Why are teachers not teaching live lessons online

[Shouldistayorshouldimove]

This is not a teacher bashing thread.

Talking online with another mum in my son’s class today, both ourDCs are in p1 (Scotland). She is outraged that teachers next term will be posting work online rather than actually teaching using Zoom etc. Her argument is that universities are doing it so why aren’t teachers? And how is she supposed to work from home and educate her children?

Personally I don’t think teaching a bunch of 5 year olds a live lesson using Zoom is going to be all that effective and would probably require quite a lot of supervision anyway. AIBU to think that tasks posted online are quite sufficient given the circumstances? So as not to drip feed, I am also working from home with 2DCs.

It's not the average in any state school in the UK because the curriculum has been cancelled. So realistically what is to teach? Plus the use of schools has vastly change in how it is supporting children who are there and education isn't a main concern for many, including those pesky government officials. Hence the cancellation of the curriculum.

@Theduchessstill
People just hate teachers I think. My dad did until I became one! Then he realised I didn’t sit on my arse all day. In my first 3 years he sent me job ideas constantly, because he thought my job was ridiculous.

@MrsTSwift would you like us to create a resource list for you? There are so many teachers on this thread, and we’re all setting work.

My first recommendation would be;
Whiterose maths
They have videos, followed by a question sheet based on that learning - much better than a teachers head speaking!
Very visual and engaging
They still require some parent support, (as does the vast majority of primary online work) but older children will probably access it quite independently
New material is added regularly and you can follow it as a plan
You can access the work from before the Easter break, if you wanted your child to do more than one lesson per day

Isn’t the really simple conclusion that teachers and schools should be doing what they can with the tools available to them and their pupils?

An equal conclusion is that parents should be doing what they can to try and support learning in the home where possible and understanding the limits and challenges of the situation.

@Monsterpage
I thought I'd have a read about the wonderful NL teacher, and got to this bit:
The moment Ben and Max found out that I was teaching my classes in Microsoft Teams, they wanted to connect to my students too. They love chatting with them on Teams
Well fuck me sideways, the fact that my dc chatting to the teenagers I teach is unthinkable to me makes me imagine I might be a better teacher than she is!

Iateallthecookies000

Seriously these threads would stop if you stopped taking the bait.

They wouldn't. The threads would just be full of people badmouthing teachers and confirming the myths that they believe in with no counter argument.

@Tonyaster and it is great that you had access to the cash to make those purchases. Many many really don't including the schools themselves.

It's really not quite as simple well if the parents cared they would do all these things to support their child's education. And quite honestly the same question equally goes back to - why aren't the parents doing their job in the first place and already include learning new things in family life? If they cared they wouldn't be moaning about someone else not doing their job in educating their child. Education has always been down to the parents. Hence they need to face reality, look closer to home if they really want to blame someone for not educating their child.

I don’t really get why you feel so bereft of work for your children already, MrsTSwift?

The schools were closed for a week, and they’ve all just been on holiday for the last two weeks. Of course they’ve not had work set during the school holidays, because the teachers are on holiday, too.

How much work were you possibly expecting your children’s teachers to create in the two days we had to prepare for school closures, and a totally unprecedented change in the way we have always worked?

Maybe wait until the schools go back from the Easter holidays before casting all your judgments on a grand total of five days’ worth of education.

My husband works for a big Architect's practice, they moved over to Microsoft Teams a few months ago, it was a 'planned' change led from that top. Importantly, it was a consistent approach so employees in the London Office weren't using Microsoft Teams whilst employees in Glasgow continued to use Skype for Business. The consistent approach needs to be led from the top, i.e The Department for Education. It's chaotic and inconsistent at the moment.

Equally, when it looked likely that we were heading for these restrictions, my husband's workplace gave everyone a work laptop and they had to trial a day working from home so they could iron out problems before the lockdown measures ensued. This kind of preparation did not happen in schools.

Finally, other sectors who have mastered working from home have had to if they want to get paid, children obviously don't have that motivation so how is the urgency stressed to those who are disengaged, they are not going to get sacked!

i think they should be for secondary school kids, especially GCSEs. My son has been set work that is hard and new and then homework to complete after basically teaching himself! I class lesson via Google hangouts or zoom would be much more helpful!

@canigooutyet
I am using what my school and the Ministry of Education tells me I can use.

As I said, maybe we'll all move to another platform eventually as nobody knows how the situation will evolve.

Why am I in the wrong profession for doing the job I'm being paid to do?

I appreciate that in the UK things are being dealt with differently. I do. But I fail to see how I am in the wrong profession because I'm doing what my HT and the govt are telling me to.

@MrsElijahMikaelson1 - you are making good points, but this has been happenign already regardless. Have you not been concerned up until now that some kids/schools make better progress when some other's don't?
Why do you think btw there is no progression if your child has resources set? I'm sure they are set in a way to follow the curriculum. I'm vaguely familiar with some of the resources, activelearn I believe follows the textbook, and textbooks have been made free on the platform, so your child can go through the material independently. You don't need a teacher to explain every single bit of information to learn.
Some focus has to be on students and independent work. UK system is very much that where we spoon feed children throughout, and they struggle at universities more and more because they can't work independently. If a child has finished work or has questions, they should take their initiative to email their teacher and ask for more or for clarification.

@whatistheworld, Please see the many posts on this thread about how this is an enormous safeguarding risk for students and teachers both, and why this will likely not be happening in the majority of schools.

@whatistheworld
Why is he still working on new work for his GCSE's?
All exams have been cancelled. There is essentially nothing new to teach as a result.

And ZOOM HAS SERIOUS SECURITY BREECHES INCLUDING TO EXPOSE TO UNWANTED PORN. IT WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR EDUCATION BUT BUSINESS AND EVEN THEN MOST HAVE LIMITS.

I'm sorry for shouting. Just this really needs highlighting as much as possible as these breeches go back years.

@scissorsnglue my post was to highlight that in this world where things are so crazy she is doing her bloody upmost to teach her pupils. Not to invite unnecessary rude comments.
We are all having to adapt and she is doing it marvellously.
I myself (not a teacher) have found myself having meetings with my senior officers and having to stop mid-sentence to help my 7 yr old with his maths or English. People are forgiving of these things now as they have to be.
I didn’t criticise any other teachers in my post I just gave a thumbs up to someone.
Wind your neck in and get off your high horse.

Must be nice for those people where every member of the family has their own laptop and nice reliable high speed internet. Take a minute to consider those families that don't. A lot of my students are logging in in the evenings and weekends when their parents are done with using the family computer for work. But I guess they deserve to have a lower standard of education than the wealthier families that can all be online watching their live lessons at the right time. But hey at least they'll be protected from the people hacking into the zoom lesson to shout racist comments and share sexually explicit imagery.

Maybe because there is no national curriculum at the moment.

My "high horse" is to not expose my dc to unnecessary risk - you held her up as an example (presumably to us less wonderful teachers) and yet there was so little in the article to merit this - I won't even get on to the "virtual slippers to spank them with"!
She gave an example in fact of why video work with pupils while looking after your own dc is so hard. If she worked for me I would be having serious words about the appropriateness of this.
I'm pleased you didn't intend to criticise other teachers but I've re-read your post and can't see how you imagine it didn't.

@Goldenbear Comparison with other secotrs are not always relevant. Up until recently I worked in an office. All the work I was doing there could be done from home, or at least most of it. If you have never taught in your life, I assume this is why oyu think that just because in other sectors technology is easy to roll out, it should be identical in schools. It is not. A lot of other sectors struggle too. People have already listed why doing online teaching live is difficult (safeguarding, workload- you have to teach online a full lesson and be available for questions later, and mark, while not having a lot of the resources, low attendance, meaning you have to redo the whole thing multiple times if someone accesses the learning later with questions, or that some students won't log on time and will not be able to access anything at all, finances- most schools are so underfunded they can't magically whip up hundreds of extra laptops for kids even if told in advance, some kids have to share with siblings/parents). Those are just a few problems.

These are not applicaple to many private companies, especially those where remote work has been happening for a longer time. Unless MoE is going to give every single school money and resources to provide the same type of learning, you cannot expect every school to do the same thing. It should be easy to understand, but a lot of people struggle with the concept that a school is not a business and actually most schools are adapting pretty well. The fact it is not to some people's standards does not mean they are doing a bad job.

I asked much earlier on the thread and am still keen to see a link to the statement that the government has suspended the curriculum. I'm a teacher and this is the first i've heard of it.

@TheCanterburyWhales because surely you as a teacher also have some care of duty in your country.

Happily going along with using Zoom and its serious security issue doesn't really go with children. This is. one of the reasons why people in the UK are extremely concerned. We don't want children being exposed to things like porn. Any school worker here who would happily use something knowing it comes with this risk would be sacked, and also face the possibility of a criminal conviction including jail time.

We have laws that explicitly set out various things we cannot do. These laws still count. It's not even just about teachers not wanting to do it because people think some laws are made up. Legally they cannot and many would rather lose their job than take the risk of facing prosecution.

@canigooutyet
he is in year 9!!! so YES doing GCSES! a couple of his teachers have used google hangouts, or posted a video explaining something. The majority havent!!! there is NO security risk in posting a video lesson. The google hangout seemed safe. No be honest we have never used zoom.

All I can find is the announcement that primary assessments and formal exams have been cancelled, that there will be no Ofsted inspections, and accountability measure have been cancelled.

“there is NO security risk in posting a video lesson. The google hangout seemed safe. No be honest we have never used zoom.“

This is absolutely inaccurate. There are several extremely serious risks to posting video lessons, or teaching a lesson live via camera. As I said, please see the several posts on this thread explaining this. If it helps, I’ve posted at 7:48 and 8:41 regarding exactly this issue.

You should not be wanting this for your child.

Whatistheworld if the teacher appears in the video then of course there is a risk.
A voice over a screen not so much.

My DD won't let me try to teach/support her - she sees things in very black and white terms. Teaching is for teachers to do not parents. I have tried.

Anyway being given four hours of what is essentially hw to do every day but without the teachers' input is really not being taught. According to her, many of the girls aren't doing the set work either.