- State education leaders
are in the process
of devising guidelines so
schools can safely reopen
in a few months.
We recently discussed some
of the impacts COVID-19
has already had on learning
with Dr. Francesca Lopez
an associate dean in
the College of Education
at the University of Arizona.
- It's a lot of uncertainty.
I think we need
to brace ourselves
for a new way of learning,
a new situation,
a lived experience
that many of us had
never had before.
And then on the optimistic side,
I know I have been talking
with a lot of colleagues
that there's also the
advantage of children
having been at home
and probably and
hopefully having more time
with their family.
And what that could give
them that they weren't
able to get in the school day.
So, I think there's a lot
of things that are still
up to the imagination what
it will need to look like.
But there's definitely
some of the things
that we know we will
have to deal with
as far as making sure that
we don't have another wave,
which is something else
that is being discussed.
- Over the years, you've
studied child psychology
in a variety of settings and
granted this is a pandemic
none of us have
witnessed before,
but any early indications of
how this might manifest itself
when ideally we return
to a fall semester.
- You know, we've never
lived through a pandemic
but I know we do have quite
a bit of research out there
on youth who have been in
traumatic situations, right.
A lot of teachers have
seen trauma manifest itself
in their classrooms
with their children,
and the issue with
children is they don't
typically demonstrate
anxiety, depression
in ways that adults do.
But we have the advantage
of having research
that can guide what do we do.
We need school counselors.
I know there's a huge
limitation in the state
in terms of ratios.
We need school counselors,
I think, more than ever
to be able to help with the
issues that our children
are facing to learn
how to deal with them,
to going to classrooms and
have those discussions.
Because without that
coping, without the ability
to heal from any kind of trauma
it's very difficult to have
the opportunity to learn.
- Zoom classes and car
parades have all been ways
for teachers to connect
with the students
and students to see
their friends, obviously.
Are there other things, though,
that could be taking place
right now to sort of help
ease this transition?
- If children have the
ability to have access,
I think being able to
connect with friends
is very, very important.
And, of course, that can
become more difficult
the younger the child is,
but FaceTime and using
other modes of communication
is very important, drawing
on my own experience
with my middle school daughter.
She reconnected with friends
she hadn't seen in some time
because they each went
to different schools.
And we're seeing
her thrive in ways
that the regular school day
often didn't accommodate
because the school,
they start so early
and there was exhaustion and
every thing is so structured.
And so, with a little more
relaxation in that structure,
I've seen here
actually have the time
to have that connection.
And I think to the extent
that are already very
taxed families and teachers
are doing the very
best that they can.
If there is that bandwidth
to be able to ensure
that children are connecting
with their peers or friends,
I think that is
very, very important
because isolation is not good.
- Anything about Arizona
school system that makes
these students more likely,
or perhaps less likely
to rebound after this hiatus?
- I worry about the
shortages that we were seeing
in the teacher workforce
before COVID-19
and what that will
mean for students
because a teacher who goes
through professional training
learns about child development.
They are exposed to
theories and research that
becomes part of their
toolkit so that when they are
in the classroom they're able
to draw from those things
to be able to be the best
they can be for students.
If we have yet another crisis
with the teacher shortage,
if teacher salaries, if we see
education in pre-K through 12
gutted even more,
I worry about what
that will look like
because, inevitably, it
will affect our students
and so, if we have a worsened
situation for our educators
we're gonna have a worsened
situation for our students.
