Tayla Foster
Across the country students for the first time in their life have missed the mundane and once dreaded notion of going to school. But nobody seems to miss it more than their parents. Distance learning has presented itself to be the new coming of age electronic assistance that allows students to take control of their learning at their own pace. The rise in popularity for education apps, such as ‘Sea Saw’ and ‘Google Classroom’, have sent parents across the nation into a fit of rage and exhaustion with a definitive newfound respect for education staff.
With the ongoing global threat of COVID-19, the government made the executive decision to restrict the amount of contact Australian’s would have with one another and enforce a national legislation that saw our nation lock its doors. This meant the close of businesses and for students to give their parents a whole new level of frustration, with the introduction of online distance learning.
Parents have explicitly expressed how exasperatingly irritated they are the moment they sit down with their child to work through their prescribed schoolwork. With the implementation of new learning strategies, to the temperamental nature of the online applications and of course, every parent’s favourite, overdue and incomplete work, stress levels are at an all-time high. Countless parents have spoken out to admit they can’t handle the stress compounded within their families and would rather their children be outside doing activities than working online.
A mother of four primary aged students admits, “some days I reach my total breaking point, I can’t be in four places at once and I’m not up to date with all the new teaching methods, I run an electrical business, I’m not a teacher.” Online distance learning has given a daily insight to the life of teachers and their array of duties, including adhering to various levels of learning, becoming a mediator and parental figure for the six hours that students attend school every day.
A mother of two has a deep respect for their job, noting, “I honestly do not know how they do this every day and with such a poise, I take my hat off to them, I really do.”
Parent’s across Australia are having their stress alleviated with the welcomed news of school’s resuming full time. They no longer need to worry about uploading robot projects, the ‘glitchiness’ of technology and being unable to move a text box into the middle of the page. Hand them back over to the teachers and enjoy the fun aspect of parenting.
