Self-isolation During School Term- a curse or a blessing?

Have you self-isolated before? Do you know anyone who was/is self-isolating? Do you think that self-isolation during school times is a curse or a blessing? Let's find out: 

What is Self-Isolation?

As many may now know, self-isolation is one of the measures taken to implement infection control by preventing or reducing the risk of communicable diseases (infectious diseases) spreading.

This terminology, which was rarely used previously, is now hugely prevalent. Self-isolation was only encountered by the minority when coming across infectious diseases, yet now it is widespread.

The UK government website states that self-isolation starts at home for 14 days from the date of your last contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, even if you do not have any symptoms. However, the people of your household can continue their usual activities, unless the isolating person develops symptoms. For full information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance?priority-taxon=774cee22-d896-44c1-a611-e3109cce8eae

“Remain in your home. Do not go to work, school or public areas. Home delivery instructions need to state that the items are to be left outside. Separate yourself from other people. Stay in a well-ventilated room with a window to the outside that can be opened. Keep the door closed.”

You are not allowed to leave your house or have visitors over for any reason- not even for exercise.

Our story

Recently, many of my peers and I have been following this guidance, with around three-quarters of our year group, year 11 isolating, 4 weeks away from the end of term and missing a week of our mock exams. Personally, I think we are fortunate only to have encountered this experience once, whereas many other students have had many experiences of this as staying at home for 2 weeks is hugely detrimental to our education, especially with mock exams coming up and already have had missed 6 months of education. Whilst some students have expressed outrage over the loss of learning, others have conveyed delight that the extra time of relaxation and revision:

Advantages of Self-Isolation During School Time

Self-isolation provides extra time when previously the time would have been spent travelling to or from school, or in form or break times. This extra time could then be used in ways to suit individuals, whereas it is for longer sleep, breaks, or more time for hobbies, in the comforts of their own homes. This could also offer pupils a well-deserved break from the hustle and bustle of school life, away from the constant pressures of staff and peers, allowing a chance to reflect in solitude, eventually improving their mental health.

Many students have also mentioned that self-isolation gives a precious opportunity to revise for exams allowing pupils to consolidate their knowledge thoroughly alone as ultimately, the exams are taken by the pupils themselves. Self-isolation offers students independence with their studying, allowing them to plan their own studying and leisure times for what works for them, at their own pace, unlike the rigid, set structure of the school day. Experimentation with time management techniques such as the Pomodoro Technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, is more feasible at home. The Pomodoro technique is said to be one of the most effective ways to learn, as separating 25 minutes intervals by short breaks is not only motivating, but also more productive. An average mind wanders 15-20% of the time, with an attention span of 50 minutes.


Disadvantages of Self-Isolation During School Time

However, on the other hand, there are also a plethora of reasons why students dislike self-isolation:

Self-isolating students face a severe disadvantage from their peers in school as remote learning either is insufficient or unhelpful, leading to them missing out on vital learning. Many schools do not have the facilities, especially with increasing number of teachers and staff self-isolating, to provide onlines lessons or set work for isolating students, and to teach pupils still going to school.  

“Work sets are not very beneficial to our learning because we are not in the lesson to understand the actual teaching. Go through a PowerPoint, make notes, ask questions if you have any. We don’t learn as well as sitting in the classroom as Zoom is just a screen and inconvenient.”

Peers have mentioned that the ideal way to learn remotely is having online, live lessons at the same time the teacher is teaching the class in school as it closely replicates the classroom experience except for physically being there. This seems fairly feasible with both a significant number of students isolating and at home, but could put extra strain and stress onto teachers.

However, even with the ideal facilities, students may become easily distracted at home, by other members of their household isolating, or lack of motivation etc., distracting students from completing the set work required. This adds further mental strain onto them, as they would then be falling further behind, yet cannot catch up due to the poor working environment.

14 days is also a substantial time off school: on average, there are 25 hours of lessons in a week, meaning that self-isolating for two school weeks, including weekend, would mean that 50 hours of vital learning would be lost. The fact that there are many interventions and extra lessons to help catch up with 6 months of schoolwork does not help as these extra sessions would also be missed, leading to more learning hours missed. More needs to be done to help students.

On the other hand, students still attending school when significant numbers of students were isolating found the smaller class sizes and more attention more beneficial to their learning:

“When other people were off whilst I was in school, it was alright because I learned more with smaller classes and we get more work done.”

Overall, it seems that different schools in the area do remote learning differently, with some more organized, with Zoom lessons for every subject, whereas some schools are more relaxed, with the guidelines being that online lessons are only required if possible. Regardless, it seems all students face the same issues with remote learning. When interviewing a year 11 student from another school, it seemed that they faced similar issues such as distracting home environment:

“Overall, self-isolation during school time wasn’t the best thing in terms of learning new materials but at the same time, it was a good time for revision.”

Despite what our personal opinions are on self-isolation, whether we dislike or like it, we should recognise that it is the necessary course of action to prevent you and others from becoming ill, along with other vital measures such as social distancing, wearing masks appropriately. We can just make the best of the inevitable situation by remembering that we are all in this together!

What do you think about self-isolation during school time?