Unterricht an der Berufsfachschule für Notfallsanitäter der Landeshauptstadt München im Angesicht der COVID-19-Pandemie

The ongoing Coronavirus crisis forced both the Berufsfachschule für Notfallsanitäter (emergency paramedic vocational school) of the Munich fire department and all other German schools to quit classroom teaching within just a few days. Similarly, all practical trainings at clinics and on ambulances had to be put on hold. As the apprentices’ training objective was acutely endangered by the expected lengthy teaching downtimes, it was of crucial importance to successfully establish homeschooling. While members of our teaching staff were additionally bound by support for the Munich crisis unit, the switch to virtual classroom teaching for all ongoing courses significantly increased the overall workload of the staff. In a first step, we established a fast video and communication platform via Microsoft Skype. All other issues had to be solved on the fly due to the lack of preparation time. Soon it became obvious that using only classic upfront teaching methods was not an option due to the resulting monotony of a full-time 35 h training week. Additionally, we had to ensure that exams would also be possible during homeschooling to avoid the accumulation of missing performance assessments. Within a few days, it became clear that almost all forms of social interactions and teaching methods could be integrated into the virtual classroom with minor limitations. A survey among students showed that while homeschooling cannot fully replace classroom teaching, it is considered a good alternative in emergency situations. Furthermore, many trainees think that homeschooling could be a valuable addition to normal classroom teaching. Maybe this crisis could turn out to be the beginning of a new complementary teaching strategy.