COVID-19 and Education

Cite as:

Fortun, Kim and Duygu Kasdogan. 2020. "Collaborative Analysis: Education and/in COVID-19," Transnational STS COVID-19 Project. May 4.

Inside Higher Ed: Projections

Harvard Grad School of Education

ABOUT

COVID-19 implicates the content, form and political economy of education at all levels, challenging students, teachers, diverse support staff and administrators in unprecedented ways -- in schools, universities, trade unions, communities and the many other settings where education takes place.  COVID-19 also prompts basic questions about the goals of education and the roles of educators as workers, political advocates and “moral pioneers” (Rapp) responsible for helping people figure out how to deal with changing conditions and challenging information.   This digital collection and discussion space addresses these issues.  

Further discussion will rotate around a continually evolving  set of questions, starting with these: 

How does COVID-19 challenge entrenched ways of thinking about the purposes and content of education?  What literacies does COVID-19 call for?  

How can educational programs best prepare students for future educational disruptions, distributed learning, and the political analysis and work that disruption calls for? 

How is COVID-19 undermining teachers in different settings?  What needs to be done to protect, bolster and empower teachers as COVID-19 unfolds? 

How is COVID-19 challenging the finance and operations of different kinds of educational institutions, in different settings?  

How are COVID-19 educational disruptions characterized in different settings?  What is being foregrounded and obscured -- as problems, and as needed response? 

To respond to these questions, click on the ANNOTATE button here, select the question set focused on “COVID-19, Education and Expertise” then click through to the question you want to respond to.  You also can add questions, starting on your Dashboard.  

T|D-STS COVID Discussions

FRIDAY, MAY 8, 8-9:30AM PDT

See time conversions.  Email Kim Fortun for Zoom link ([email protected]).   

This discussion will bring together people interested in or working on the Transnational STS COVID-19 Project to discuss education in/and COVID-19.  

We encourage participants to help address these shared questions in advance.  Here are instructions

We will start the discussion focused on a collection of short essays, “COVID and Higher Education published by the Network of Concerned Academics.  Share comments in advance by clicking on the ANNOTATE button at the bottom here.    Select the question set for “Reading COVID Commentaries.”  

To work in this digital workspace, you'll need to register if you haven't already -- through the link in the top right-hand corner here.  Email Kim Fortun ([email protected]) for next steps.

Network of Concerned Academics

Academic Solidarity Statement

The Economist on school closures and widening inequality

"School systems where children are used to having to teach themselves will do better, reckons Andreas Schleicher of the oecd, a club of rich countries. “The real issue is if you’ve been spoon-fed by a teacher every day and are now told to go it alone, what will motivate you?” In Estonia and Japan students are used to “self-regulated activities”; across the oecd the share is nearly 40%. But in countries such as France and Spain, such autonomy is rare."  Read more.