Control what you can

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [02:03]And, you know, often we talk to the children and the parents about normal stresses that a child would experience during an academic year, for example. Something, we speak about the roller coaster. We know that during the academic year that we're going to have periods where that roller coaster is going up the hill, and that's generally as we're moving into an exam session. And that's not necessarily unhealthy stress. Remember, that's eustress. It's stress that you should be feeling if you are serious about your studies and if you want to perform well. It's entirely normal and natural to feel that anxiety growing slightly before an exam session. You know that you're going to go into that exam, you're going to feel butterflies in your stomach, you're going to have sweaty palms, that sort of thing. That's normal stress. And it is most certainly not the job of a parent or a teacher to remove that stress from a child. That's our opportunity to teach children how to cope with stress and how to handle stress. So that's normal stress.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [03:34]this is when we're aware of what's going on in our homes around us, because we are stuck at home between COVID and the protests and everything that's going on, we are stuck at home more than we would normally be. Right now, we're not even going to fill the car with fuel, we're not going to the shops. So we're probably feeling more confinement. We're probably feeling a little bit of cabin fever at times. And we need to be aware of things like having a 24-hour news channel on, that when we do take a break from our work, we're still seeing images of violence and protests, and we're still hearing captions and, you know, news speak about what's going on, which is not necessarily contextualized because we've just come in maybe on the back end of a news report. We need to be aware of the fact that we're all on community groups at the moment, so our phones are pinging more than normal, and we're having a, there's a body language reaction that our children might be noticing, you know, where we shake our heads or our head goes down in our hands, or we make a comment on that. Our children are picking up on all of this, and generally it's out of context because they haven't read the message. They don't know why you've reacted that way. We need to be aware of the conversations as adults that children might be overhearing in the household, because that's all going to add to their stress. More than ever, it's important that we're having conversations with our children and we're reinforcing what we are doing to stay safe. We're reminding them that they are in a home that is safe and that we do take precautions. We have security companies and all this sort of thing that keeps us safe. These are the things we can control, and so we do control. We most certainly haven't told the students not to post on their class groups about what's going on, because we do want to have conversations with them. They have been conversing during their classes. The teachers have been very good at allowing space and time in the classroom to voice concerns, to voice fears, and we really need to just keep that sort of thing going. Give the kids forums and platforms to express their anxieties so that we can provide context for them, and we can keep reminding them about what we can control, which is our exam work. We're in complete control of how much work we do and how much preparation we do for our own exams, and just reminding them where we can control the other bigger issues. So we're not going to, you know, overpost our videos and pictures and memes and that about what's going on, because that can be quite overwhelming. We're not going to say no, but we're going to be very careful about What's going on in that space. I think that's really, really important.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [06:11]I think that in echoing what Mrs. Aitchison is saying, that it's a great opportunity for us to exercise our critical thinking. And part of critical thinking is shutting off the sensationalism of the media. The media is the opposite of the Facebook life, where everything seems to be rosy and peachy and full of highlights. The media always focuses on the worst of the worst, because that's what sells. So as Mrs. Aitchison said, you share ideas and thoughts with people, but certainly don't spam the groups and share the sensationalistic videos that are going around on social media. They're definitely contributing to the anxiety. And personally, I find myself on the different groups, just actually switching some of them off, especially the groups that are the most active, or just deleting some of those messages that I feel are just contributing to my own personal anxiety.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [07:02]You know, the reality of the situation is that we're in it and we need to get through it. So we need to do whatever we have to do to make sure that we get through it intact. And that means being very, very cognizant of what we can handle and what we can't. So it's not negligent to be switching some of those groups off. It's actually just, it's survival at this point. It's keeping us all sane.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [08:08]So the amended dates of coming back to school was mentioned by President Cyril Ramaphosa was the 26th of July, and that falls smack bang in the middle of our exam session. And part of what we would like to do is just keep some continuity going and some stability in our students' lives. And what we're going to do is we are going to do our exams online this term, with the view of coming back in the last week of the term being the 2nd of August to the 6th of August. So that at least we end the term with everybody together, everybody at school, on campus again, and have that nice on-campus vibe while we review the exams and prepare ourselves for the winter holiday that's coming. Another consideration is that Edu Inc has spent a lot of time and resources on creating hybrid classrooms, and while they work very effectively in the teaching process, it might be overcomplicated to invigilate some students at home and some students on campus while writing the exams, and given that some students are still going to be at home during the exam session for COVID-related issues, it's easier for us and the teachers to invigilate everybody at home, and we had a successful exam session last year in July, and I'm looking forward to having another successful exam session in the same fashion this year.

Unidentified speaker, intro voice or played clip · [09:34]So last July, exams at home with parents invigilating was a first try. A year later, you've got some experience, you've got some ideas of what you want to improve. What can parents expect from this exam session?

Gershom Aitchison, host · [09:48]Ideally, we would like the parents to invigilate the exams. And that is because it maintains the integrity of the exam, and more importantly, it gives the parents an insight into how their students write their exams, and I think there's great value in that. But we do recognize that their parents are not able to do that, and we do realize that their parents are working, and that's fine, and we've got two mechanisms that we have in place. One for the parents invigilating, there's a form that they fill in verifying the integrity of the exam, and the second one is for the online invigilation by the teacher. The students after each exam will complete a declaration of the authenticity and validity of their exam that they have to sign.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [10:35]In some instances, just to assist with this whole process, we have requested that parents set up an additional webcam. That, allow the teacher to see the child's screens as well as the child's face. So you're getting the two different angles at the same time. So don't be surprised if that request comes through. It's also just to assist us with that invigilation process and make sure that that integrity is retained.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [11:02]And certainly there are one or two students who do not do online very well, and in that case, we might ask the parents specifically to have an adult invigilating the exam session to make sure that it does happen properly without a hitch.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [11:32]They definitely are, Gavin, and I'm so glad you said that because, and I say this realizing that half the students will be rolling their eyes as I do say it, but the fact that our students are actually writing exams at the moment amid all of this is such a positive thing. It highlights the level of stability that our kids are fortunate enough to have in their lives. The level of commitment that is displayed, that is being displayed all the time from our staff, from our parents, from our edging community as a whole, Is really summed up in the fact that at this stage of COVID, at this stage of what's happening in our country, we can actually administer an examination session that is completely valid and has all the integrity that it needs to have at the level of an IEB examination. I think it's a massively positive sign, and I think that every single one of us needs to give ourselves a huge pat on the back that we have maintained this for our children over such a long period of time. I, I, I really think it's a huge, huge thumbs up for the whole Edu Inc community.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [12:41]As most of the parents and students know, Mrs. Aitchison and myself have walked a very different path to most school owners, headmasters and headmistresses. We've had a very interesting life and have had very interesting experiences on our journey. This is certainly one to add as another chapter to that, and it's certainly not something that we thought we would have to experience and make decisions about when we're envisioning the school and what the school would look like fifteen years ago. And I must say, Gavin, I'm very proud of the Edu Inc community, my teachers, and how hard they're working to make sure that teaching and school feels normal. I'm very proud of the students for rocking up in class every day and doing what they need to do amidst all of this chaos. I'm very proud of the alumni who are supporting the school, even though they're not in the school anymore, and sending great messages of encouragement. And I'm very proud of the parents who are supporting the school, the teachers, their students, their kids, to make sure that education is as uninterrupted as possible during this time. I'm very proud that as a community, we're still at school, that we've got exams coming. And I'm very proud that the Edu Inc students are learning how to become, in the words of one of our alumni, Edu Inc tough. That's about knowing what has to get done, about resilience, about grit, doing what needs to get done, getting the job done. So thank you all for doing what needs to happen, and I look forward to seeing what the end of this term looks like. And I know you're going to do well in the exams, because I know you know how to work hard. Thank you.