The dynamic context of education has always been a source of wonderment for me. It is never static, never boring, and always excites me with the possibilities each unique scenario unfolds. The vision of children sitting under a tree learning from their teacher during the olden days (prevalent even now in some parts of the world) is as enthralling to me as children sitting in a fully equipped classroom in a shiny, state of the art educational facility being taught by a trained and qualified subject specialist.

A major part of my career has been spent observing learning in different contexts over the years while devoting numerous hours to preparing and poring over perfectly scripted policies and plans. I still find myself asking the basic questions, ‘What are the right ingredients of a lesson that spell magic in the classroom? Is there such a thing as a perfect lesson?’ Well, my self-determined, self-proclaimed answer is a ‘No’,

The outstanding learning that one witnesses in a classroom stems from the most important resource, the imperfect teacher. Yes, she is ‘imperfect’ because it is her imperfections that make learning such a humane process. Our expectations sometimes drive us to expect the impossible from a teacher calculating and planning her lesson to the last minute with impeccable precision and skill. However, were it not for the human touch, that precise perception and the heightened sense of awareness of the needs of her students during a lesson, that a teacher is able to do justice to the power she has in her hands of shaping young minds.

The underlying principle is simple: trusting and supportive relationships. The inherent demand of this secret ingredient never fails to impress me when I see it in action. This aspect has become more prominent now in the array of hybrid, face to face, virtual, you-name-it-and-we-have-it scenarios. I think and I wonder at the powers teachers are equipped with, when in the current situation, they manage to keep the love for learning alive through those slight in-the-moment adjustments to their strategies. 

That subtle change in question, that lame joke cracked to lighten the mood, those simulations hunted down for students to marvel at and learn from, the multi-tasking done while explaining a concept to ensure students apply their learning in those 50 minutes are things to wonder at every day. And if while doing so, all the criteria that make a perfect lesson are not ticked off, it is because in this imperfect teacher you find a super-responsive, super-adaptable, super-compassionate human being who will not be remembered for the knowledge she imparted but for the way she made her students feel in her classroom. That remains a constant in the ever-evolving world of education. 

Voice of Tasneem Usman

Head of Teaching & Learning/Head of Senior School

An educator, who draws her inspiration from the many lessons her colleagues and students have taught her ever since she stepped into the academic world since 2006. A believer of Ken Robinson’s philosophy of education, considers her area of leadership and management an ever expansive and humbling experience.

I am Bella Morrisseau Whiskeyjack, I live in Sherwood Park Alberta, and I am 10 years old. I would like to tell you about education before and after COVID-19 on reserves in Western Canada.

Kids and teachers knew about the Coronavirus, and at first the kids made jokes about it, but they stopped once it got serious. Then, kids stopped making jokes and actually started talking about how people around the world were getting very sick from the virus and actually died from it.

Online school was difficult for me because I couldn’t see or hear my classmate’s opinions, but I got used to it and throughout each day it became easier to do my schoolwork. My classmates and I got very bored doing online school; there really wasn’t anywhere to go.

On some reserves, schools were shut down entirely; there was no online school. This was due to two problems: limited access to Internet and computer availability in their community.  

• Internet: Reserves did not get Internet because they were in isolation.
• Computer Availability: reserves didn’t have electronics because the nearest town is 4 hours away, plus there was no Internet.

I believe that those children deserved the education that they were supposed to get before the Coronavirus hit. When schools reopen, those kids will have to restart that school year.

Online school wasn’t all bad. At least some kids got an education that will allow them to move on to the next year, but I think we all should have gotten that education. Let’s give a huge thanks to the schools that did give us a proper education, and for all the workers around the world who keep us all safe.

Voice of Bella Morrisseau Whiskeyjack

Bella Morrisseau Whiskeyjack was born in Edmonton, Alberta and is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. She lost her father at an early age, and is raised along with her brother by a loving Grandfather of the Grand Rapids Cree. Bella loves school and spending time with her family and friends. She has been recognized for her outstanding writing talents through school awards and wishes to be a writer in the future. She also is interested in veterinary sciences and construction.

When people get stuck at home during quarantine, domestic cats need to get used to being bothered by human. Before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, when people used to spend most of the time at work or at school, cats enjoyed taking possession of the entire house. Now humans are at home all the time, cats might feel that their territory is lost, or maybe they begin to like the human’s 24-hour service. No matter what happens outside, cats can eat and sleep well as usual.

Long time no see, egrets. In the past few years, maybe they have been hiding in some bamboo groves. But now that humans must stay at home, they are finally free to fly in the clear blue sky outside my window and look at me. Maybe they are laughing at me, showing their mercy, or empathizing with me. These animals all remind us that we don’t own the earth. We don’t have the right to plunder all the natural resources or to destroy the environment because we must learn to share the earth with all animals. We must find a way to live in harmony with every living being.

I think rather than counting on someone to save our planet, it is more reasonable to make everyone see their responsibilities towards the environment and act. No one can isolate themselves from the environmental problems, and we can all do something.

The first thing we could do is ask our government to pay attention to the environmental issues and keep track of any suggested solutions. Governments around the world are trying to contain the spread of the virus on one hand and ensure economic growth on the other. In most cases, governments tend to pursue economic growth at the expense of the environment. But if we take the long view, we see that only when our environment is healthy and sustainable, does our society and economy have space to grow.

Secondly, if we won’t be intruding into the animals’ habitats, maybe animals that carry unknown or novel viruses will have less of a chance to infect humans. Agriculture and animal agriculture cause most tropical deforestation. So, if everyone can eat less meat, we can save the forest and animal habitats.

Thirdly, it is said that global warming enables the virus to stay active all over the world. Therefore, when we get through this pandemic, we should not forget to try our best to reduce our carbon emissions. 

And lastly, don’t waste medical resources; leave resources for those who really need them. Wear a face mask in public and dispose it off carefully after using it. Don’t let masks become the next largest pollutant after plastic.

During this coronavirus pandemic, we have seen how the earth has started to heal itself. If this is the world, we want for ourselves, then we should not leave the problems to our future generations. The pandemic has given us a chance to pause and rethink the direction we want to take. It’s high time we change our attitude and take effective action.

Voice of Ying-Xuan Lai

A student of experimental education, Ying-Xuan Lai is a 15-year-old from Taiwan who loves cats, reading, writing, drawing, designing, and doing environmental surveys. After winning the Voices of Future Generations Gold Award in 2016, she came up with the idea of a “Cat Trilogy”, which addresses animal and human dependence on each other. She is passionate about demonstrating how all living beings can coexist in the same biological community. Her first book “A Path to Life” and second book “The Sound of Silence” choose the Taiwanese leopard cat Formosan Clouded Leopard as the lead character. Currently she is working on her third book about stray cats. 

I’ve got two teenage kids, and a husband on the ‘highly vulnerable’ list. We’ve all been locked in the house together for almost two months. These are a few things we’ve learned as a result:

·  My extrovert daughter, who we all thought would be climbing the walls by now, has realised her crazy social life was driven mainly by Fear Of Missing Out. Now there’s nothing to miss, she’s loving staying at home. 

·  My son and I have learned, to our delight, that lazing on the sofa watching telly is now considered ‘saving lives’ rather than ‘being bone idle’.

·  We’ve discovered my husband is obsessed with anti-bacterial spray. Unfortunately, we’ve also discovered I’m allergic to it. So, my early Coronavirus-like breathing problems were the ironic result of my husband’s attempts to protect me from Coronavirus.

·  Although we began lockdown in different clothes – my husband in work gear, my daughter in funky dresses, and me in jeans and mumsy tops – after a few months stuck at home not seeing anyone, we’ve all discovered the joys of my son’s ‘gamer uniform’ of baggy joggy bottoms and unwashed t-shirts.

·  We’ve learnt we’re rubbish at online grocery shopping. On the positive side, we’re now the proud owners of a thousand and ten tea bags, eight bunches of bananas and a tomato ketchup bottle so small you can hide it behind an egg cup.

·  The shortage of snacks in the house has turned us into sneaky hoarders. So far, I’ve found Kit Kats hidden in laundry baskets, packets of prawn cocktail crisps stashed behind the printer and a Mars ice cream bar secreted in a Birdseye fishfingers box.

·  Luckily for us, after two months locked down together, and with more on the horizon, our favourite discovery has been how much we all like spending time with each other

Voice of Rachel Hamilton

Rachel Hamilton is an award-winning children’s author from the UK. Her books include The Case of the Exploding Loo and The Case of the Exploding Brains (Simon & Schuster), the Unicorn in New York series (OUP & Scholastic US) and The Falcon Who Found His Wings (Motivate). She is a graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge, and has put her education to good use by working in an advertising agency, a senior school, a building site and a men’s prison. Rachel loves to make people laugh, especially when it's intentional rather than accidental.

World Creativity and Innovation Day