Written by: Asimina Papazoglou & Manolis Koutouzis
The world is changing rapidly, and innovation allows an organisation to look to the future with confidence, capable of thriving in the highly competitive world, as well as surviving from a whole range of different disruptions. Such a disruption is taking place right now, across the world - due to - coronavirus. It constitutes a serious challenge for humanity on many levels. It certainly requires collaborative thinking and innovative approaches to address it. One of the most powerful benefits of innovation and co-creation is that they allow an organization to ride out periods of disruption (Hill, 2020).
Thus, while national lockdowns are ravaging economies around the globe, for Greece, the COVID-19 crisis is forcing a rapid and long-overdue embrace of digital platforms, placing Greek government on stronger footing to deal with the crisis and its fallout (Psaropoulos, 2020).
In the educational sector, within a matter of weeks if not days, coronavirus has temporarily (?) changed the way Greek students are educated and has brought much needed innovation in schools. Schools suddenly started to harness and utilize available digital tools to create distance learning content for students. Thus, educators, as well as students, are experiencing new challenges to do things differently and with greater flexibility. These changes are signs indicating that the pandemic crisis could have a lasting impact on the trajectory of learning innovation, co-creation and digitization (Tam & El-Azar, 2020).
It seems that the coronavirus pandemic poses major challenges and dilemmas for societies, citizens, educational organizations and their leadership. Values and virtues such as responsibility, solidarity, collaboration, sound judgment, collective action, coordination, utilization of expert knowledge, as well as responsible and effective leadership take on crucial importance in this extraordinary context. This crisis has only heightened the need for more co-creation and innovative approaches in education and the importance of the leadership role in enhancing innovation and collaboration in schools. Besides, one of the most powerful benefits of innovation and co-creation is that they allow an organization to ride out periods of disruption (Hill, 2020). Thus, this critical commentary aims to describe the changes that are taking place in the Greek schools, during the pandemic crisis, interpret and reflect on these changes and explore how these changes might have a lasting impact on education and schools.
The impact of COVID-19 Crisis on Education
As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, so do the risks we face (Schleicher, 2020a). For several weeks, global news was saturated by one common human reality. Everyone and everything is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis that is first-and-foremost a health crisis (Eyrydice, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t stop at national borders. It affects people regardless of nationality, level of education, income or gender (Schleicher, 2020a). This new crisis is a situation that is on-going, virtually unprecedented in modern times. The coronavirus pandemic is testing the limits of societies and economies around the globe and calls for high level of scientific, social, and economic cooperation and coordination (Hill, 2020). Suddenly, we have all had to adapt to a sudden shift in the way we live. This of course includes the way we educate our children.
Indeed, students, their parents, and educators around the world felt the extraordinary ripple effect of the novel coronavirus as schools shut down and quarantine methods were ordered to cope with the global pandemic. Countries took decisive actions to mitigate the development of a full-blown pandemic including the suspension of attendance at schools and universities (Tam & El-Azar, 2020). While governments and health officials are generally doing their best to slow down the outbreak, global education systems are collaborating to collectively respond and attempt to provide quality education for all during these difficult times. Within a matter of weeks, dramatic changes occurred in schools, which were forced to initiate distance learning for all students (Crawley, 2020). Most European education systems closed their schools by 16 March 2020 (Eyrydice, 2020). As of April 22, the OECD estimated that over 1,579, 634,506 children throughout the world are affected due to school closures announced or implemented in 191 countries.
In Greece, school closures were announced on March 10. The closure affected 2,204,532 students from daycare and kindergarten to university level, and includes all academic and technical institutions, private and public (Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, 2020; UNESCO, 2020a).
The Greek Education Ministry responded to this emergency of school closures by developing and effectively implementing distance learning, offering students the possibility to keep in touch with the educational process. The Ministry launched free access e-Learning digital platforms and tools, addressed to the secondary and primary schools students, as well as to Greek universities. The distance learning program, provided by the Ministry, includes synchronous learning, allowing broader access to information and connecting educators and learners with each other; asynchronous learning that occurs through online channels without real-time interaction; and educational TV programs. The educational program in distance learning program was adapted by the principal and the teachers of each school unit in accordance with the specific needs of every class. Concerning the asynchronous learning, teachers may utilise the existing digital tools and platforms already launched by the Ministry of Education such as Interactive School Books (http://ebooks.edu.gr/new/), the Fotodentro repository (http://photodentro.edu.gr/aggregator/), the educational scenario platform Aesop (http://aesop.iep.edu.gr/) Education TV programs (http://www.edutv.gr/) and the free Digital Library (https://www.ebooks4greeks.gr/). E-learning videos have also been uploaded to the platforms and the students can follow the e-courses any time of the day. The digital platforms e-class and e-me are used for e-learning courses, while students follow Open Classes posted in the platforms by their teachers without prior registration (Distance learning, 2020).
Crisis, Innovation and Leadership
Having in mind all the above, it can be argued that teachers and principals in Greece (as in other countries) were forced to introduce and use innovation in their everyday practice. To put it in other words, crisis has forced schools to innovate, as they had to deal with a situation that no one else had to deal with earlier. In such situations, organizations – in our case the schools – need to respond immediately, since possible ineffectiveness could turn them from victims to offenders who cannot protect their members. It seems that Greek schools have managed to accomplish it, by adopting –maybe unconsciously- the principles of learning organization (Watkins & Marsick, 1993; Kools & Stoll, 2016; Papazoglou & Koutouzis, 2020).
More specifically, there are clear indications that teachers have managed to innovate and adapt their teaching to the new challenge. The number of teachers and students using distance learning platforms and techniques is becoming more and more impressive. As of May 5, in Greece 112,872 educators created their own synchronous digital classes and 9,462,802 student entries in synchronous distance learning program. A total of 532,251 digital classes have been created cumulatively (up to 40,957 classes per day) and more than 36 million minutes of digital synchronous learning has taken place. As far as asynchronous learning is concerned, a total of more than 1,099,421 students and 193,062 educators have signed in the Greek School Network according to the Greek Ministry of Education. Moreover, 744,973 students and 115,618 educators have joined in e-classes. Finally, in April, 145,000 students aged 4-14 attended, on a daily basis, the educational TV program established and implemented by the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Institute of Educational Policy. Teachers had to respond to a disorienting dilemma (Mezirow, 1991) and try to produce a valid response. It is worth mentioning that Greek teachers have not received in-service training related to distance learning, therefore they had to be innovative and produce new knowledge initially for themselves and their own practice.
Moreover, it seems that this new knowledge is being shared among teachers. Using formal and non-formal communication channels, teachers communicate and exchange (new) ideas, practices and results. Finally, a change in school cultures seems to be happening. A culture of (contrived) collegiality is being introduced while principals are taking leadership roles.
What we have described above is, in essence, a learning organization process in which knowledge is produced, shared and finally it becomes an organizational asset. It is fair to argue therefore that the pandemic crisis has led many Greek schools to enter in a re-culturing process, establishing themselves as learning organizations. What is even more interesting is that this process is a bottom up process as it was not initiated by the central government but by the schools themselves (Papazoglou & Koutouzis, 2017, 2019). The role of the central government has been a rather facilitating one. Due to the extraordinary situation there was no time and arguably no intention, to force schools towards that direction. Schools seem to have used their relative autonomy in an effective way.
Another interesting point is that school principals seem to have succeeded in turning the crisis into a challenging opportunity. They did not adopt the “it-does-not-concern-me” stance and they seem to have realized the necessity to act. Leadership skills have emerged in many cases, assisting and promoting the transformation of their schools into learning organizations.
All these changes in unlocking technology to create content for distance learning and communicate with students in all sectors, as well as transforming schools into learning organizations - that have previously been largely untapped - hold the possibility that we won’t return to the inequitable status quo when things return to “normal”. The nature of the collective and systemic responses to crises, actually determines in what ways we can turn these crises into lessons and efforts for rebuilding education in Greece. A crisis should be considered as the opening of a “policy window” that attracts government attention and can lead to new policies, initiatives, opportunities and changes (Kingdon, 1984; Gamble, 2009).
Lessons from the COVID-19 crisis
Not since World War II have so many countries all over the world seen schools and educational organizations go into lockdown at almost the same time and for the same reason. It seems that COVID-19 is probably the disruption that activated the educational sector to get educators to rethink what they need to teach and what they are preparing students for. So, it is the right time to critically reflect on how this disruptive crisis can give us lessons to rebuilt education in Greece.
The COVID-19 crisis gives us useful indications as to how education could change in order to be able to educate students in an interconnected world. Thus, isolated teachers, issues, actions, classrooms may no longer be valid. Teachers and principals need to work in cooperation with colleagues in a globally collaborative way and navigate across boundaries. This crisis has also reconfirmed, in a new context, the role of educator in the classroom from the knowledge-holder who imparts wisdom to their pupils into a knowledge worker who facilitates young people’s development as contributing members of the society (Luthra & Mackenzie, 2020).
If there is one thing that Covid-19 has taught us, is that distance learning could be a powerful tool both for the educators and students. However, not all educators feel comfortable with digital learning and e-classes, and neither are all teachers aware of newer technology (Govindarajan & Srivastava, 2020). OECD’s International Perspective on Teaching and Learning Survey (TALIS) results, revealed that both younger and older teachers, for whom technology was included in their formal training (OECD, 2019), are now using technology more frequently in the classroom. Therefore, educational systems should provide all teachers with professional development in ICT and support all schools with adequate digital technology (Schleicher, 2020b).
The pandemic crisis teaches us that technology can make it possible for schools and teachers to connect with learners directly, to innovate and provide learners with access to high-quality learning. However, sometimes this only works for students with motivation, resilience, learning strategies and parental support to work on their own. Thus, schools need also to provide ways for teachers to remain socially close even though being physically in distance with students and their families (Schleicher, 2020c).
Moreover, this necessitated move will be significantly beneficial when these methods are incorporated in the teaching palette of the teachers. Digital tools are complementary to face-to face learning. Learning is not a transactional process, where students are passive consumers of content. Learning always happens through interaction and in an environment of well-being and self-efficacy for both learners and teachers. Thus, distance learning cannot substitute the intimacy and immediacy of face-to-face learning (Kim, 2020). Precious classroom time may be productively utilized for critical thinking, discussion, and guided practice, whereas distance learning programs may be utilized by educators for moving content online that will complement the face-to-face learning in schools.
What this crisis perhaps brings most to the forefront is the crucial role of leadership, at every level of the system. School leaders in Greek schools are already addressing the immediate needs of students, families, staff and communities, while being ready for ways in which the world of learning and teaching changes. As Greek schools innovate and move towards becoming learning organizations their boundaries need to become increasingly and deliberately blurry (open system thinking) (Schleicher & Tuominen, 2020).
Discussion
The COVID-19 pandemic has offered us a lesson that this unpredictable world - in which we are living in - calls for building adaptability and resilience. In addition, it has provided an opportunity to bridge the digital gap and acquire skills to build resistance to several threats and crises, such as natural disasters, climate change and extreme weather events, large-scale cyber-attacks, involuntary migration, and violence. This crisis is going to transform many aspect of life, and certainly the most important sector - namely the educational sector.
In Greece, there are clear indications that schools have managed to innovate, adapt their teaching to the new challenge, collaborate, produce and share new knowledge, and consequently develop an innovative learning culture adapting the learning organization characteristics in their operation. However, this pandemic crisis has heightened the need for more co-creation, innovation, equity and inclusiveness in education (Hill, 2020).
Some important steps need to be taken towards making digital learning more inclusive. Firstly, it is important to mitigate the impact of school closures to those learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, who do not have access to digital learning resources or are not engaged to learn on their own and they may not find alternative learning opportunities (UNICEF News, 2020). Secondly, education policy and schools need to use this moment to assess what training is needed in order to provide educators with a smooth experience and useful knowledge on distance learning and use of technology. In this way, educators will feel comfortable with digital learning and e-classes and any digital divide - among those who have never used such digital tools and younger or trained educators who are aware and adept in newer technology – will be weakened (Govindarajan & Srivastava, 2020).
Thirdly, in order for school leaders to empower and sustain the learning culture activated in their schools, and develop their schools as learning organizations, they have to reach out to other schools and their communities and connect with partners in their external environment. Such collaborations “…enable schools to “upload” knowledge from their school-based professional learning communities into their networks and “download” knowledge from networks back into the individual school professional learning communities” (Kools & Stoll, p.56). Additionally, system-leaders need to support schools’ efforts to operate as learning organizations, to be sincere about social change, imaginative in policy making, and capable of using the trust they gain to deliver effective change. Finally, providing opportunities and tools for the creation of strong education networks /partnerships and empowering teachers to participate in these networks, can also support teachers’ better adaptation to this new learning environment, so that they experience lower levels of stress and anxiety (UNESCO, 2020b).
Conclusions
The current pandemic crisis has brought us face-to-face with a challenge: To act quickly so that we can keep our students in touch with the educational process (Kokkinidis, 2020). Although the changes that this crisis has caused in education have certainly caused a degree of inconvenience, at the same time, they have prompted new initiatives of educational innovation. COVID-19 has actually become a catalyst for Greek schools to search for innovative solutions in a relatively short period of time adapting the principles of learning organization and for educational partnerships to grow in importance. All the changes that are taking place in the educational sector might have a lasting impact on education and continuous professional development for all educators.
For this to happen, education policy in Greece should focus on the provision of digital learning opportunities (training programs, seminars) to all teachers. Previously weakened distance learning development of teachers and school staff, as well as student support processes need to be subject to educational planning of the Ministry of Education and cross-school governance. Moreover, distance learning management should be integrated into the required competences for those educators who want to take a leadership role in the Greek schools. In addition, the Greek Ministry of Education needs to pay close attention that technology will not further amplify existing inequalities in access and quality of learning. At the same time, it is crucial that teachers maintain effective social relationships with colleagues, students and their families, particularly with those students who lack resilience, learning strategies or engagement to learn on their own. These times require school leaders who build capacity; empower teachers to collaborate with colleagues within school and also beyond borders; create and sustain a continuous learning climate; show the direction and pave the way towards schools that operate as strong learning organizations in the 21st century. Most importantly, we hope that for the generations to come, these experiences of isolation and distance learning away from their peers, teachers and classrooms will serve as a useful reminder of the importance of our human need for face-to-face social interaction, collaboration, dialogue and reflection.
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