Keeping things “virtually” moving!

The outbreak of Covid-19 initially posed a problem for all training providers including us. Naturally it was a concern as to how we could make changes whilst maintaining high quality learning. Four weeks in we were keen to hear how our learners were coping and how they have found our response to the outbreak….

How are we doing?

Initially our focus was maintaining communication with our learners and keeping them in the loop with our plans as to how we were going to navigate the situation. Anna-Louise, one of our Level 3 Teaching Assistant learners was pleased communication was key when this outbreak began. “My tutor has made regular contact with us, as a group but also as an individual. My tutor has arranged online teaching sessions but also 1:1 sessions.”

In addition, our Tutors are available via email or telephone Monday to Friday as usual.  Once we were aware of the implications that social distancing was likely to have we moved our focus to remote lesson planning and delivery. This was a learning curve and we are proud as to how quickly we rolled this technology out to Tutors and Learners.

Learners have told us that they feel “very supported” and that the measures the Tutors have they put in place which includes fortnightly live zoom sessions have been paramount to continuing their learning. Feedback we gave been given is better than first expected. Some of the learners have explained that these sessions are “very useful” and are “almost the same as being in our classrooms in person.”

One of our Level 3 Early Years Apprentices Leah, has told us that since the lock down during the Covid-19 outbreak was “initially quite difficult” going from working 7 days a week with no time to herself to suddenly not working and having all of her time at home. She described how coming up a study routine has “helped me massively.”  Leah was also concerned that a break in learning may be enforced due to the circumstances, so she was delighted that this has not been the case.

Silver Linings?

We were interested to know how our learners were finding these changes and were pleased to see that some were using this as an opportunity to use new technology and watch children learn in new ways.

One of our students Louisa who is a Level 3 TA apprentice told us that she is “enjoying supporting the children and their families over the Google Classroom that we are using as a school to maintain good communication with them when they are learning from home. I am enjoying seeing how the children have adapted well to these challenging times.”

Other students are enjoying some extra time to focus on their studies; “although these are strange circumstances, I have found benefits to this. I have more than enough time now to complete my work with my full potential with not having to work at the school and also my second job.”

No “break” for us!

It is clear that our learners are no longer worrying about a potential break in learning and recent feedback from both level 2 and 3 apprentices has showed us how  supportive they are finding our tutors. One Level 2 Apprentice shares that “This is enabling me to carry on with my apprenticeship with as little disruption as possible which takes the pressure off me worrying about how I will complete it.”

We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our Learners across the Business Administration, TA and Early Years courses for all of their hard work and commitment to their apprenticeships during such a strange time. Our Tutors Sarah, Jo and Alex have worked so hard during this lock-down and as a business we are very pleased to have their dedication and drive at this difficult time. Thank you.

Lyndsey