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/

That sounds miserable and depressing

I am teacher in an independent school in the UK and teach 15/30 lessons a week + 3 that need no prep, so have 12 periods to plan and mark and go home at 4 - do not work evenings or weekends.
No way would I ever work in a state school in the UK.
I come from a country where teachers teach 12-20 hours a week depending on their level of education (the most qualified teach 12) and no expectations of being social workers too.
If teachers in this country voted with their feet and demanded to be treated as professionals they would not have to put up with the workload they simply take on but then moan endlessly about.

I actually was involved in a research study of virtual learning and how effective it was.(university level) Too much to summarise here but the main thing is effective virtual learing is expensive to develop. Its can be more effective than lectures but needs a tutorial system run alongside it. Its useful for certain types of learning.

The thing about state secondary is its dirt cheap already - I dont reckon you could develop effective virtual learning that was cheaper without it being worse.

I loved the actual teaching. I even enjoyed the planning. It was the increasing micromanagement from SLT and second guessing what Ofsted wanted all the time so when my school was about to become an academy with that kind of interference from afar I was lucky to be able to get out when I was 60.

Threads on MN from parents who want every other child except their own disciplined and question every slight decision the teacher makes make me think it's getting worse. It's a bit of a digression from the OP but one of the reasons it's happening.

I laugh every day: teaching is not miserable and depressing.
Lots of the "stuff" I have to do that isn't teaching is miserable and depressing.

Have you ever actually looked at an Oak academy resource? The big issue with them currently (if they are fit for purpose) is they are very difficult to edit/adapt.

Most teachers/schools at secondary level already have resource banks which are suited to their school's scheme of work. And they spend time adapting them to the classes they are teaching each year. So Oak academy won't really save much time, necessarily.

And for subjects like mine, you could never deliver the whole curriculum through externally provided resources, anyway.

TBF, the science curriculum is crammed, and a lot of schools make science teachers squash double science into less lessons than 2 seperate GCSEs would get.

Not every topic suits practical work, e.g. genetics, but when a topic does so, I do regular practicals in science still. So, sometimes multiple ones a week, sometimes none.

During Covid, practical work was tricky, and lot of newer science teachers don't have confidence in delivering practical work. It's also not directly assessed at GCSE, although students MUST be doing the required practicals again now (in reality, no-one checks on this). But a lot of schools prioritise other skills.

And then you end up with students taking A-level sciences with no practical skills, and they struggle to get the practical endorsements and progress to science courses at uni.

I don't want to criticise another teacher but "missing out on something else" isn't a reasonable excuse- practical work is part of the national curriculum- and if you care about actually producing scientists, not just getting students through the GCSE, it's arguably the most important bit.

I’m not anti teacher I promise, I’m actively looking at becoming a teacher.

I think a common issue I’ve come across with 80% of teachers is they like to complain that it’s the worst most horrible job ever and almost like no one can possibly have it worse than them. Then the other 20 % say yeah it’s got it’s downfalls but I like this part and it’s not as bad as some teachers make out. But this 20% say it quietly as if the 80% are going to come at them with pitchforks

I don't think anyone says teaching is miserable and depressing. Teaching is the best bit of the job.

Being in schools at the moment can be miserable and depressing because you are constantly seeing students get a substandard education, and you stretch yourself thinner and thinner to try and do your best for the students in school.

It's going to sound mad to you given your posts on this thread but I believe in education for education's sake. I believe in giving students the opportunity to learn things, even if they never use them- to try things, even if they never do them again. Because if you don't get to do that as a child or a teenager, when do you get to do it? And it might inspire them to go in a different direction, one they hadn't previously considered.

And I genuinely don't believe sitting at a laptop in a hall gives the same experience.

I have never met a teacher who says it's the worst job in the world and noone has it worse.

The poster said to teach 12-20 hours a week. This sounds like face to face teaching with students and does not include the time spent planning, resource making, marking and assessing these lessons which would add up to the additional hours of a professional’s workload.

People who think that one person can plan a scheme of work that every teacher in the land can use has no idea about how teachers teach or how children learn.

I teach Macbeth every year. I still have to plan every lesson to suit the children in that particular class. Of course I can re-use some things. But I can't just open up an old lesson and deliver it with no adaptation.

I actually like students having their own devices but, crucially, accessing content that I have created and chosen for them. Google Classroom are good for things like this and can allow absent students to access lesson materials and submit things for me to see.

They're going to piss about. Even well-behaved kids will.

To be honest most adults find it hard to stay focused and would probably sneak a look at Facebook or Mumsnet if they were stuck online for a whole hour in a canteen.

This is an excellent point, but ultimately adults usually have a bit more sense and restraint, and are usually doing a course for a particular reason, rather than they are legally obliged to be there. Courses which an adult might attend because they HAVE to e.g. driving awareness courses or court-ordered parenting courses, have lots of engagement with the individuals to ensure active participation, and frequent questioning to assess learning, even though the presentations are probably mass produced. If you are zooming in on a massive lecture, it's not going to be as easy to focus, which will require more intrinsic motivation.

I've not met a teacher who hates teaching. In fact, all the teachers I've come across who have left the profession took a long time to finally decide to leave because they do love the actual teaching. What they don't like is being abused, or having no pens or glue sticks or print credits by March, or constantly feeling like you are drowning in the workload despite never stopping. I also don't know anyone who thinks it's harder than other jobs, they are just saying they won't put up with certain elements of teaching any longer, and there are lots of jobs out there.

My eldest DC was born on 2010. By the time this government is (please please) voted out and a new government will have had the chance to try to implement any changes to education policy, she will be done with her GCSEs. It depressed me no end that she has had to complete almost her entire education under a Conservative party who do not give a f* about the outcomes of children in this country.

The state system is broken due to crib

Chronic underfunding for years. My DC are in good state schools in a city & the teachers are awesome. But they get so much grief. Kids not wanting to learn or struggling with SEN. Parents expecting school to do everything etc

You do know that they're remaking them all so that they are fully editable and adaptable don't you?
I get that the current lessons (made during the pandemic) have issues but a set of resources that can be used and edited by teachers to suit their class is surely a good thing.
Maybe other teachers want to carry on planning every lesson from scratch or paying for TESresources? I know I'm grateful for anything that gives me a starting point and gives me some time back.

It solves nothing for people who don't teach the limited suite of subjects they offer.

Planning is an aspect of the job I find very time consuming but intellectually challenging and , therefore, stimulating. I teach two subjects that are not on Oak and one that is. As said by others upthread there will need to be a total overhaul for secondary English to be worth using.

I've said before that I will leave teaching if I am made to teach to a formula. I would never apply for a job in a school where it was required.

Schools are such good institutions. They provide security and stability for children, for families and for communities.
I think so many posters on MN do not do future proofing of schools any favours. They are either complaining about school discipline. Or they are asking for advice in looking after preschool children whilst wfh full time.
Why would any young mother teach or nurse when they can work from home in the Civil Service with totally flexible working and excellent pension prospects?