren twice a week.

Read more: Minister of Education Andersson welcomes the government’s policy: “Children’s right to contact education will be restricted only as a last resort”

“I am pleased that no decision was made on a distance school for everyone. That would have been an oversized decision. The price would have been so high, ”says the professor of education at the University of Tampere Mari-Pauliina Vainikainen.

Still, it is likely that the government’s recommendation to assign classes to quarantine as a result of any positive coronavirus test would result in a fairly extensive distance school.

Vainikainen A research consortium led by the universities of Tampere and Helsinki has conducted three large-scale surveys on the effects of the coronavirus epidemic on schoolchildren’s learning outcomes. The surveys were conducted in spring 2020, autumn 2020, and spring 2021.

“It is important that distance learning is organized properly. Organize online teaching so that children participate as if they were taking part in a lesson. In other words, it is not enough for students to do assignments independently or watch with another eye how the teacher sways on the screen, ”Vainikainen says.

According to him, in less than two years, schools have made tremendous progress in distance learning. In the spring of 2020, it depended on the school and the teacher what kind of education the child happened to receive.

Vainikainen according to the age of the students is very important for the success of distance learning.

“Distance learning for young primary school children is almost impossible. Older people are already able to take responsibility for their studies, even though there are big differences between high school students. ”

Research questionnaires on the effects of the coronavirus have been sent to all Finnish primary schools. About 40 per cent of schools responded, and responses came from about 80 per cent of municipalities. There have been about 60,000 children, 20–30,000 parents and about 5,000 teachers in the survey.

Although Mari-Pauliina Vainikainen is a researcher of learning outcomes, the well-being of children worries her more about her learning progress.

“One of the biggest side effects of distance learning and taking a break from hobbies is how to create a sense of belonging between children and young people,” he says.

According to the results of the group that studied the effects of the coronavirus epidemic, the situation seems to be the least bad for students who have done school assignments together at a distance. For those who are left alone with schooling, the situation is worst.

In addition, Vainikainen is very concerned about teachers, many of whom are on the verge of coping.

“Teachers need support to be able to do their extremely important work.”

Except that Vainikainen is a professor of education, in his spare time he is also a taekwondo coach. Vainikainen’s junior group includes 8–13-year-olds.

“The main purpose of children’s hobbies is to get them to do meaningful things together with others. Hobbies are even harder to organize remotely than school teaching, ”he says.