Never mind the technology, where’s the learning?

According to yesterday’s news report, Bridgemary Community Sports College in Gosport, Hampshire is to be open from 7am to 10pm and offer lessons via the internet throughout the night. The Head, Cheryl Heron says she hopes that pupils who do not respond to classroom lessons will be stimulated by online learning. In September 2005, Bridgemary was the first state school in England to abolish all year groups and establish mixed-age classes in order to improve standards. This new project will run for two years starting next September and is Bridgemary’s experiment with personalised learning.

The teachers and support staff will work ‘flexi-time’ under the scheme, and teacher unions are being consulted as part of the renegotiation on pay and conditions.

24/7 learning is not that radical, after all, we all know of colleagues who when students, much preferred to burn the midnight oil and sleep most of the day. The report says:

Teaching and extra-curricular activities would take place from 7am to 10pm and learning modules would be available online at any time.

So clearly, 24/7 teaching is not envisaged in this experiment. If it were, then the concept of a ‘flat world education’ might well have hit the shores of the UK. Out-sourced online tutoring already exists, and is gaining momentum in the US, both among parents and schools. Of course, these tutors might be anywhere in the world and therefore give true 24/7 service.

So imagine a school’s staff made up of online and face-to-face teachers providing 24/7 learning opportunities using systems that support them to do just that. An interesting notion that some say is inevitable. As a profession are we ready to embrace ‘flat world economics’?

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