Video as a learning resource doesn’t always deliver flexibility for teachers. It is typically slotted in as a separate element at the close of a lesson (“You’ve been good, now watch this!”). Or there’s a link to a video for homework. In class, there is a fear and rigidity for instructors around pressing play. Perhaps it’s fed by anxiety around equipment, or teachers are scarred by low quality outdated content and styles from the educational video of 10 years ago. Maybe there’s a worry around perceived higher costs, the difficulty of sourcing up to date content, or the relative trickiness of adapting digital materials to learner needs compared to making a quick scissor cut on a paper sheet. At DLA, we observe all this and think it’s time to relax. The age of video-centred learning is here, let’s enjoy it.

We are creating a full primary syllabus in English, with teacher training, for around half a million children from Rakhine State in Myanmar living in refugee camps in Bangladesh: this is one of DLA’s most urgent and high speed education projects.