After a vacation time, it was time to resume school life. Beyond buying the necessary supplies to go back to school, it is essential to take into account a series of aspects to achieve a successful return of children to school.
It is the first year after the pandemic that classes begin in person and it is important to establish routines, study habits and conditions at school for this return, in addition to following the biosafety protocols to the letter. Organizing materials and information is a common challenge for children of any age, especially after the shift to online learning and as hybrid systems have become a more prevalent alternative in education.
The teacher Pablo Carbone considers that, in order to achieve a successful return to the classroom, it is necessary to have consolidated, first of all, the skills of the previous cycle and have added that learning to the skills that will be put into practice at school where they will have to face the new challenges.
“These challenges not only remain in conceptual and content issues, since it is also
to be able to face all the challenges posed by the school”, adds the teacher.
Carbone insists that one of the conditions for the student to have an optimal return is related to the family and home environment. “It implies not only content but also being able to count on all the necessary pedagogical resources, being able to face situations from a social point of view and having all the possible tools to interact with their environment and with study questions”.
The writer and pedagogue Édgar Lora Gumiel affirms that, from the pedagogical point of view, it is important to carry out a leveling and diagnosis of knowledge prior to returning to classes. “Between one vacation and another there are always quantitative and qualitative leaps, that has to be evaluated by the teacher. Then you have to practice your study habits again, it’s one thing to be at home with your cell phone in hand and another to sit for four hours in class. The children arrive more restless, many of them with attention deficit, most of them forget to write by hand and even to understand in person, to listen to the teacher in person in the classroom. Establishing those habits is essential for their entire lives,” explains Lora.
“Unfortunately, these habits are not practiced. Before they told us at home ‘you sit here until you finish your homework’, today you don’t see that anymore, that’s why you have to establish discipline”, he adds.
Another aspect that Lora highlights is the student’s oral expression and socialization with their environment. “The expression through the body is being lost, the pleasure of playing has been lost, of interacting in person, of sharing a chat, even of fighting,” she says.
Lora adds health, food and safety as essential conditions for the child to return to school. “Sleep hours are just as important to children’s development and well-being as nutrition and physical activity. All this must be accompanied by a good diet, which has nothing to do with the food full of carbohydrates and fats that are sold in schools. And, of course, security is essential. In other countries, children go to school on foot or by bicycle. Here they cannot be allowed to go alone or to the corner. The public transport system should be free at school, all schools must offer safety, hygiene and the guarantee that students will have physical security”, concludes Lora.
Experts agree that the role of parents is essential to help children with learning, by providing the necessary structure and support, as well as to support them in the different problems that may arise at school.
The presence of the family in the educational process and in the development of a certain emotional stability in the student is important, something that, unfortunately, has been left aside”, indicates Carbone.
“Because the school is not only the curricular mesh, it is not only the classes, the boys face the challenge of achieving social skills, of being able to overcome stressful situations, of interacting with the teachers. Then, it must be achieved that the student can have an integral and optimal development.
