Starting an online primary class

[lovesteaching]

Hi all!

I am a Year 6 teacher in an international school. Due to the current situation, we have been doing distance learning for the past two weeks.

In that time, it has become obvious to me that children's education is really going to be held back quite drastically if this continues for months (and possibly over a year). It is just impossible to achieve the same level of learning when dealing with 20+ children online.

My school is fee paying (around 30,000 Euros a year) and I don't envisage parents being willing to pay full whack for a much diminished service as the months roll on. I expect the same problem to impact on independent schools back home in the UK.

My question is: do you think there would be a market for a very small online class if I created one? I am thinking about recruiting a maximum of 5 children, all of a similar level. The class would run almost like a normal Year 6 class: English, Maths, Science, Geography, History, ICT, French, PE.

This would amount to around 4 or 5 hours of online teaching contact time a day, plus independent activities to complete. With only 5 children, I believe it would be possible to provide just as good an education as in a traditional school setting.

I would be grateful for your feedback - do you think some families would be interested in this kind of arrangement?

[JimmyGrimble]

As a job opportunity you mean?

[lovesteaching]

Yes, it would be a job opportunity for me. Also an opportunity for children to continue their education during these difficult times.

[Fuzzyspringroll]

I'm confused. What do you do during the day?
I'm at an independent school and do online sessions via Zoom. There are a maximum of 7 children in my group. Some have only two, others I teach individually.
It means ours get 30-40 minutes of online teaching in Maths, English and the local language as a small group each day. They then get independent activities to complete at home in addition to the sessions.
They also get individual teaching in MFL once a week and resource packs for Religious studies, Art and Music once a week.
I've also put PE activities on Seesaw for them.

[Onceuponatimethen]

Why don’t you concentrate on providing this for your current class?

[wherethecloudsaregoing]

She might have been told not to.

Not sure OP. It could be worth a try but I think schools will be back come September.

[cabbageking]

How do I know what standard you are?
How do I know you are safe to work with children?
How is progress measured and how do I know it is accurate?
What are your fees and how do you ensure my child is engaged?
What happens if you can't deliver or the provision is poor?
Where is the link to your school so I have an idea of what you provide?
These would be my initial questions.

[dyscalculicgal96]

A list of questions:

Who is going to set homework?
Who will handle any complaints and questions from parents?
How do I know I can trust you?
What resources will you use?
Do you have a lesson plan or not?
What about goals?

Tell me about the fees. May I have some contact details etc? Also what are your plans for any bad days? I also recommend researching this idea in advance quite carefully. It could eventually work out but you do need to do all the legwork.
Talk to the head of your school. It may be that there is something already. You can always become a online tutor instead, that seems a better option. In any case if you are keen on the idea and wish to proceed, then you must legally draw up a business plan. Also a contract is a good idea. Consider your aims and objectives. Think about how you will upload resources like videos, worksheets onto it as well.

[WhyCantIThinkOfAGoodOne]

My son has been doing an online course during the holidays. It's maths and programming which are both subjects he loves and it works really well. There are about 5 kids in the class maximum. Any more might be difficult. They use zoom so they can share their screen and type in answers without everyone seeing. The course was expensive (£100 a day for 4 hours teaching time). I'm prepared to pay because my son has attended and loved this course in person - it's fairly rare in that it's an academic course but only for interest not prepping for exams and I know all the teachers are really well qualified.