Aibu to think private school provision at home can be done in state schools too?

[Namechangedforthisreply7]

Just that. Private schools are doing active live teaching via zoom, FaceTime and Skype. Full school days. Teaching via video link, then sending kids off to do work which they send back and gets marked, then another lesson. full school days of work. Even pe online! Parents don’t need to do anything and can get on with work.

State sector get home learning packs. No info about how to do bus stop division or similar technical stuff. Not heard from anyone at school since Friday, no information at all bar work timetable on website. Where are the teachers? Why are can state sector teachers not actively teach online and stay in touch with the kids? Why not more engagement? We are all having to work at home alongside our kids, why aren’t teachers doing this too?

@flumposie*,*@Duvetdweller, @Goldiloz, @mrsrizza, and many more. If you are a state school teacher - thank you, if you support and appreciate your state school teacher, thank you.
They are absolutely working their socks off, in school or online at home. Many with young children of their own. Many will be doing so during the Easter break despite desperately needing and deserving that break.
If you are not a teacher then you do not know how utterly exhausting the job is both mentally and physically.
I have primary aged grandchildren and have seen and heard about all that is being provided for them in three different school in both Dorset and Somerset.
After 40 years of teaching, thank goodness I am now a supply teacher. I certainly could not do what my state school colleagues are doing - THANK YOU.

Private schools will have th3 f do to do this, state school won’t. Simple.

I havent read all the responses but this is not quite true: “Parents don’t need to do anything and can get on with work.” That depends on the age of course. Yes my 14 year old is doing online classes all day but I had to do at least 4 subjects Per day this week with my 7 year old. Printing worksheets, troubleshooting powerpoints and videos and cajoling and helping him throughout, timing a maths test. Reciting a spelling test. Etc.

Well I’ve just seen my son’s state school
Form teacher on the TV news volunteering and delivering groceries to isolated old people in the countryside. And I’m delighted about that. What a great example to set. My kids’ teachers have been fantastic. Providing work and cheering comments. This is going to be a learning experience for all of us in so many different ways.

Yes you but you have come on here to complain about teachers not doing online lessons tailored to your DS with an EHCP when it is your choice not to send him in.

Sure, the option isn’t convenient, I get that, but trashing teachers when there are teachers in school putting themselves at risk to offer you support and you are not taking it up, then that’s pretty entitled in the circumstances.

One child prep school - I have been blown away by the provision

One child state - I have been blown away by the provision

All in all - I am so impressed and happy. The work is interesting, creative and my two loving it. And i have surprised myself - so am I

I teach in a State School. We are teaching five period days and are constantly available to help students. It was decided not to Facetime etc due to the technical pressures this places on the students. However students are given sufficient work for the whole day and can ask questions at any point. They are also submitting work for review and assessment. I generally use Google Classroom to upload resources and PowerPoint slides.

The problem is that the media is promoting a "We're all teachers now" image and ignoring that teachers are actually still working extremely hard. I cannot have my Year 10 class miss a term of their GCSE course! The media have also failed to highlight teachers as key workers, some of which are still going into schools to directly teach children of other key workers and vulnerable children.

The teachers are still working really hard to educate students in state schools. If yours isn't then you need to ask why they think that is acceptable!

I am also meeting the EHCP provisions of my students wherever possible...

Much smaller school sizes in private. Teachers in private have less classes to prep for. Teachers in mainstream don't necessarily have the tech to pull it off from home. Schools get 4 grand a year per pupil and in some privates 10x that amount.

Hmm, mine are private. We have been given a bundle of books and an online portal (that keeps crashing). From after Easter we will get a weekly lesson plan. But so far no zoom room teaching apart from music lessons (self employed music teachers). And they are still charging full whack so I’ll be honest, I am expecting more for my money!!

People are talking about children at state school not having access to internet as a reason online lessons wouldn’t work. What about the many children for whom English isn’t their first language or children with parents who don’t understand the subject enough to teach them or help them. Surely by not giving online lessons and closing the schools for such a long time these children are being failed.

I can’t help DD very much as I’m in a country where I’m not fluent in the language, I’m ok, but not at a level where I can help her in science etc. She also has subjects in the local dialect in which I can’t help her with at all. There are no key worker facilities here and I think the schools should be offering online classes. This is a massive chunk of their education that some kids are missing out on and depending on their home circumstances and their parents ability to teach them.

Again, there are many many State teachers working very hard.

Our school has set up yeargroup portals with videos of us delivering content. Ch can email their work back, which is marked and returned with any points to improve, etc. We are on a rota for covering key worker children in school. Most primary schools are not set up for online learning. One of my secondary aged children has a mix of Teams lessons and online set tasks, while the other has to work through tasks with no teacher input except a PowerPoint. Teachers should be available - it is made very clear to us that we are working and I know through the vast quantity of emails and work flying through between colleagues and from families that nobody is resting! Our FLO and SENco are regularly ringing vulnerable families to check in with them and those without decent internet access alphabet been sent printed versions of all work set to the start of the Easter hols and have phone calls from teachers to support. In addition, we are expected to keep school open during the Easter break for key worker children. I have worked solidly since school closed last Friday in addition to supporting my own children and felt guilty for putting one load of washing out on the line. If you feel hard done by, email your head teacher but remember we had no time to prepare and many primary school websites don’t allow easy additions by multiple members of staff.

Excuse me @noblegiraffe they are not his teachers, it’s not his school. There are many dangers with his complex physical and mental needs so no it isn’t really a choice at all. I haven’t been “trashing teachers” as you say but a school demanding that you should teach your child whilst trying to do a difficult full time job, which ensures the wellbeing of 150 vulnerable adults with which if I make a wrong decision I am looking at into five years in prison, whilst not giving assistance only sending work through for him to do without help or guidance is indeed an issue in my opinion. Yes we are in a crisis situation, everyone is having to work things out as they go and along and it certainly isn’t expected to be perfect but would hope for a more reasonable and cohesive understanding of students needs from a school that provides education for students such as my son.

Am I the only person here how has no idea what bus stop division is?

@Mary54

It short form division.

www.theschoolrun.com/what-is-the-bus-stop-method-for-division

@expatinspain
What about the many children for whom English isn’t their first language or children with parents who don’t understand the subject enough to teach them or help them. Surely by not giving online lessons and closing the schools for such a long time these children are being failed.

Thanks but we are also making extra provision for these children. No they aren't online lessons, we are very aware of the challenges faced by the families of all of our children. We are adapting our approaches constantly and checking in with families all the time. This goes from the head down through SLT and teachers and includes TAs.
We know parents aren't teachers (for the most part 😊). We aren't expecting them to be, we are simply trying to provide the tools for families to support their children in this unprecedented situation. We know that whenever school gets back to normal we will have a huge task ahead of us getting these children back to where they should be. We are all doing the best we can - let us support you in the ways our management have decided is the best approach.

I don't see anyone suggesting the level of care we receive in the nhs is the same as what you might get if you went private? But it's a good analogy. By the way this comment is in no way a dig at nhs who are also doing an amazing job in very trying circumstances. 💐

My grandchildren are at a wonderful state school in reception and year 3 .The teachers are working extremely hard to set work and also fun things for the kids and communicate with them every day on a very personal basis

Do you really think they believe themselves to be on holiday? The private schools may have more money but that doesn't mean they have a monopoly on the best teachers!!

I haven’t been “trashing teachers” as you say

Yeah you have. Joined a teacher bashing thread for your own moan about provision during a global pandemic.

I get that you’re frustrated about having to deal with your son while trying to work at home and it’s not ideal, but it’s not the fault of his teachers. They didn’t shut the school for no good reason, the alternative isn’t miles away for no good reason, your kid’s teacher is being told to monitor work completion.

I know some state schools are doing some teaching via zoom. The thing is Private schools have added pressure to provide continued provision- teaching- as parents are paying and some parents are already threatening to withdraw fees and therefore there's a real danger that the school wont be there by the time this is all over. I know some small private schools are already talking about 'furloughing' staff. It's a myth, I'm afraid that all private school kids have their own laptops. Many families simply forego foreign holidays, new cars etc to make sure they can send them or send their kids to private school on scholarships. Incidentally there's a lot more of those about than you think, so it's worth looking. Another myth is that teachers in these schools are paid more- they are not. In fact schools will often pay a great deal less. Resources in private schools are not always more than state, quite often nowhere near as good.The selling point in a lot of them is the smaller class sizes and the appeal to parents for their kids being in a smaller class and to teachers sick to death of working in huge classes and having to work until midnight every night just to keep up with paperwork.

By using video software to teach remotely you can also open yourself up to abuse / memes being created /edited images etc. My school has expressly forbidden us to do this to protect and safeguard ourselves and our families who are at home with us.

mrsrizza I’m not in the UK, so was posting from my own perspective in Spain. DD’s teacher hasn't been in touch since school closed two weeks ago, they’ve been set work from text books and have started new units with completely new topics they don’t understand abc haven’t been taught, the teacher sent a few photos of handwritten corrections to a mum to send to the WhatsApp group, so my DD is having a very different experience here.

They’re are lots of Chinese kids at her school whose parents speak no Spanish and a few other nationalities who are like me and speak enough to converse etc, but not to help with work. Also they send much of the general correspondence from the school in Valencian, which even many of the Spanish parents don’t speak fluently. It’s a mess and here I do hope they will start online classes or at least use a platform with some prerecorded video explanation.

The kids in the U.K. are really lucky that so many provisions are being made to support their learning from home, for the kids here it’s a different story.

My state school is still trying to make sure all pupils have devices and internet access. Until that's sorted, to run all lessons as live interactive sessions wouldn't be fair. Even if they all have access, being in cramped accommodation with siblings also needing to learn could mean live online lessons will never work for some. A pack may seem dull, but at least it is accessible to everyone and can plug the gap while schools work out how to do this. Believe me, no one is on holiday, we are all frantically trying to sort out a new way of delivering learning whilst looking after our own and others' children.

MY DDs (age 8 and 10) have been sent home with a tatty pile of random, disorganised pieces of paper and some instructions to have a go at certain pages of their CGP maths books. Every reference to a page number in the books is incorrect and all the work suggested has already been done by the children for homework months ago. No contact, no help, no plan, no organisation. I would have expected the teachers to have some plan of what they were going to teach for the weeks ahead till the end of term. But no. They have just sent random, unconnected bits of paper. The timetable they suggest conflicts with itself. Their prize comment in the pack was, "parents are best placed to decide what their children need to learn."
I have given up and am teaching them myself while trying, as a zero hours contractor, to work from home. Most of my work is going to dry up soon and I will get no pay. But the teachers can sit on their backsides getting paid whilst they fail to provide any valid teaching material. Why exactly can state school teachers not do the same as private school teachers, or at least provide a well-organised home-learning pack?

Can't believe what I'm reading here. Where is people's compassion?
Teachers may well be ill and all you can do is demand work.
I have never been busier, looking after my own children, doing days looking after key worker kids, trying to coordinate a large department from home, trying to put together work, etc that is not what we would have taught as if it was that easy then we wouldn't bother sending them at all. Mostly trying to keep up with the one million emails, whilst not knowing what on earth is happening with GCSEs, A levels, etc
Most schools are not set up for video lessons etc and it breaks all kind of GDPR rules.
Lastly, and most importantly, the gap will massively widen between the advantaged and disadvantaged. Many children either do not have access to a PC or come from homes where they will not engage with education in this way.
Depressing to see how so many people are ready to turn on others in the middle of a pandemic.