‘If you can’t get connected, it’s no use’: Island education boss on Covid internet struggles for pupils

By Garrett Stell

August 19 2021, 11:45 am

Orkney's James Wylie oversees a vast department that includes educational, sport and lifestyle opportunities from nursery through adulthood.

An islands education boss has revealed how unreliable internet access left him struggling to keep pupils connected during the pandemic.

When the first wave of lockdowns hit, teachers were forced to send hard copies of work to some pupils because their internet connections were so bad.

Executive director of education, leisure and housing James Wylie said the past 18 months has “raised the starkness” of Orkney’s bad connections.

‘You can provide all the computers you like: If you can’t get connected, it’s no use.’

During the lockdowns, Mr Wylie said that teachers, students, even parents greatly improved their digital skills. But lockdowns also brought an old problem into the spotlight.

“What lockdown has raised to us is the starkness of the poor digital connection that Orkney has. When there was a demand and an expectation that all children would have access to digital learning, that was not possible for some of our young people.”

According to a May report on Orkney’s digital connectivity, an estimated 35% of homes and businesses in Orkney are not connected to an acceptable broadband network. The Scotland-wide estimate is that 5% of homes and businesses lack this basic necessity.

Although some of the islands benefit from new fibre-link connections, most of the islands suffer unstable connectivity and unreliable speeds. Mr Wylie said this meant some rural teachers had to get creative during lockdown.

“I use the word pointedly when I say ‘remote’ learning because that’s what we were doing. For many of our young people… it was hard copies because that was the only way to get access.

“The government provided some very good packages for hardware. But you can provide all the computers you like: If you can’t get connected, it’s no use.”

A fabulous place to live

Mr Wylie knew that his schools would have issues with connectivity, but that didn’t stop them from finding innovative ways to keep teaching.

As a native of Argyll and Bute, Mr Wylie understands what makes a rural community tick. He has come up through the ranks from classroom assistant to the position he holds now. Along the way, he has seen what works and what doesn’t.

He believes that the sense of community in Orkney is one of the main strengths of the education system.

“This really is a fabulous place to live and work. It doesn’t matter whether you were born and bred here. I think there is a strength of conviction to the culture and heritage of Orkney.”

And those strengths have served Orkney well during the pandemic, Mr Wylie said. But while the islands navigate new and longstanding challenges, educators know all about turning a tight spot into a learning opportunity.

‘We designed an education system in hours’

Whether fighting to increase connectivity or find new ways to teach and learn over a lifetime of change, every good teacher knows how to find a lesson in any situation. Mr Wylie said that the pandemic brought opportunities for success stories, which deserve their time in the spotlight as well.

We designed an education system in hours and had to transform our delivery in hours.

“We have to capitalize on the positive. Resilience skills were enhanced hugely. We hear a lot about the impact on mental health, but we’re not hearing enough about resilience.

“I hope we will be able to look back on this and reflect on the many positives that came from a sudden change. We designed an education system in hours and had to transform our delivery in hours. Normally that would take years. The determination and dedication of staff, parents and pupils to make that happen was astounding.

“Parents did an outstanding job of supporting our system. Having worked in other areas, it is markedly different: the high quality of respect that the vast majority of our community have for the service.”