School Printing

[FarAwayHills]

Just wondered if anyone else is being asked to print out lots of homework sheets and booklets for their DCs school work.

DD2 is in secondary and seems to have to print out pages of stuff every night to complete homework sheets and sometimes its whole booklets. DD1 in primary also seems to have more to do on computer and also has to print off things to complete and then stick in her workbook.

I feel like I'm running a print shop and its costing me a fortune in ink. I've just had to order more after replacing it at the beginning of the school year.

Do they use pen and paper anymore in schools or is this a time/ cost saving exercise? Projects or little bits are ok of course but work booklets and lots of colour stuff is just getting a bit much really.

AIBU?

[phillipp]

Dd has to print loads off.

However she always stays behind to do her homework in the library. She prints everything off in there too.

[YelloDraw]

Time and cost saving putting the onus onto you rather than the teacher's time and schools cost.

Surely not everyone has a printer at home?

[KittyVonCatsington]

Sounds like what my school has had to introduce-am a teacher in Secondary!
Funding has been massively cut and we just can't afford text books/exercise books/photocopying etc. Can't even afford paper anymore. My dept has a zero budget, apart from exam entry fees, this year.

The problem stems from the government 'ring fencing' the education budget, which means keep it the same. Which means they don't account for inflation. Which means our budget is the same as it was 4 years ago. However, we no longer get as much money for Sixth Form students and majority of funding now goes directly to Pupil Premium pupils. Our school was running a £250,000 odd deficit before September term even started!

I entirely sympathise with all the printing you have to do and apologise but I also have to do all my worksheets, test papers and other printing at home for my students, out of my own pocket, so we're all suffering!

[Egoanono]

If the budget is cut that severely (which is dire and unaccepatable), maybe pupils should be completing more work online? Something for schools to consider. Those pupils without access to IT hardware at home could attend after school homework clubs where computers are available perhaps? Something has to change surely.

[cricketballs]

Kitty has put it perfectly. We are also having to reduce our printing which is difficult when no text books, past exam papers etc but I also teach vocational courses that require a physical portfolio of evidence for each student....guess who is spending a lot of time printing at the weekend for them

[Ego147]

You'd have thought the work could be uploaded to a network drive, viewed and marked on the computer - without having to physically print something off?

[KittyVonCatsington]

Something for schools to consider

We have considered it and tried it-promise!
It didn't really work out, as we actually retain more information that we write down as opposed to what we read on screen, so the results suffered.

Copy and Paste from sites such as Wikipedia was rife and they weren't even bothering to read what they had put. That and as exams are on paper, pupils weren't getting the experience of practising clear handwriting and sentence structure because Spell Check and Autocorrect were doing it for them, so we were getting many scripts back that Examiners had struggled to mark.

In my perfect world, most work/notes/research would be handwritten in my classes.

[KittyVonCatsington]

And don't get me started on (what I consider to be) awful sites such Doddle and Edmodo, with multiple choice quizzes and stock copied and pasted target feedback. Pupils don't take them seriously and you can't see the pupil's thought process/working out.

[PersianCatLady]

It is so ridiculous that in this age of computing people are still printing out so much stuff.

In our house I have now decided that we are not going to use the printer unless it is absolutely necessary, like a letter that needs to be signed.

Honestly if kids are being asked to print stuff out to complete work and the like it makes me wonder why they can't just complete the work either online or in a word document and e-mail it back to their teacher.

As part of my computing degree I have to complete a project and as I am interested in education I am now seriously thinking about creating some kind of app that does away with the need for kids to print so much stuff.

Could I ask people this though?
Generally speaking does each of your children have a device (PC, laptop, tablet) which is for their sole use or do those of you with more than one child just have one that all of your children share?

Would you prefer a system where all of your child's school work is accessible on a device and homework is given, completed and marked on this device?

Many Thanks

[KittyVonCatsington]

I am a Computer Science teacher PersianCatLady believe it or not and plenty of 'apps' like your idea already exist. For reasons that I have mentioned, through many years of experience, they can't and won't fully replace the art of being able to hold a pen and hand write work.

[KittyVonCatsington]

And in all honesty (totally understand the irony of me being on Mumsnet currently), I don't want to spend majority of my working time staring at a screen and needing to be near a machine/power, any more than I already have to.

[cricketballs]

You'd have thought the work could be uploaded to a network drive, viewed and marked on the computer - without having to physically print something off?

When the moderator from the exam board wants physical folders, physical work and written annotations on the work then we have to print off

CAs also have to be sent on paper (apart from IT/CS)

[Hufflepuffin]

Doesn't really solve the problem but I'm obsessed with the website inkredible - I buy the generic inks for my printer, always delivered next day and so so cheap (especially if you keep an eye out for sales on your products - I got four for £8!)

[PersianCatLady]

plenty of 'apps' like your idea already exist
Oh yes I know that there are quite a few out there but I was thinking maybe of something more comprehensive, almost like a "one-stop shop" for the child's education.

Obviously I need to do a lot more research on this but as a CS teacher do you find these kind of things useful or more of a gimmick?

[BoneyBackJefferson]

PersianCatLady

We use show my homework, the whole of the homework can be done online, no need for the pupils/parents to have office or an office alike program.

Pupils and parents complained because it required a pc.
Complained because they wanted to see the work and grades (they can)
Complained because the children couldn't upload the work (WTF)

I now accept hand written, printed out, e-mailed and uploaded.
And I still get complaints.

[Selfimproved]

I'm bitchily place marking because I completely respect and agree with Kitty but get the feeling people are going to ignore her experienced reasonable answers. Or maybe I'm wrong

[Kitsandkids]

If there is no money for exercise books surely it would be cheaper for parents to be asked to buy a homework exercise book then the children can view the information to do with their homework online but write the work in their book to hand in? Not ideal, but cheaper than ink cartridges.

[KittyVonCatsington]

Obviously I need to do a lot more research on this but as a CS teacher do you find these kind of things useful or more of a gimmick?

Oh definitely useful up to a point, sure! Especially for more lower school pupils. However, it can't really (currently) be fully implemented from Year 10 I don't think. There still needs to be some human element retained, rather than fully automated systems.

Then you would need institutions like OFSTED to change the way they view progress. Doing a 'book look' on a fully online system is incredibly difficult and tedious, for example.

Maybe ways to 'capture' hand written work with minimal fuss, for example, I would be interested in!

[KittyVonCatsington]

KitsandKids - that's a good idea! Weirdly though, most parents probably would be in uproar over providing exercise books, whereas printing is by stealth..


Selfimproved

[PersianCatLady]

BoneyBackJefferson
Kitsandkids
KittyVonCatsington
Thanks for the ideas, it is really interesting to get feedback from people who actually have experience these things.

It is also interesting (and sad) that no matter what you do for people they still complain.

[cricketballs]

Dixie - whilst I love tech and the benefits it can bring in school going completely 100% digital IMO is not good; when do they students actually hand write?

I also mark exams and the handwriting of some candidates is beyond terrible and unreadable (in this case it has to be passed onto team leader) but although I pass on I am sure that marks get missed

[RainyDayBear]

I'm a teacher, and one year had no photocopying card from Christmas until summer. I was expected to project worksheets onto the board, even for bottom sets who really needed it in front of them. It was shit and not fair on the kids!