While there is clearly still a long way to go before the UK and the rest of the world can consider themselves free of Covid and all that it entails, as guidance changes and restrictions have started to lift, attention is naturally turning to how life will start to look once we are finally over the pandemic.

Much has been said and written about what lasting changes on society that the past 12 months of living with the coronavirus will bring and, clearly, the future is unknown. Yet we all have an opportunity to contribute to shaping society and the sectors within it, including our collective approach to student enrichment and engagement in college. Like most other parts of education, enrichment programmes shifted to online delivery during lockdown. There have been many success stories and increased engagement has been a plus to this new way of working.

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FE institutions have worked incredibly hard to ensure that their students have received the best possible support, care and education throughout the various lockdowns. Enrichment programmes were no different. Guest speakers have given illuminating Zoom talks and students have been encouraged to participate in all manner of activities from their homes and gardens.

The importance of face-to-face enrichment activities in FE colleges

While it is clearly true that the pandemic and the tragic loss of life it has brought have had direct and indirect catastrophic effects in many aspects of life, from personal, physical and mental health to the economy and everywhere in between, many organisations and sectors are understandably starting to consider whether there are some ways of operating that have proven to be worth continuing, even when circumstances might allow a return to “normality”.

For many office workers, for example, the ability to work from home, and the improved work-life balance that a reduction in commuting brings, has led to calls for such flexible working patterns and models to remain in place long after social distancing guidance ends. This is partly driven by improvements in technology, previously viewed with scepticism, that have given much-needed reassurance that it is still possible to collaborate when not in the same physical room as colleagues.

Further education is unlikely to be any different.

Clearly, there were many successful online and distance learning courses offered pre-Covid and no doubt many staff and students found them to be excellent ways of providing and receiving an outstanding education that could fit around geographical and other constraints.

Yet students who had previously studied exclusively face-to-face, on-site, especially in more theoretical (as opposed to practical) subjects, could perhaps now be forgiven for questioning the need to attend their college course in person and might, like those office workers, wonder instead whether a blended approach ought to be here to stay.

It might be.

Yet while these programmes have been successful and should certainly continue, I would strongly argue that the wider student experience in college is one area where face-to-face, in-person activities should return as soon as possible.

Playing sport, creating visual art, producing music, devising projects that deliver a social impact in the community or debating vital issues such as environmental sustainability can be done online in virtual environments. Yet the experience can be so much richer when these activities are carried out in the company of other people.

Creative sparks flying 

The creative sparks that fly and the sense of community that engaging in these activities brings are so much harder to replicate on a Teams call or Google Meet.

So, while we all consider the frequency with which we want to travel or meet up physically, or the merits of commuting, let’s not lose sight of the incredible benefits to mental and physical health and wellbeing of face-to-face activities.

Online enrichment programmes are likely to (and should) continue for very good reasons, including how inclusive they can be and the opportunity they provide for more marginalised communities to participate is a great thing. Yet at the same time, nothing can truly replicate the benefits of creating shared physical experiences for students within college. We must make that face-to-face offer just as inclusive.

It’s those experiences that students remember long after they move on and are what students have most missed out on over the past 12 months, compared with their predecessors.

So, as we consider the routines and habits from the past year that we would like to continue and those that we’ve missed, let’s prioritise the return of face-to-face enrichment, while maintaining the online programmes that have proven so successful.

Dean Hardman is director of sport and student experience at the Association of Colleges