Parents refuse to allow learning robot in class

[Yabbers]

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Kier has an auto immune condition and can’t attend school when he is poorly which is half the time. A fantastic piece of kit, a learning robot, is used in 850 schools around the world, but 11 of 400 parents have refused to allow this into his school in Edinburgh. It is considered to be so secure it would take millions of years to break the encryption and there have been no incidents in all the years it has been used.

AIBU to assume these parents are Mumsnetters who bandy about “Data Protection” and “safeguarding” and because of this non existent risk have stopped this child being a part of his class.

I think that you phrased your OP very unfairly by labelling the objectors as simply overprotective MN types. It is perfectly fair that parents will have questions- mine would be about how much of a distraction these robots are if you are sat next to them. I can imagine my child watching the unit rather than teacher.

Is learning this way as effective as a human teacher sitting next to the child? Children with long-term illnesses are eligible for a home tutor.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-47305835

It's very sad that Keir thinks that his classmates hate him.

If the iPad is stolen then the thief can log into the stream. You can record the feed with a second device if you really wanted to.

Well this is hardly essential to an education. There is no such thing as truly secure tech, merely tech that no one breached yet. Government agencies get hacked regularly, if someone really wanted that data they’d be able to get it for a price. It seems highly unlikely that it would be an issue but You can’t comment on how reasonable the parents were to object without knowing their circumstances.

How do you guarantee no one is recording it at the home end? Or that the iPad is being used outside of the home and in view of other people? You can't. So it isn't guaranteed.

🙄

And...and...and....

If Kier can get out of the house, he’s going to school. Or are you suggesting Dad will take him along to Starbucks with it? Or maybe suggesting Dad is some kind of weirdo who wants to watch a class full of kids whilst he’s in Tesco?

Genuine question as I don't know the answer (and there has been talk of one being used in our school): where would the school stand in refusing it due to staff concerns? As in, staff not wanting to be filmed?

It obviously isn't about the masses as only a handful of parents objected. However if I was fleeing DA or had a complex adoption, as examples then I wouldn't allow live streaming video to record my dc at school. I'm not in that position so can see both why the parent of the sick dc wants this to happen and also why other parents might not.
Some sort of compromise would seem the most sensible way forward.

OP You can't just stomp around shouting. With this sort of thing people need time to learn about the technology and see it in action before being able to truly give informed consent.

There are children who need to be anonymous - witness protection, adoption, fostered children, children of police officers and social workers etc

Or maybe suggesting Dad is some kind of weirdo who wants to watch a class full of kids whilst he’s in Tesco?
What if dad is a weirdo watching from home?

And...and...and....

And and and like I said, security isn't guaranteed.

I'm sure an iPad gets used in all sorts of places. And maybe Dad is a weirdo. Or he lends his iPad to friends. Or he leaves it on the bus and a stranger picks it up.

Too much reliance on trusting human error.

I think they're technologically illiterate and hysterical. People saying "everything is hackable" are dense in the extreme. In that case the computers at your children's school could be hacked too. They could have webcams turned on and everything. Those parents shouldn't have the right to veto this for that child.

It has been tested. It is guaranteed.

What you are missing from mine and other users posts is yes the video in transmission is secure, but that doesn't stop anyone with access to the child's iPad or log in details from viewing the stream. I'm guessing the parents will know the password but then what happens if they share that with his nurse or carer so they can log in for him? That's just the people who the child knows there are many other ways for people with ulterior motives to get passwords. The least secure part of any system is users doing stupid things with passwords(saving them as text files on computers/using same password for everything etc) The makers and BBC are very careful to not mention this and skirt around it by mentioning the security of the data.

The hysteria is so ridiculous. If dad was a weird watching at home he'd be disappointed because he'd see a class room full of students. What if the TA was a weird who got off on kids learning times tables? What if the teacher are tapped the class room to broadcast the grammar lessons to a peado ring on the internet?

Well this is hardly essential to an education.
Again, ever had a kid long term sick?

If the iPad is stolen then the thief can log into the stream.
“Ring..ring...hi, is that the school? Yeah Keir’s iPad has been nicked. On the off chance the thief guesses the password and is über interested in watching 9 year olds do mental arithmetic, don’t switch the robot on until we get it sorted”

You need to win people over rather than roadrailing them with your ‘rights’.
It’s been 2 years he’s been trying to do that. Frankly he is way more patient than me, I’d have had the LA to court by now.

What if the TA was a weird who got off on kids learning times tables? What if the teacher are tapped the class room to broadcast the grammar lessons to a peado ring on the internet?
That risk is managed by DBS checks and being held to account as professionals.

What if dad is a weirdo watching from home?

Sure. Brand Dad as a weirdo. That’s the right thing to do here.

I really do weep for society sometimes.

@goldengummybear But your objections about it being a distraction would be (rightly) immediately dismissed. Anything unusual is a distraction for kids - a child in my son's class was briefly in a mortised wheelchair - it was a massive distraction. All the kids next to him were constantly trying to fiddle. If he had remained in the wheelchair long term they would have got used to it. If any parents objected to the distraction they would be told tough luck!

I’d object

OP I assume you are involved with this family given your aggressive denial of anyone else’s issues in this?
If so then your attitude speaks volumes about why there are stumbing blocks persisting

That risk is managed by DBS checks and being held to account as professionals.

Uhuh. Kids never abused by anyone DBS checked. Obviously the right thing to do is to stop children being in contact with adults or the Internet ever.

"Brand Dad as a weirdo. That’s the right thing to do here."

And yet you were the one who first referred to the dad as a "weirdo". A little disingenuous to try to twist that into other MNers making that assumption.

The obvious solution is to tell the parents this will be happening and anyone who is hysterical enough to worry about someone filming their child doing a lesson can take their child out. I think you'll find people are much happier to be hysterical when it means denying someone else's child an education than when their own child will suffer.

I'm guessing OP you haven't had much contact with families fleeing violent situations or families with complex adoptions or similar. These are also dc who deserve protection and access to education.
Perhaps a recording set up only on the teacher would work? Rather than getting into an entrenched fight the family might to better to look for work arounds that respect other families right to privacy alongside their dc's right to an education. Such a solution must exist.

This is all very interesting.

St John's primary was next door to my secondary school. The school was demolished in December.

www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/education/st-john-s-watch-as-bulldozers-tear-down-historic-edinburgh-school-1-4845669

Uhuh. Kids never abused by anyone DBS checked. Obviously the right thing to do is to stop children being in contact with adults or the Internet ever.

So why let your child even go to school they could actually be abused by a teacher who has an enormous amount of power and access to them. A parent of a sick child could at worst film your child's lesson - which is going to be of no interest to a pervert (who could very easily go to a playground or soft play or swimming pool and surreptitiously film your child).