Whenever I talk with friends and colleagues about how learners are coping with remote learning, I tend to get the same sort of response. It’s almost always along the lines of “Yeah, not bad. Some of them just aren’t engaging.” 

The lack of technology and space is a crucial issue that has been widely covered and hopefully, where possible, is being addressed. And while many will refer to the standard “rewards and sanctions” model of behaviour management, it doesn’t work with the type of learner we work with at our college. 

I have one learner, let’s call him Alex*, who came to every single face-to-face lesson I taught. He sat at the front of the class, answered questions and did (almost) everything he was asked. He was the most dominant and confident member of the group. But when we switched to online learning, he disengaged. 

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A few days before the first lockdown, we set up methods of online communication while we still had learners on site. We use Google Classroom in our college and so I set up their class with a group chat on hangouts and showed them how to use the software. 

Immediately, I could see Alex’s posture change. He was anxious and uncomfortable and said he had to leave the group chat. Based on his physical reaction, I agreed to this without argument and we agreed I’d forward the messages from the group chat to him separately. While it’s a shame he didn’t engage with the others in his class, we managed to find a fairly straightforward workaround. However, if he hadn’t been in front of me at the time, he would have just left the group and, based on his previous behaviour in class, I would never have guessed what the issue was.

I asked him recently why he’d reacted like that, and he said it was different to being in a classroom. Alex said he found it overwhelming with everyone sending messages at once and it was difficult for him to understand what was happening in those situations. 

Alex talked about relationships and class dynamics, and said if there were people he didn’t get on with in the classroom it was fine, but online or in a group chat it was different. 

It’s important to remember how personal it can feel to be in communication with people on your mobile phone. Most of our learners don’t have the luxury we might have of using a work laptop or working from a place other than their bedroom. For some learners, especially those with social anxiety, the insistence of allowing a whole class of friends, acquaintances and rivals into the personal world of their mobile phone might be a significant intrusion we’ve overlooked. We need to be aware that we’re asking them to do something they didn’t sign up for.

Online learning: The trust between teacher and student

Another important social dynamic is the one with their teacher. 

Initially, Alex did engage with our online learning and came to online live lessons. However, due to a change in circumstances, after the first couple of weeks, I stopped teaching his class. I thought, as everything was online, my students could join an equivalent class and it wouldn’t be an issue for them as I wouldn’t be seeing them face-to-face anyway. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Levels of engagement with most students dropped and Alex didn’t engage at all with the work from the new teacher. I asked him why and he responded: “I don’t know them. I would do it with you.” 

This isn’t a reflection on their new teacher: she’s well-trained, professional and kind. I imagine I would have experienced a similar phenomenon if I had taken over her class. But where I thought a personal relationship was less important with remote learning, it turns out the complete opposite is true. In these unsettling times, it’s important for students to work with someone they already know and trust. 

So how can we use these discoveries to help us improve engagement in remote learning? 

Essentially, disengaged students need the same support with remote learning that we strive to give them on site at college - but more of it. They need understanding, flexibility, consistency from staff and, most importantly,  an emphasis on positive and trusting relationships. A new laptop only helps with the practical issues and the threat of a sanction will never meet the emotional needs of learners, which are probably exacerbated by the current situation. 

If your learner isn’t handing in all of their homework, but you can hold on to a positive and professional relationship with them, you are allowing them to continue their relationship with education. If you can offer them consistency in a time of huge disruption, you are helping them to see being in education as a safe place. If you can be flexible enough to allow people to learn in their own way and at their own pace, you’re showing that you value them as individuals and their education as important. This means they might start to value it, too. 

This situation is temporary, but we have opportunities now to ensure that our students know that. whatever is happening in the world, they and their education are important to us. Not only will it increase engagement but the positive effects will last long after they leave our college

Victoria Cunniffe is a FE and alternative provision teacher and counsellor in the UK