The future of schools with no teachers: kids in a hall on screens

[noblegiraffe]

This just came up on twitter as a laudable story of a school saving on supply teachers by herding kids into the hall, logging them into laptops and having them teach themselves from videos or websites, while kept in order by a non-teacher who won't be able to help them.

As we have fewer and fewer teachers and more and more lessons that need supply, this will probably be the future of schooling. We know from lockdown how utterly inadequate it is. No discussions, no practicals, no personal relationships. Even with the best AI tailoring the content (which is isn't right now) it is a grim and sterile scenario.

And now we know why the only thing that the government has put significant funding into in recent years is Oak Academy. This is what they want. This is why they have slashed teacher training providers during a recruitment crisis. This is why they are playing silly buggers with pay negotiations during a retention crisis. They don't care that kids don't have teachers.

schoolsweek.co.uk/solutions-how-an-academy-trust-slashed-its-supply-costs/

All the posts on Mumsnet slagging teachers off for trying to discipline children and actually teach just bring this day ever nearer. As do all the ridiculous posts on a recent Mother's Day thread accusing teachers of thinking children are 'their own to indoctrinate' and trying to wipe out women.

I'm so glad I retired 8 years ago, teachers are leaving the profession in droves and fewer are wanting to train. I wonder why? I despair for all our children's futures.

We had Y11 in the hall on laptops during the recent strikes and I can't say that they seemed to have learned very much. It would require an extremely compliant set of kids to have them diligently learning with 60 kids in the room and a cover supervisor in charge.

On twitter!

A million things are said on twitter for goodness sake.

Teaching has become too politicised.

This has been happening for years! Mass cover! Or babysitting!

I linked to the news story, did you read it?

Have you any alternative explanations as to why the government are pouring funding and resources into Oak Academy while cutting teacher training providers and giving teachers pay cuts?

Seen as how so many love working from home surely schooling from home (I don't mean home schooling in which parents actively choose to do this and provide enticement and social activities as well as teaching) is the next step. Of course though got to allow parents to work so opening a few halls for those children

@CaptainMyCaptain

All the posts on Mumsnet slagging teachers off for trying to discipline children and actually teach just bring this day ever nearer.

The UK is very anti teacher on the whole & don't understand that the strikes aren't especially to do with pay. I'm just glad mine will be finished in a few years. It's mainly young teachers leaving so not sure what will happen long term.

Behaviour and lack of respect from students is the biggest issue & that's a problem that parents need to sort out. So yes in the future I reckon this style of teaching may Co-exist with regular lessons.

Behaviour and lack of respect from students is the biggest issue & that's a problem that parents need to sort out. So yes in the future I reckon this style of teaching may Co-exist with regular lessons.

Thing is, poorly behaved kids who are disrespectful are not going to dutifully log in and do a bunch of online learning while in a group of 60. They're going to piss about. Even well-behaved kids will.

The teacher training recruitment numbers this year were hideous and are looking hideous for next year. The question keeps being raised about what then endgame is.

I'm pretty sure that even if it's not the plan, we're going to fall into stuff like this out of necessity.

Of course it's the future. School is just glorified childcare for many kids as it is. This is just continuing the theme of making the whole school/child care system more cost effective.

It would certainly mean that money that would have been spent on teachers could be spent on things that a Tory mate might have shares in instead, like education software or laptops.

Thing is, poorly behaved kids who are disrespectful are not going to dutifully log in and do a bunch of online learning while in a group of 60. They're going to piss about. Even well-behaved kids will.

This. If sixth formers in a grammar school can’t sit quietly and work during ‘study periods’ (trust me, most can’t), then few can.

The question is what are schools for?
Childcare so parents can work? Churning out the next generation of workers? Cultivating citizens? Making a profit?

It should be some form of your fourth question, but it isn’t.

It’s a political tool these days.

We don't have 60 laptops to put in the hall, either

Step forward some Tory chum with a laptop company?

@electricmoccasins

Agree but many students struggle with enforced time for x y and z anyway.

They may prefer to work in the comfort of home with music etc.
So I can't blame any students for not necessarily wanting to work then.

Almost certainly. That we'd have to pay more than twice the actual value for and which would be shit. Or not exist, or be broken. Like PPE.

There does seem to be an awful lot of work going on to expand Oak Academy at the moment, and people aren't really sure why.

www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/oak-national-academy-ofsted-advise-subject-groups

I always think the tory plan is how can we turn taxpayers money into individual wealth.

I do think longer term there will be more whatever oak academy turns into. It will start with supply, excluded children, chikdren with medical needs out of school, children waiting for school places, then shortage subjects - creep creep.

I don't know any teachers who enjoyed online teaching from home. Not a single one.

So they'll be doing this at Eton, then?

This is a good point. Remember when cover supervisors first became a thing? They were supposed to be used for short term emergency cover only. Same for TAs teaching classes in primary schools. And now they're actually teaching classes full time long term, and often on much shitter pay than a teacher would be.

This school in the OP says that the mass hall computer sessions are for short-term emergency cover.

What then, when the school cannot hire a maths teacher for love nor money to cover long term staffing shortfalls?

I teach in a secondary school. I hated working from home. I was happy I did not have to commute and that I didn't have any discipline problems. It was awful. The situation in schools with staff absence is dire. Believe me when I say state education is on its knees. The majority of staff are doing the best that they can in difficult circumstances brought on by indiscipline, unacceptable workload and a lack of funding.

Urgh Oak Academy. I detest it. My daughter was watching one video during lockdown on History and they were talking about the Russian Tsar which the teacher pronounced "Tizer" as in the drink! I emailed to complain and they cut out the sentences containing the word but surely they should be able to get the basics right.

I rarely use Oak Academy. Some of it is crap🙄