Why can private schools manage it?

[Mymymydelilahwhywhywhydeliah]

I am aware there has been a lot of teacher bashing going on so I will ask for no teacher bashing or generalisations of a whole profession. But I wanted to ask with regards to teaching via zoom or similar specifically about the safeguarding element , I am aware not every child has access to the internet etc, why private schools manage to teach via zoom with no issues why there is such a safeguarding risk doing it with state schools? Genuine question.

Also, I’m boomeranging back again....

The question is a bit like why independent schools can do any number of separate things that state schools don’t do or do differently.

The clue’s in the name independent really.

Google Meet not Zoom
No visuals of the students
Some lessons prerecorded

Friend works in private school. She is being forced to teach via zoom as parents pay fees and are making a fuss over having a discount. School can not afford (or doesn't want) to lose money so has forced teachers to "zoom". All issues above (safeguarding etc) still relevant but the school would prefer to have the money.

A family computer is no use for Zoom lessons if it has to be shared between several household members for work/school.

And even in families with multiple devices, kids I know are having a lot of problems due to not having Microsoft Office, or a printer, or a webcam, or functioning sound on the old, slightly broken tech that is passed on to the kids.

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/06/uk-councils-face-lawsuits-over-access-to-education-in-lockdown

Schools in deprived areas are unlikely to have a full cohort with the appropriate tech to access their lessons. Therefore pushing ahead with zoom lessons or whatever would actively disadvantage a large proportion of their pupils.

Making a very broad generalisation those being disadvantaged because their parents can't afford a laptop or whatever will be the poorer children in a class. Therefore some schools won't want to create a scenario that further widens the gap between the poorer children and the better off ones.

I think private schools just didn’t think it through properly in their rush to get online and appease paying parents, and either didn’t think about the safeguarding concerns until it was too late to backtrack, or didn’t care because they’re more concerned about keeping their income. The safeguarding issue isn’t just about protecting children, its about protecting staff from accusation. Maybe state schools have an easier ability to care about their staff, and maybe in some circumstances, state school staff are more willing to listen to advice from their unions than private school staff.

I imagine that because parents pay fees they expect teaching and progress to be made.

This 7 weeks? will mean that state get no teaching but some remote learning and independent will get 7 weeks of zoom lessons... Independent pupils have many other advantages as well.

That's the way it is. It's not going to change.

Much more difficult for state schools - perhaps pupils do not have access to equipment or space or parents who want the best education - a multitude of reasons

I don't think it's that private schools are better at it, or that schools in the public sector are lazy. Far from it. All schools here (state) are using platforms like Microsoft Teams, Glow (although I think that's just a scottish thing), Show My Homework, Class Dojo to distribute work. Students are allocated work on a Monday, submit through whatever platform, teacher comments if needed. Also the primary kids are using sites like SumDog, StudyLadder, BugClub where the teacher can see who's logged in and what tehy have done.

But we had a very strongly worded email from school reminding us that it is a Scottish national policy that video tuition will not be happening. At all. So stop asking.

Private schools have to justify their money. They are sitting there panicking that parents are going to withhold fees for the summer term if they don't feel they're getting their money's worth. Private schools could easily go out of business, which isn't an issue in the state sector. So it's all about busy busy busy, look how much work your kids are getting, please keep paying the fees and keep us going.

Why can private schools manage it?
Because 99% of those attending have family with an academic expectation and deliver most of the time. Not in the state sector sadly.

What can private hospitals treat patients without waiting? Have waiting areas that mean patients doesn't have to be triaged on trolleys?

Not NHS baiting, just curious...

Well said PineappleDanish.

DS's school is using Zoom for some live lessons (I guess down to teacher choice as some not using it) using a two step login process. School sent out a terms of use policy eg student must be properly dressed, not share links etc. Parents had to sign it had been read by them too. Not saying 100% secure but which platform is?

In my primary class, an average of 8-10 out of 30 log on to our existing digital platform in an entire week. I can just imagine what the take-up would be on a Zoom meeting. I don't want zoom lessons for my own kids either -it's much easier for me to manage their online access around when me and DH are using the laptops, having Zoom meetings ourselves.

At school, we are busier trying to get food parcels out to the quarter of our families on FSM than worrying about how to get thirty 7 year-olds on a Zoom meeting.

We are not allowed to use zoom, but teach live lessons via Teams.

@Saoirse7

Private hospital don’t deal with emergencies. The have a consultant and patients pay to see them. As such there is a supply and demand which means the private patient pays for quick treatment.
For the
NHS not only are they bombarded by anyone at the point of emergency but then for every 100 appointments there are 1000 patients needing that treatment, meaning wait list occur.

Aside from everything mentioned here.

Why do you assume that teachers working from home even have computers.

Society has had a massive shift to portability and lots of these things aren't possible.

So unless you can provide everything a teacher needs to do this from home. It's a bit unrealistic.

I don't need a laptop or computer at home for my job normally.

Not sure how I'm supposed to maintain GDPR and avoid having students names etc on my personal computer if I download attachments they send me.

Suddenly we are supposed to ignore the display screen equipment training etc as its impossible to implement..not sure emailing from bed is covered.

Hello everyone. We're just here with a reminder of our Talk Guidelines. It's fine to strongly disagree with another poster, but we ask that you refrain from personal attacks or derailing in the process. Thanks.

Our school are being childminders at the moment for keyworkers children so understandably the teachers are a bit busy.

I'd imagine most private schools aren't doing that, private schools are still taking payment too so will be expected by the parents to deliver learning to their paying students.

I would love more than just worksheets for my 5 yr old, but I fully accept that it isn't possible so that's that.

TBH some of the State schools round her are doing AMAZING things

• classes that can be downloaded in seconds on limited wifi
• lending out laptops
• using school internets
• using public websites

and their kids are well supported BUT kids in disorganised homes may not be able to benefit kids who share a room with several siblings will struggle kids without access to work space will struggle

fee paying schools weed those kids out at source

At school, we are busier trying to get food parcels out to the quarter of our families on FSM than worrying about how to get thirty 7 year-olds on a Zoom meeting.

Well that's the crux of it. The children can't learn if they are hungry.

Ds is using google classrooms - there are 10 kids in his class, and it’s chaos - I can’t imagine that with 30 kids.

Parents are up in arms about paying schools fees with the live timetable they are getting, never mind pre-set work. School day already reduced by at least 30% so school having t justify fees.

School made laptops available to borrow if you didn’t have one, but there was a certain amount of pride / bullshit, about just buying one (and then trying to knock it off the school fees afterwards)

Less confidentiality/ safe guarding rules. School share photos daily on social media anyway. Childs name with Parents email / address and phone numbers released in a booklet at start of year. We have already consented to this so would be hard to now say don’t want live lessons.

Honesty not sure if it’s better or worse, but take my hat off to all teachers right now and don’t envy any of them!

They're not doing it because it's an efficient way to teach or an efficient way for kids to learn or in the best interests of the children, they're doing it because they need to justify their fees, and because their customers demand it.

State schools are not doing it, because there's no evidence of the value of it, indeed most of the evidence for video teaching is that it's lousy, the sort of lessons that have evidence to show they work don't translate. Learning does not come from ted talks, interaction is not kids listening to a teacher and occasionally being heard.

*Our school are being childminders at the moment for keyworkers children so understandably the teachers are a bit busy.

I'd imagine most private schools aren't doing that..*

DS's independent school is open just for children of key workers. A number of families have both parents working for NHS.

At my DC school they understand that the internet and tech a family may have is a parents phone with data. We get a weekly email with various suggestions, most of which can be done offline (only the maths is online, but the worksheets for that have a paper version already).

Live lessons? No thanks. My DC may not be having fancy live lessons, but they are making progress.

The most significant factor towards learning currently will be the ability and willingness of parents. (Not that teachers are insignificant, but they don't have the same control over pupils as normal).