Communications expert calls out: “The education crisis needs the helping hands of the corona crisis: what are we waiting for?” | Education

The shortage of teachers, the learning/reading level of our youth, … “Many alarm bells have already gone off with regard to our education,” says Sara Vercauteren, managing director of the Bepublic Group communication agency and an expert in crisis communication for more than 20 years. “So many alarm bells that, as a parent of school-age children, you sometimes lie awake worrying at night and wonder whether you can or should do more yourself.”

“You try to encourage your own children, day in and day out,” she continues. “At our house there are books and newspapers and magazines. And even then you notice that it is not always easy to get your children to read. And when they read, they often turn to English books because hip & trendy & tiktok proof.”

“But that is obviously not enough. If we want to ensure that our children also find their way in society later on, more is needed. More than we do today. Because admit it, as parents we often look at the education and the teachers and ask them: solve it. But in a real crisis, we may also have to dare to look more closely at ourselves. What more can we all do together?”

Vercauteren thinks back to the strong punches of the many volunteers during the recent corona years. “During the corona crisis, the deployment of volunteers in all vaccination centers was indispensable to control the covid outbreak. There were thousands of them, the helping hands who occupied numerous centers in no time. They did this with positive energy and tireless effort, for a good cause, because there was something to gain (good health and our freedom) and much to lose (our loved ones affected by the virus).”

“Even in this educational crisis, we have a lot to gain and even more to lose,” Vercauteren argues. “So maybe the momentum is there to collectively roll up our sleeves and get to work. Because if everyone is committed to guiding children in language or learning, we can quickly make great progress. I myself recently became a volunteer in the city where I live and now provide language guidance to a child who does not speak Dutch at home. It’s about an hour a week and is probably a drop on a hot plate. But I hope that all those little drops will fill the leaking bucket again. Who is in?”