So I Woke Up At 2am And Pitched It

Warning! Today’s missive could be TL;DR.

Around this time in 2017, we were just beginning our telepresence robot service.

The previous year, I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to discover what works best in educational connection for sick kids.

My journey took me across Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, and Canada, each country offering a glimpse into different ways of bridging the gap for students unable to attend school due to health issues.

While I was on my Churchill Fellowship, I found myself pitching to the board of the St.George Foundation. I pitched a national telepresence robot pilot to connect sick kids to their classrooms—and won the first Inspire grant of up to $600,000 over three years.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this opportunity came out of the blue. I pressed send on the application, slammed my laptop shut, and ran to my boarding gate to fly to Europe. [Breathless]

Funny how… the only way I could pitch this idea was … via telepresence. So, I woke up at 2am Netherlands time, and did just that.

The best part of it all? On the very day I pitched, I had the opportunity to interview the people who had built and been using technology for years to connect kids with complex attendance to their classrooms. The Netherlands and Belgium Flanders were leading, by the way.

Winning the grant back then was life-changing for me, but it was game-changing for sick kids in Australia. I found great solutions overseas, but would you like to know which country was connecting up all of the great things? Well… that country didn’t exist!

So, I asked myself, “What if Australia can be the best? And what if I make this my mission by 2020?” But, we all know what happened in 2020, don’t we?!

It’s hard to believe now, but there was a moment during the COVID-19 pandemic when the future of education seemed bright with possibility.

Potentially hundreds of thousands of Australian students, isolated in their personal health crisis, briefly found a new sense of belonging and normalcy by connecting with their classrooms through screens.

They participated alongside their peers, learning and (maybe) laughing together in a way that had never been done before. But today, those same students – and, now, thousands more – with complex health conditions, are still being left behind.

Our education systems have long been structured around specific needs—hospital education, homeschooling, and distance education. But these systems, while invaluable in their own right, were never designed to be the default for students with health conditions.

They serve their purpose in specific situations: hospital education for those admitted, homeschooling for families who actively choose it, and distance education for students geographically isolated from traditional schools.

But none of these were designed with the needs of students routinely transitioning between school, hospital, and home in mind.

The realisation of this gap hit me hard when I reflected on Freyja’s story. Freyja was our first student in Australia to use telepresence to stay connected with her classroom. I’ll never forget the day she first wheeled into her primary school class via a robot, her eyes lighting up as her friends greeted her.

It was a moment of pure connection, made possible by technology, and it set off a national media storm. Suddenly, everyone wanted to know more about this world-first innovation, how it worked, and why it mattered so much.

Freyja’s experience showed us what was possible, yet here we are, years later, and the opportunity to scale this kind of solution has largely been missed by our systems along with the need for students to maintain a sense of belonging and continuity within their enrolled school communities.

The idea of a “temporary” virtual presence in the classroom—something that could bridge the gap between absence and reintegration—is still being overlooked, despite the success stories we’ve already seen. Despite ongoing emergencies in this country. And despite other countries doing it for decades.

Imagine if, instead of being left behind, these students could stay connected to their schools, even when they couldn’t physically be there. Imagine if we didn’t have to rely on a patchwork of services, but instead embraced a 21st-century model of education that allowed for seamless integration of technology in times of need.

The pandemic showed us that “work from anywhere” is possible, and “learn from anywhere” has become a reality in vocational and university settings. Yet, primary and secondary schools have sailed past the technology-led lockdown silver lining.

What’s more, Australia has a long history of educating students across distances. It’s baffling that we’re not leveraging that experience to conduct randomised controlled trials that could prove the effectiveness (so our data shows) of telepresence in maintaining school attendance and engagement for students isolated by their health challenges.

Since Freyja’s groundbreaking experience, our work has continued to grow. We’ll share some of our data in next week’s newsletter, demonstrating that telepresence (not just robots) isn’t just a fleeting idea, but a necessary evolution in how we think about education.

Yet, as we move forward, the greatest challenge remains in convincing policymakers that this is not just a temporary fix but a solid step towards ensuring no student is left behind. We hope you find something useful in this week’s mix.

“Today, however, beset by twin crises of equity and relevance, education as we know it is no longer fit for purpose” ~ Our Common Agenda Policy Brief 10 Transforming Education, United Nations

Robots’ Origin Meets TEDx Talk

As we turn our minds back to the beginning of our telepresence technology pilot, it’s timely to recap the robots’ origin story. From my own lived experience as a parent of a student with complex attendance and health challenges, through to the inception of MissingSchool and the conceptualisation of the robot pilot, my TEDx Talk gives a snapshot of all that lead to this path. Across the years, the motivation has stayed the same – to have these kids seen and heard. WATCH NOW

Freyja’s National News Story

It brings us so much joy to look back at our first robot placement in support of a very special primary school student. Freyja was in kindergarten when we connected with her family and school to arrange the first robot placement in our pilot. We recall the excitement of Freyja’s classmates as she rolled into the room, and the joyful chatter of friends reuniting through technology. You can read her story at the link below or watch it here. READ FREYJA’S STORY

Early Years Tips For Telepresence

Starting “big school” is an exciting time for students and their families! But imagine not being able to join your friends and teacher because of a complex health condition. In this blog, we explore strategies and tips for supporting students in the early primary years who are absent from school. Students in kindergarten (or equivalent) and Year 1 form a significant portion (23%) of those we assist. We’ve seen remarkable success stories, and the benefits of school connection for young learners. FIND OUT MORE

BeYou Educator Wellbeing Guide

Teacher wellbeing matters. This BeYou Educator Wellbeing Guide goes beyond self-care strategies, supporting leaders and teams to create environments where all educators can thrive. It helps you to think about all the factors that lead to educator wellbeing, rethink the roles individual educators play within a whole-of-setting approach and consider practical steps learning communities can take towards building a thriving workplace. It includes activities and actions you can adapt to suit your setting. CHECK IT OUT

Heads Up: Teacher Wellbeing Event

Teacher wellbeing is a hot topic in 2024, and with good reason. Teachers across Australia and overseas are experiencing unprecedented levels of stress, overwhelm and distress. So, what can we usefully and meaningfully do to improve wellbeing for teachers? Join Positive Schools online for Wellbeing for Teachers in 2024, on 28 August. Dr Helen Street, Meg Durham, Leonie Abbott and Amy Green will explore four vital pillars of teacher wellbeing; our thinking, our behaviours, our physical health and our social needs. REGISTER NOW