Education & COVID-19

The pandemic that has isolated the world, is the fastest growing illness in modern history. Within 2 months, it has reached all corners of the world, and it threatens to devastate countries without the right tools to fight the virus, like Africa and South America.

There are no comforts or lessons to be learnt when you see people that cant even be buried or mourned by their loved ones. I do not want to fall into the trap to highlight positive aspects from a society been confined all around the world. Only to remember that there are millions of children that can not attend school, and the methods teachers, authorities and parents are using to fill the time they have at home, by teaching Online.

Online Education is a fast growing industry

Is evident, that the pandemic has accelerated the need for all countries to up their game through online training. But once again there are clear differences between countries, educational models and what is even more worrying, the clear difference between classes and societies. The richest and most privileged countries, will come out on top.

Does anyone believe that a child from the suburbs of India will have the same access to online education as a child from California, or Madrid? This is not an easy transition for the privileged world, far less for those poorer countries. Online education need to me more inclusive.

One of the biggest problems we face in terms of Online Education is to maintain all students engaged with this form of learning, that many, had not tried before, maintaining proper routines at an academic level and also at a personal level. The process to digitalization in the education system will face the biggest obstacles from human behaviour and the change in our habits.

The only alternative

It is now, without a doubt, the perfect time to make this transition, as 850 million people worldwide are confined to their homes. It is crunch time, we cannot do any more testing of our online education programmes, it is our only alternative for the short and medium term future.

What lessons can we, as adults, learn from our own children adapting to online learning? Simply that we can also do the same.

That we can utilise this time at home, while in employment or not, to invest in our own professional development.

The Hospitality industry

It is a false truth we fall into as adults, the believe that because we have a job or a profession, that we do not need to learn anymore, that we are done with education and now happy in the position we have assigned ourselves in the workforce. This believe blocks your own development into a box, it might be a nice box mind you! I remember my earlier years in the Hospitality industry, I was like a sponge, I wanted to learn and better myself everyday so I could arrive to the pinnacle of my courier, or what I thought the end goal was at the time, become a General Manager.

Over the years I moved to different management positions, learnt as much as I could on that department and move on again to a “better” job. Once I got over my 30’s and having tried and worked in different aspects of the industry, I boxed myself into a nice Sales & Marketing management position. I thought I was happy, I thought I knew all I needed to know. How wrong was I!!

In 2012, I was faced with the concept of Green Hospitality, Sustainable travel, green hotels and green businesses. At first I thought it was a “nice” add on to learn, but 5 years later it became my obsession, my passion and my own business, when I founded Fifty Shades Greener.

Fifty Shades Greener has had many ups and downs over the past 3 years, but one thing remains un-spoiled: My firm believe, that this is the future of Hospitality. The industry is facing, and will face many obstacles now and in the future. But imagine 10 more years from now, imagine when the entire world is trying to become Carbon Neutral, and we continue to run our Hotels and Restaurants wasting an ample amount of Energy and producing unnecessary carbon footprint. What will society think about our industry then?

Will hospitality be viewed as a “dirty” industry? That many try to avoid because we never adapted to what our customers expect more and more?

Use this time to upskill

If you are a hospitality employee, I urge you to use this time to upskill yourself, I urge you to dip your toe on the concept of Green Hospitality, learn the simple ways your own workplace can start taking control of your use of energy & water and production of waste. Because when this is all over, climate change will still be one of the most pressing issues of our future, and those people that utilise this free time to adapt to a new way of running greener business, will have bigger and better work opportunities opened to them. Or you might be like me! When the green bug bites you, it can really become your new life and your new courier.

Some of you might have come across the free online programme I launched last week for the hospitality industry, for those that have not, I am offering 5,000 FREE online programmes worldwide, for a course titled “Become a Green Leader in your workplace”. This programme, will give you the knowledge and tools to measure, monitor your workplace utilities, and establish your business Green Key Performance Indicators. It is easier than it sounds, so when you are tired of home schooling your children, read books, watch Netflix or whatever it is that is currently filling your free time, give this a go.

You have nothing to lose, it is completely free and yours forever once you sign up. You can take it from home, from work, on your PC, IPad or even your phone, if you hate it, at a minimum it will have filled a bit of your day at home! But if you love it, you might just be able to make a huge difference in your workplace, once you return to work.

You can learn more about this free programme HERE.

Raquel