Teachers are worried and stressed; Hybrid learning reveals inequity in education

BY PAUL JUNOR

The move towards hybrid learning by many school boards in Ontario has posed many challenges for students. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has resorted to hybrid learning. Hybrid learning is: an educational model where some students attend class in-person, while others join the class virtually. Educators teach remote and in person students at the same time using tools like video conferencing hardware svd software (www.owllabs.com).

The TDSB will be utilizing this concurrent learning model to ensure that students can be enrolled in all the courses they requested. It has reached capacity at its Virtual School, and it would be up to individual schools to accommodate students who want to pursue online learning.

There are currently 26,500 students learning online, with about 18,000 secondary students. Approximately, 8,500 students are planning to transition to virtual school when quadmester two begins on November 23rd.

According to Ryan Bird, spokesperson for the TDSB, “Delivering virtual learning at the local level will look different depending on the unique circumstances of each school. It could include combining students from another school to make a viable class or to simultaneously learning which would see a teacher teaching both in-person and virtual school at the same time.

It has become clear that most secondary schools will have some level of simultaneous learning so that we can keep current course offerings at in-person schools and/ or enable students to access courses virtually.
Without it, programs sustainability at some schools would be at risk and a significant reorganization of secondary school, staff, students and classes would be required.”

There are several boards such as the York Catholic District School Board (YCDDB), Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) as well the Peel District School Board (PDSB) that decided to utilize hybrid learning for both elementary and high school students.

Deborah Buchanan-Walford shared a link on Facebook as a “Call for Local Union Action to Resist the Hybrid Switch,” on November 4th, 2020. The link is requesting for signatures to call on local union leadership. Their needs to be an organization of mass member town hall meetings to plan and mount a collective response to these proposals, which threaten to:

° Create education worker’s already unsustainable workloads
° Set precedent for larger class sizes
° Make permanent the equity gaps already deepened by the pandemic
° Establish precedents for the normalization of mandatory e-learning credits
° Create serious privacy concerns for teachers and students

Leslie Wolfe, president of OSSTF has expressed outrage about the stress level on teachers in the TDSB.

“Teachers are worried and stressed. How can a teacher split their attention between the students on a 17-inch, stationary screen and the students who are in their classroom? Engaging students in learning means building relationships and trust with students. Doing that online and in person required two different approaches. There may be ways to do this -large screens and/or projectors along with multiple cameras so that everyone can see everyone else-but the TDSB simply doesn’t have the equipment or technology to do that right.”

Researcher Beyhan Furhadi noted on November 5th,2020 (Behind the Numbers) that, “Overwhelmed teachers are set up to fail, there are persistent technical problems, and the poor learning conditions-especially for virtual students who are often left hanging while in person students command the attention of teachers.” She believes that hybrid learning is a failed response and it will not maximize learning.