Anne McHugh, CE Donegal ETB
HOW do you teach 29,000 students in the middle of a pandemic?
That was just one of many questions Anne McHugh was struggling to answer as she drove home from Dublin on Thursday, March 12.
Ms McHugh, Chief Executive, Donegal Education and Training Board (ETB) had been at a meeting in the Department of Education when the Government announced it was shutting schools with immediate effect to delay the spread of coronavirus.
Initially, the lockdown was to last for just two weeks but laptops and iPads would replace books for the remainder of the academic year as pupils and teachers embraced a new way of life in schools.
Schools did reopen their doors in September but many are now using gymnasiums for classes, while screens, hand sanitising stations and clear signage to ensure social distancing is the new norm.
“March 12 will forever be etched in my brain. I was in the Department of Education on Marlborough Street for a meeting and I could see the RTE vans and cameras gathered outside the window. We didn’t know what was happening until we were called to a meeting in the Clock Tower. There must have been over 100 people there and that was the last big crowd I’ve been in,” Ms McHugh said.
“As I drove home that evening I had a number of phone meetings with senior ETB management while I watched kids laden down with books filing out of schools that I passed along the way.
“In a way, nobody knew what was coming. We thought the lockdown would only be for a few weeks,” she recalled.
A former principal of Errigal College in Letterkenny, Ms McHugh was tasked with ensuring that teaching and learning could continue remotely across Donegal ETB’s schools and Further Education and Training (FET) programmes and courses.
“A lot of schools were well set up as Google’s GSuite was already at the heart of Donegal ETB’s IT infrastructure. It allowed staff and students to continue their work and give some stability in the new environment where everyone was struggling to find their feet,” she said.
“Schools are quite different places now. Teaching and learning have had to be prioritised and, unfortunately, there’s little or no extra curricular activity like debates or sports at present,” she added.
Ms McHugh said that a positive thing for schools to take from the current climate is that people are aware of the measures that need to be taken in order to limit the spread of the virus.
“Everyone is aware of the basics such as hand sanitizing and social distancing, it’s not something new for us while the students wear face masks most of the time,” she said.
“The students have been fantastic. Young people are much more resilient than we give them credit for at times. They just get on with it, wear their masks and do what they’re supposed to do.
“Staff also have to wear a mask all day which is difficult thing to do as they try to project their voice in the classroom. It’s almost seems like we’ve gone back to a more traditional way of teaching where the teacher doesn’t move around from class to class too much,” she said.
Books and face-to-face teaching and learning will always have a place in the education and training systems of the future, but blended with the increasing use of technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Augmented Reality.
“It’s important that we get the Leaving Cert organised next year as students need certainly. There is a glimmer of hope with new vaccines but proper arrangements have to be put in place,” she said.
Despite the myriad of issues currently facing the education sector, Anne McHugh remains optimistic for education and training and the Ireland of tomorrow.
“The Leaving Cert Class of 2020 will prove to be jewels in the workforce in the coming years. They’ve learned a lot of very serious lessons and they’ve come through it all with flying colours. Many have moved on to third level but they’re not even getting that experience as they’re doing their course upstairs, online, from their bedrooms.
“School isn’t all about books and course work but sometimes it’s hard to give students those important life lessons. The Class of 2020 have had those lessons in spades and that will certainly stand to them in the future,” she said.
Ms McHugh doesn’t think things were get back to normal until next year (2021/22) but she is hopeful that restrictions might be eased a little bit after mid-term in February and coming up to Easter.
While there have been Covid-19 cases in schools this year, none led to closures.
“That’s a testament to the cleaning and caretaking staff who really came into their own this year. To be fair to the Department, we got the resources for extra cleaning hours and extra teachers although there’s been some difficulty in sourcing subs. There aren’t enough subs to go around and it’s been a struggle for principals to get cover if someone is off,” she said.
The ETB’s Further Education and Training (FET) Service is also back up and running with a mix of remote and on site teaching.
“Some of the courses, like beauty therapy and welding, have a practical element and they had to get back while others continue to learn online,” she said.
“There have not been a huge amount of connectivity issues but in the few pockets that do exist staff have really pulled out the stops by posting, or hand delivering in some cases, packages,” she added.
“It’s been a huge learning year for us all but I think the team has found ways of doing things in a more effective, efficient manner.
“My new year’s wish would be for life to be a little bit quieter and more normal. That said, life in ETB land is never quiet but one thing that got a lot of us this year was the lack of control. As a teacher, a principal you’re in control but we’ve now all learned how quickly you can lose control. A little bit of clarity and certainty – that’s my wish for 2021,” she said.
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