Schools in New South Wales in Australia are providing Bible lessons at home.
Through the use of Internet, Special Religious Education (SRE) and Special Education in Ethics (SEE) classes are given to students who are quarantined at home, reports Eternity News. The lessons are based on the school’s curriculum with modifications to fit a nontraditional setup.
How do we keep God front and center at a time like this? What is he saying to us right now? How do we deal with the questions that our children have in the midst of this? —Murray Norman, CEO of Christian SRE
“The lesson content and the mode of delivery [have] been reviewed and modified for easy access by students. The approved providers recognize that learning at home will not replicate face-to-face learning at school,” according to the Education Department.
Online resources, such as the “Connect” material from Christian Education Publications (CEP), is widely used for virtual classes. A moderator is present to keep things safe.
Murray Norman, CEO of Christian SRE in NSW, advised parents to give these online resources to their children. He said the pressure of working from home, homeschooling the kids, maintaining a household, can take its toll on parents.
“How do we keep God front and center at a time like this? What is he saying to us right now? How do we deal with the questions that our children have in the midst of this?”
Norman added that, “One of the things I really love about families having access to great SRE content and materials at home is that as a family they can now explore these questions together.”
Online classes may be the norm during lockdown, but many migrant parents and students are having a difficult time adjusting to virtual learning. Language barriers and the lack of knowledge of Australia’s education system overwhelm migrant families., reports ABC News Australia.
To resolve the situation, the NSW Department of Education has developed materials in 35 languages for parents and carers. “The department will also be targeting community language radio broadcasters to advise communities from language backgrounds other than English of how to use Learning from Home resources,” said the spokesperson for the department.