Dubai, UAE, 17 November 2022: New research from Renaissance, a global provider of leading edtech solutions to improve outcomes and accelerate learning, has revealed that a sizeable majority (58%) of teachers feel that edtech has made blended learning (the mixing of classroom and online teaching) easier.
In a survey, over 200 senior school leaders, department heads, and teachers were asked for their thoughts and concerns as the new school term got underway. The results were unveiled at today’s Educator Insights Day in Dubai, which looked at the Role of Assessment in Recovery Learning.
Over a quarter (28%) of respondents said that edtech has helped tailor the education experience for each pupil, while a fifth (20%) believe that it has helped reduce teacher workload.
The effects of the pandemic linger, however, with a third (33.8%) of teachers seeing the attainment gap caused by COVID-19 related disruption as the biggest challenge to address this school term, up from 21% last year. The literacy attainment gap remains the greatest concern to teachers, with 58% reporting they felt it would be the hardest gap of all the core skills to close this current school term. In comparison, only 30% of teachers said that the mathematics attainment gap would be a challenge.
On a more positive note, confidence in using edtech – which increased during the pandemic – remains high, with almost 40% of teachers reporting increased confidence. It come as no surprise that two thirds (67%) of teachers are planning to use edtech more in the coming school year.
With such a variety of online tools available, experts at Renaissance are encouraging schools to take advantage of teachers’ improved edtech confidence to help tackle the attainment gap caused by the period of school closures and remote learning brought about by COVID-19.
Renaissance believes that teachers can use its complete literacy solution to address the literacy attainment gap. The solution consists of a range of offerings such as Star Reading assessment, myON, and Accelerated Reader to engage students, motivate reading practice and improve reading progress. Working with over 870 regional and local schools, Renaissance is actively promoting both literacy and numeracy development. The products and solutions also support differentiated instruction and personalise learning to optimise overall student development.
Joan Mill, Managing Director of Renaissance International commented: “It’s clear from this latest research that the impact of COVID-19, particularly on literacy attainment, continues to be felt by teachers. The pandemic has brought about some less negative knock-on effects however, particularly on the uptake of edtech by schools, and growing confidence among the teaching community in deploying it effectively. We feel the range of solutions provided by Renaissance can simultaneously address this demand for edtech, and help close literacy and maths attainment gaps”.
Michelle Thomas, Director of Education, School of Research Science (SRS) in Dubai, said: “At SRS, all teachers are teachers of literacy. We are committed to developing literacy skills in all of our students in the belief that this will support their learning and raise standards across the curriculum. We actively use Renaissance solutions such as Star assessment, Star Literacy, and Accelerated Reader to assess reading, apply literacy and encourage a culture of reading among students.”
