With schools closing and families going into self-isolation in the hopes of stopping the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus pandemic has left parents wondering what they can do with their children at home, especially in the way of educating them.
“I don’t think we should expect parents to be teachers,” said Vidya Shah of York University’s Faculty of Education. “Therefore, we cannot replicate schooling at home. We need to break away from our traditional notion of schooling and broaden our notion of learning,” she continued. “We need to recognize that learning happens in all places at all times, and that while parents are not qualified teachers, they have always been the child’s first teacher. To really recognize, they are doing the best that they can.”