Classroom Lessons via Zoom

[jjx111]

AIBU to expect the teachers at my daughter’s rs primary school to offer at least some lessons via Zoom? The feedback I have been given is that that they aren’t offering it due to a) safeguarding issues, and b) it would add to the teachers workload. Well, surely if we parents consent for our child to sign in for these lessons then no safeguarding issue. Plus, at present, we parents are doing at least 60% of the teachers work for them via homeschooling. (I appreciate that they are setting work for the children, but this is part of the planning they would do anyway).

What worries me is the discrepancies. I understand that schools have been told not to do Zoom calls and I get the safeguarding issues. However, why are some schools offering them then? Or Microsoft Teams lessons (aren’t these safer?). Other schools (ours) we get a sheet of A4. No marking or interaction.

If the government are going to keep the schools shut for most of the year groups there needs to be some regulations or at at least directive/guidelines on this for all schools.

Either they can’t do online lessons or they can and therefore they should.

It’s unfair and gives many children an advantage if they are getting a full day of online schooling (while parents can work?!!) and others they get hardly anything and the parents have to sit there all day trying to homeschool multiple children from different years.

It’s unfair and gives many children an advantage
Yep, but t'was ever thus.
And teachers, all of us, get the blame for it all.

Lol penguins no, I was suggesting you see if anyone you know has some kiddie headphones hanging around they would sanitise and leave on your doorstep, as you mentioned paw patrol noise as a constraint. Sorry, I'm a problem solver - I didn't dare suggest you amazon some as I thought I'd get my head bitten off, but fwiw that's what I'd do myself, I have spent much more personal money than that on setting up so I can work as well as I can from home. You can't expect people to spend their own money, but you can ask for help and there's a huge amount of goodwill out there. Hell, I'd amazon you some myself if that's a real constraint.

I can see hos you read it that way, my poor phrasing

I’m not blaming teachers individually.

The government should have been much clearer about this and expectations from schools. It’s unacceptable that coming out of this some children will have had so much more teaching and learning than others.

If the government has said to schools ‘don’t do online lessons due to safeguarding’ then no schools should be doing them.

It’s been left to individual schools to decide and this is creating huge inequality. This will impact children for years to come.

Absolutely agree delatron.

I wonder if Laurie has had to do that for her work in "Consutlancy/Commercial response," whatever the hell that is.

Well what do you want to talk about first ...

The people we’ve already made redundant?

The senior staff who’ve taken big pay cuts?

Or the fact that yes, many junior and support staff have been asked to use their own machines when wfh?

We were a very old fashioned, office based business and most didn’t have work laptops. Several have taken their desktops home though.

There seems to be a lot of confusion between online lessons and live lessons. As I said previously the research suggests that the nature if delivery which could include live lessons does not matter as much as the content of the lesson.

We are not delivering live lessons but we are teaching well planned remote lessons which are available online via teams and youtube.

We are not delivering live lessons but we are teaching well planned remote lessons which are available online via teams and youtube. And that would be amazing - but that is nowhere near what we get. A text book - that we had to buy ourselves - that's it! Do we need teachers at all if a textbook is enough?

Do we need teachers at all if a textbook is enough?Withdraw your child and let them do Alevel (I think that’s what you said?) as a private candidate.

@SmileEachDay I don't want to withdraw - I can't believe a textbook is enough - but the teacher seems to think it is, as that is all they have offered.

I’ve suggested you ask the appropriate person at the school for the reasoning behind their decisions.

Tbh an Alevel student with a decent course book isn’t in too bad a position - they’ll be missing feedback and the discussion (depending on subject) but the course can be rejigged to do content learning now and more discussion and essay skills when we return.

Tbh an Alevel student with a decent course book isn’t in too bad a position Honestly I think you are right - but mostly because they are self motivated and will work independently - Year 10 would have been much harder.

I agree re Y10 Sultana - we are having to comprehensively rewrite the curriculum in order to a) fit in all the content and b) make sure they have enough time to practise exam skills.

My zoom classroom has been broken into twice this last week. It's not secure.

Microsoft Teams? Is that more secure?

I do wonder at the number of teachers minimising the value of student face time.

I would never have become a teacher if I thought my presence in the classroom was virtually irrelevant and the main job was lesson planning and resource preparation.

I just cannot buy into this model, and don’t believe the research is there to back it up (although, if there is some, I would be fascinated to read it).

@larrygrylls the research is of course limited.

educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-publishes-new-review-of-evidence-on-remote-learning/

They couldn't get zoom working for the daily briefing today.

@larrygrylls that is what is shocking me about so many responses on here. I think teachers add a huge amount of value to a child's learning.

I can't imagine telling people I thought my job could be replaced by a text book/web page/Twinkl worksheet!

And I can't imagine saying to the people I advise "teams/zoom is a bit glitchy sometimes. So let's not even bother with it. Here's a webpage, use your common sense"

@nevertwerknaked
I agree on this point. I'm a teacher and am big-headed enough to think my job cannot be done by a worksheet, textbook, video or zoom call. It also can't be done by a parent (though I also believe a parent's role in their child's education is bigger than any teacher's).

I would actually argue that teaching is a job that can't be done from home. Some parts of it can, for sure, and can be done really impressively reading what some teachers are providing.