Back to School - contingency plans for remote learning

NEWS: As part of the mission to get all students back into school in September, the UK Government has announced that all learning institutions must have contingency plans for remote learning in place by the end of September 2020. This is a future-proofing measure to ensure that all students will be able to resume learning from home in the case of local lockdowns and school closures.

Martin McKay, CEO Elect of Texthelp, a market-leader in global education technology, says: 

“From September, schools will have finalised their contingency plans for switching to remote learning in the case of localised closures. After three months of experimentation with different educational technology tools, boards will decide what approach they deem best for their students, and how they will structure remote learning for all age groups.

Students have missed out on a full term of instruction and there will be a real learning loss this summer.   Teachers will need to assess their students' core reading and writing abilities at the start of the new term to determine if literacy interventions are needed. 

At Texthelp, we have been at the forefront of learning analytics for both reading and writing for a few years, and we have products that are designed to assess reading and writing.  We can help compare the results to national averages.  We also have tools to help students practice reading and writing with motivation and feedback to help them get back on track.  

“Remote learning technology has been pushed into the mainstream more quickly than expected. With meaningful collaboration between school leaders and providers, technology will become the vehicle for students to continue to learn and develop despite the huge disruption caused by the pandemic.”