LEARNING FROM THE PAST

 "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" Winston Churchill

For all of its existence, the “traditional” form of counselling (face to face) was used to deliver a timetable that addressed social skills which included Anger Management, Conflict Resolution, Peer Pressure, Communication, and Values and Decision-Making Skills to name a few.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted enrollment at the institution. This was because schools went on-line, and the face-to-face method of counselling was no longer an option.  Having no students to counsel, the staff was assigned the job of tracking students who were not attending online classes and recording the reasons for their actions. This was no where near the mandate of the ENC. In the meantime, calls were being received requesting counselling for students, but little could be done. The in-person method used throughout the years worked well since counselling was not academics; it dealt with the emotions.  It was easy to build relationships with students in person and gauge their feelings from their body language. They were generally more comfortable with that method and so too were staff members.  

To get back to fulfilling the mandate of the institution in an online environment, it quickly became evident that strategies needed to be revisited and changes implemented to bring the ENC in line with the digital revolution that was taking place in education, worldwide. With a basic background in technology that allowed staff to do research, source material for classes and write reports, it was clear that a digital strategy was necessary to get more out of the limited technology that was available.  With the above in mind, critical thinking was needed then to achieve, with technology, support for counselling and learning. What became clear from this exercise, is that while technology use is important and is, to a certain extent, a driver for many of the ideas that promote efficiency in education,  it is really the vision and values that drive your choices of use. According to Anderson and Kingsley (2019), a good place to start with your thinking in this regard is with the learning. The TPACK model they suggested is particularly useful here, and they went on to explain that it was developed from the PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) model by Shulman and furthered by Koehler and Mishra. The TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) model combines three areas of knowledge related to teaching and learning.

Purpose: As a result of the ENC’s initial failure to meet its mandate during the COVID 19 period, a digital strategy is being created for the following reasons:

ü  Whether online, face-to-face, or using a hybrid approach,   students needing the services that ENC offers must not be disadvantaged, due to failure to use the technology appropriately.

ü  Staff members must be capable to counsel online, that is, effectively deliver (both individually and in groups) the social skills curriculum that is offered.

ü  Administrative duties, responsibilities, and data analysis must be enhanced using the technology. 

For this to be realized, a timeline of three years will be set for the different stages of the plan to be accomplished. Through all stakeholders, information will sourced, decisions will be made, purchases will be acquired to name a few. 

 Vision: The vision for the institution is that within a three year time span, in a very therapeutic environment, staff will be adequately trained in the use of technology to provide quality counselling, whether in-person or online, individually or in groups, to those students who require the services that the ENC provides. Counselling will be conducted in well -spaced classrooms that are suitably outfitted with equipment to comfortably accommodate the full use of technology at all levels. Excellent internet service will be provided fence to fence so that every module will be effectively delivered allowing for student learning to take place with high levels of efficiency.  Research will be conducted so that informed decisions guide the process at every stage when creating and implementing the digital strategy.

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