The "Mr Lowe Live" ident

This ident was created for the "Make Music On Mondays" series. The videos are from Pixabay.com The sound design is by Dave Lowe.

The Covid-19 lockdown forced Dave to distance from his students. But with greater determination than ever, he continues to find ways to continue to teach, encourage and support them online using Showbie, YouTube, Kahoot, Socrative, Zoom & email. Dave is now supporting many young people and their teachers in other schools around the UK and in other countries. If you're a music teacher and would like any help, please do get in touch.

Contrary to suggestions in recent media reports, education IS continuing in our schools - it's only the buildings that are closed.

It is, however, hugely different. Teachers are having to learn new ways to teach and communicate their subjects. Students are having to choose to invest in their own education, and the situation is forcing them to develop independence in their studying. For students who don't value the opportunity of learning or find it difficult to work on their own, this is very difficult. It's challenging enough in-person, but now almost impossible, without the opportunity to talk regularly and face-to-face to encourage them to engage with their work.

For students who have extra support in school to help with their learning, this is more challenging than ever and more development is needed urgently to find ways to support those young people remotely.

Students of all ages and abilities who do engage are continuing to gain confidence during this time and the gap (between those who engage in their learning and those who do not) will continue to grow in the time we are apart. Teachers can continue to develop more and more innovative ways to teach and inspire our young people, but at some point, society as a whole must collectively recognise the importance of learning for all, and in a broad range of subjects, so that there is not inequality of understanding in our communities. This is something we haven't got right yet.