Education and COVID-19:

challenges and opportunities

The pandemic has starkly highlighted the fragility of our education systems, even those considered
relatively stable. It is therefore crucial that the innovation and creativity stimulated by this crisis be leveraged
to make education systems more just, inclusive and resilient.
The prolonged closure of schools due to the COVID-19 crisis has transformed stakeholders’ relationships to
both schools and learning content. Although some students continued their education, many were deprived of
adequate opportunities to do so and often lacked essential services and tools such as technological equipment
or learning support services. It therefore became necessary to establish specific priorities and emphasize some
subjects more than others in school curricula.
In the absence of both clear operational guidelines and a contingency plan concerning curriculum
priorities, education system actors came up with a variety of suggested approaches to maintain educational
continuity. Some curricular priorities were proposed concerning the academic skills and knowledge that
students, depending on their age and grade-level, needed to maintain in subjects such as languages,
mathematics, science and history, with the rest of the curriculum – the arts, for example – being discounted as
non-essential. This suggests that clear guidelines need to be established to prepare schools for other potential
emergencies involving prolonged closures.
Four trends in curricular reform have been identified in educational systems, namely: (1) a competency-
based logic; (2) a socioconstructivist perspective; (3) increased focus on learners; and (4) more emphasis on
authentic learning situations. However, there is a significant disconnect between these prescribed curricula
and classroom reality.
The COVID-19 crisis has raised salient questions about the necessity, importance and usefulness of
certain curriculum content. It has highlighted the relevance of certain trends, particularly the authenticity of
learning situations. Indeed, apart from academics, educational programs and student assessment, the
paramount need that has emerged is to preserve students’ motivation, engagement and interest as well as
their connection with school, particularly when schools are closed for long periods of time. This requires
varied, flexible and authentic learning activities. In this regard, the authentic learning experiences resulting
from the COVID-19 lockdown could be used to contextualize student realities during the pandemic. This
represents an opportunity to rethink curricular content and approaches.
These challenges can affect various aspects of education, including the student-teacher relationship that is
so crucial for student success. Even the best technologies cannot completely eliminate this distance between
teacher and student. In-class education therefore remains necessary, but this must be placed in perspective
and adapted to the current situation. Furthermore, in preparing for the return of students to school, potential
difficulties in meeting physical distancing requirements in the classroom, particularly given student numbers
and classroom sizes, should be taken into account. Whereas many schools have reduced class sizes or spaced
out student desks, others have addressed these difficulties by organizing outside-the-classroom educational
settings, either on school grounds or other outdoor settings.
The experience of distance education during the pandemic has highlighted the issue of students’
independent learning. Indeed, while students are used to being supervised, guided and strictly scheduled in
their school work and in using resources, including technological tools, the school closures have required
them, especially those with parents who are less available to help them, to become more independent in their
learning.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted both challenges and opportunities in education. Prioritizing
opportunities for authentic education through the curriculum, learning priorities and the learning
environments proposed by education experts reveals a future direction for education that could be further
explored after students return to school. In terms of school environments, outdoor education is proving to be
a potentially viable avenue to facilitate the management of space and physical distancing, in addition to
offering promising learning settings. Lastly, prolonged school closures have highlighted training needs for both
students and teachers. While students now need to learn how to work more independently, teachers need to
receive more training in the effective use of technological tools required for quality teaching.