Occupation: Headteacher
Company: St Andrew’s College, Independent school – CAMHS
Location: Northampton About business: St Andrew’s is one of the largest mental health providers in the UK.
About expert: Cheryl has more than 25 years of experience working in education, and has been headteacher at St. Andrews for over 18 months.
1. What’s the biggest benefit of online learning vs a traditional classroom setting?
Continuity. Even when the world stopped because of the pandemic, children continued to learn. Additionally, online learning can suit children who have specialist needs and conditions which make classroom learning too stressful. This includes children with anxiety or experiences of bullying leading to self-isolation and school refusal.
2. Should schools and the government pilot a hybrid / remote learning model to allow children to be homeschooled?
Yes, it could provide useful data on the impact of digital education on the engagement and attendance of some groups of children. It would be interesting to see the results of such a pilot.
3. How do you think remote schooling could work best / be managed?
Children who need and would benefit from remote learning could work best in very small groups or even individually to ensure they are getting the most from it and being fully supported to learn and make progress. I still believe it should be used as a vehicle to re-introduce them to social learning settings where possible.
4. How do you think digital learning will change the future of education?
I think it already has. Technology has improved and stepped up to meet the changing needs of education as a result of the pandemic. The future may end up being a blended teaching and learning model.
5. How can the government help improve digital learning?
More funding and more research to look at all of the impacts digital learning would be beneficial. We need to find the best ways for children to learn and develop and to learn which groups of children or situations would most benefit from improvements in digital education. There needs to be some balance in ensuring, where possible, that children experience social opportunity with their peers, but there is a place for the digital world to lead our children towards learning in a format that they can relate to.
6. What advice would you give to your younger self while at school?
Have more belief in yourself, speak up and feel worthy. One day, you will achieve more than you could ever realise.
7. What was your biggest struggle in school, and how did you overcome it?
I was a shy child who never spoke up in class or shared her opinion. I lacked confidence in my abilities and had a fixed mindset about what I could or couldn’t do or what I was good or poor at. I now know that this is restrictive and limiting. I may not be able to do something yet, but it is always possible! I’ve learned the most from my failures along the way.
