Isn't now the time for the government to start an OU style online school?

[PolkaDotsarenottheonlydots]

That follows the national curriculum and continues after the pandemic?

Many children are being failed by the school system or have parents who are ill-equipped to home educate them but who need to be home for medical or other reasons (caring work, pregnancy, child birth etc).

I know there are many resources from the BBC and other organisations but they are re all rather piecemeal and this way all children could have the option of home learning to a good standard.

It would also help children who are temporarily displaced from education due to illness that requires hospitalisation or who move frequently for their parent's work or for cultural factors (traveller children etc).

It could also be used by adults who left education early or who have gaps in their schooling.

Isn't that what they tried with oak national academy?

As an OU student, no.

It would have been very helpful during the pandemic too as some parents who don't feel able to educate their children themselves will feel less pressure to send their kids to school. It would be far easier for oversubscribed schools to socially distance.

As an OU student, no.

Isn't that what Oak Academy is?

Yes. Oak academy.

Isn't that what they tried with oak national academy?

I might be wrong but I don't think ONA is designed to continue after the pandemic or that it offers a full time table during the day for children? But again more "click here for this " etc.

Where’s the money for it coming from??

Now all this has happened there is a case for some sort of contingency plan in case school closures are needed again.

Where’s the money for it coming from??

Do you know how much it costs the government to educate a pupil in school? It's not free.

I don't think OU style, but I do think something for those who are unable to attend for longer than a few days owing to illness, and indeed should there be a pandemic again. Also for people such as the children of service personnel it may have a value.

Now all this has happened there is a case for some sort of contingency plan in case school closures are needed again.

Yes, or even for regular issues like fire or water damage to individual schools resulting in kids out of school for a length of time.

Who will staff it? Parents won't be prepared to pay for it.

Yes, I agree. Parents should be able to choose an online school. And children who miss a lot of school periodically (but are well enough to do some study) should be able to view their lessons on Google Classroom or join remotely.

Oak Academy.
Scheduled by day for each year group - see today's example for year 4.
I cant see why it cant remain up after these lockdown1 end (until the curriculum changes), as it doesnf really go out of date.

While school suits the majority, there are many that struggle to fit with the system and an OU style school programme would be helpful at avoiding some children slipping out of education.

That doesn't solve a fundamenral issue of lack of school provision and resourcing for children with additional needs, and excuse not providing appropriate places. As a supplement to the system rather than a way to adbdicate responsibility, many families would find it helpful as a half-way between school and traditional home education.

If done well, and all schools followed the same curriculum and schedule, yes there's no reason it shouldn't work. But schools do things at different times and there's no differentiation or interaction with the actual teachers to see if they are actually learning anything.

There are private companies who offer live online schooling who might be a bit pissed off if the govt started offering the same service for free.

I think this could really work for some children, eg ones who are frequently in and out of hospital or too ill to physically go to school
Children of travellers who don't stay in one area for too long
Children who for whatever reason don't function well at school, additional needs.
Children who have been excluded from school
It doesn't mean that there couldn't be social sessions organised offline as well, just the classroom learning be online.

I think this will be inevitable at some point, whether or not the government seize the opportunity now remains to be seen, but I can certainly see this as being part of eduction in the future.

NobelGiraffe some might love it if they win the government contract!

Also, just to add to my comment earlier, I do think it should be something people opt into, not forced into. I'm sure some families would hate it but others would completely embrace it.

There was a proposal a few years back about having one central exam board for administering exams and it got binned because the private exam boards objected to the government taking their jobs. I’m sure something about monopolies was brought up to stop it but I can’t remember the details.

It all kicked off last summer too, BBC bitesize got told to remove their lockdown resources once lockdown was over because it undercut private companies.

Who would monitor each child and mark their work? How would feedback be given? How would differentiation happen?

There are private companies who offer live online schooling who might be a bit pissed off if the govt started offering the same service for free.

They might be pissed off but that's not really a good reason for the government not to do it. The same could be said for any state vs private school.

That doesn't solve a fundamenral issue of lack of school provision and resourcing for children with additional needs, and excuse not providing appropriate places.

No of course not, but sadly many of the people I know that home educate do so because their child with additional needs is not being provided for. I don't know if this would help or exacerbate that problem.

Same with bullying. Really it should be handled effectively but at the moment many schools just don't handle it properly and people are then forced to remove the victim. But at least that child wouldn't then also have their schooling suffer.

I cant see why it cant remain up after these lockdown1 end (until the curriculum changes), as it doesn't really go out of date.

True, but they could also keep updating it if it is working for students.

Who would monitor each child and mark their work? How would feedback be given? How would differentiation happen?

There are already websites where children enter their work online and get graded as wrong/right. Obviously, you need a human for certain subjects but why couldn't there be teachers who do that? The government pays for this already.

On one hand, I could see better government support for online educational resources being a great use of spending if done well. I'd rather this than a lot of other things tax money is spent on.

On the other, home educators aren't required to follow the national curriculum and most I know tend to have degrees of dislike to hatred towards it, so I think it would be more for those unwell or otherwise cannot attend school who intend to return when possible rather than those who've entirely left the education system who use a wide range of resources. Of all the issues for home educators, online resources isn't really one of them, but it could be great for families who have been school educating (though I'm not sure it'll help those who want to be school educated but are currently being screwed over by their councils on suitable provisions.).