To ask a question to teachers about what happens after school starts

[Blackdog19]

Please may I ask, how you think you will manage to catch up on the lost curriculum and levelling the playing field if schools don’t go back until September. I thought children go backwards after the summer holidays so such a long gap must be v difficult. Will children have to stop doing fun non core stuff?

I will do what I always do when I start with a new class (as classes are not all equal and can be stronger or weaker academically depending on the mix of kids)... I will look at the teacher assessment data that was logged and plan my activities from that baseline. I'll incorporate and allow a bit of time for working at that level to ensure it's where they actually are, but with scope for pushing on if they are ready.

Yes, it won't be where they usually would be expected to be. Yes, there will be more time needed to cover work expectations that they were working on due to a longer period of learning loss.

We will still keep a broad and balanced curriculum. A year is a long time in which to make up the lost learning and although they may not be exactly where they should be when they then leave that year, we will be looking for as much 'value added' and imcrease in clearning as possible.

Thanks Max its interesting to hear how you’d approach it as I wasn’t sure

Excellent reply @DrMadelineMaxwell thank you

The curriculum is a spiral so each year the key skills are revisited and built upon to progress the children further and develop their subject knowledge, work is then differentiated based on the level the child is currently working at - this is how children catch up after the summer break and how it'll work heading back to school after lockdown.

That’s interesting. So similar concepts but going into greater depths?

You have the remember that the curriculum isnt just about teaching new information. Lots of curriculum time builds in mastery too. Skills and knowledge are often interlevered so that key concepts are revisited and revised. We are going to have to resign the curriculum but we will be able to catch pupils up on content without leaving huge gaps. At the top, exam boards may change the expectations of assessments (at this point that is an educated guess and my own personal opinion - for GCSE Drama, pupils are required to collaborate to create a piece of theatre for their NEA, this would be difficult if social distancing measures need to be maintained - exam boards may take that into account.) It is going to be tough, but teachers are already preparing.

That’s interesting. So similar concepts but going into greater depths?

Basically yes (at primary where I teach anyhoo).

Also, we've missed 18 days so far. Seems like longer as it included the holidays. It is not impossible to catch up.

I wonder if adding 15 mins onto each day may help?

That would be tricky for secondary schools - some subjects would end up with more curriculum time than others.

All the kids in each cohort will be in the same boat, with some minor exceptions. Yeah, some kids have 8am to 3pm live teaching which is great if they have the technology and inclination to use it. Then you have kids who will have done nothing except get through the days and weeks in one piece. Everyone else will be somewhere in-between. Kids who will do well will do so because they have the ability, resiliance, skills, support and technology to do so, and this applies to in-school learning or in the strange world we are in now.

I'm sure all teachers, pastoral staff, SLT etc will be busting a gut to get everyone back to some sort of level playing field once they go back.

Only 18 days?! Feels longer!!

As a teacher who’s has been ‘live’ teaching from 8.35 to 3.55 today - nothing different!
But private school, so parents want value for money and I want to keep my job!
To be fair, it is mentally exhausting but lovely still having class interaction. How this creates a level playing field though, well I guess there wasn’t one before the virus either. As the poster above says, it hasn’t really been that long so far.

I'd probably have my class do end-of-year assessments in Reading and Maths for the previous year group (so the year they're in right now) and use it to assess depth of knowledge, identify gaps and get a picture of the class as a whole. Then I'd look at the curriculum for their new year group and see where it's fit for teaching and where would need different teaching. I'd expect to have to differentiate a lot more for at least the first term as the gaps the children will have will vary massively, depending on what they've managed to do at home and their ability in that subject area or the subject generally.

I don't feel it will be an insurmountable mountain, whenever they end up going back, as long as we have as many pupils back properly as soon as possible. It's when you start to fill the gaps and do new teaching that it could become difficult, if you still have children being kept at home for whatever reason.

Also children will be older when some of the stuff is introduced so might be able to learn it quicker. (Given that the older children in the class appear, on average, to be more academically able)

A lot depends on expertise of parents too. Only a few pupils will be doing everything. Some will be doing virtually nothing.

I would say schools and teachers and the whole system is always looking to try to narrow the gap between the disadvantaged and others. There are numerous initiatives and funding to help and today we heard of an additional £700 per head to help narrow the gap.

However, schools cannot totally compensate for the differences caused by background. Yes, the gap is widening at the moment - so,e children in independent schools are receiving a full day of live lessons and work which is submitted and marked each day and are being followed up if they don't do it. They won't be making the progress they would in school, but many will be doing pretty well. Other children and families have not engaged with school or work since the lockdown started and are losing not just the knowledge and skills taught, but being in learning mode or working-hours mode. The gap is widening. Schools will try to narrow it but can't fully compensate for it. In crisis like this, the disadvantaged always lose more.

DollyPomPoms
I wonder if adding 15 mins onto each day may help?

It really wouldn't. Many children are going to find being back in school for a full day really quite hard work. There are many aspects of the hidden curriculum that will be central to getting them back into their learning stride: purposeful discussion, listening to one another, focusing on the teacher input, coping with the sensory overload school can sometimes give them....just the demands of a long day in school. Some are going to be in wraparound care again which can make their day as long as 10 hours. I think some will be super-strong from daily Joe Wicks, but some will have had the minimum of physical activity and the maximum of screen time.
Adding time onto the school day isn't going to solve this.
What DrMadelineMaxwell has outlined will be the case for most teachers and, over time, the children will make progress and the majority will catch up.

I think there may be a little extra time in the classroom each week as I presume there won't be any assemblies for a while. Also, I wonder if there will be a staggered end to the school day to ensure the playgrounds aren't full, which may give a few minutes extra for learning. But as a PP says above, the children are out of their routines. So I think there will be a longer period of adjustment for many children before everyone is back in the swing of things.