To think school should offer more?

[supermanisdead]

My DD is yr8 at a large comp. she is set roughly 2-3 hours of work a day online which she does.

For the first 5 weeks there was zero feedback given until I messaged the head who said they were implementing it that day. Since then feedback has been very sporadic.

There have been no Zoom or google classroom lessons. I'm concerned about the lack of face to face teaching and formative feedback. She's had one phone call from her tutor.

I'm interested to know what other schools are providing to see if it's comparable.

A bit of background - I'm an FE lecturer and have to call my learners once a week and provide Almost all lessons in a Zoom format. I can't understand why secondary schools aren't offering the same?!

Yr8 I'm afraid cones further down the priority list of formative feedback and live teaching than GCSEs and A level students.

I'm assessing yr8 learning but via quizzes and have just done first written one this week.

Despite making new learning booklets and resourcing then, weaving fun activities bin with lessons, live catch up sessions on teams, recording videos etc, only about half are actually doing the work.

Yes. No one talk to each other and let's pretend this isn't a nationwide concern.

My fiend is a teacher she’s has had feed back saying she’s giving too much work, she isn’t going icing even bough, the child’s finds it too easy, the child finds it too hard! She honestly can’t win.

My teenager has only just started having lessons given to her and it’s work for next year as she should have been sitting exams just now. No zoom lessons, no face to face teaching, just powerpoints and work to complete.

I’m a mature student in college and we’ve had one or two emails a week pointing us in the right direction on how to complete work and one zoom meeting to keep us up to date on where we stand and even 8 weeks down the line everything’s isn’t clear! When only have 4 weeks until we should be finished the course!

@GuyFawkesDay

I was seeing what other schools do and as I've said earlier I have and will
Continue to contact our school.

Maybe RTFT before a cocky reply?

OP, as much as you feel it would disadvantage more pupils by not doing face to face learning, that simply isn't the case.

My school are all in the at the moment. I'm sending work sheets home but I can't do face to face learning during the day because what am I doing? teaching key worker's children and vulnerable pupils in school.

I'm sorry this situation isn't what you want it to be. But actually, teachers themselves have very little control over decisions, if any at all. We are, for the majority, told a format and just have to roll with it.

I would like nothing more than for all my pupils to progress as they should be and learn what I have planned, but these times don't allow for that.

So please, just suck it up. It's not forever

Yes. No one talk to each other and let's pretend this isn't a nationwide concern

Isn’t it just.

I think this is triggering a lot of parents whether it’s not being able to do the work that set or have access to it at all and rather than acknowledge it it’s getting shouted down. One of the mums in our class didn’t log on for a month to google class room. Seen the masses of work her child had missed them bombarded the class watsap with Memes and posts about learning is not just about being sat in a class room. It was guilt that she had turned up late to the party.

I think there will be posts in about 12 months time off parents complaining their children are behind and struggling.

@2007Millie

If you read my posts, my concern isn't with the teachers at all. It's with what the leadership team are asking them to do.

So please, just suck it up. It's not forever

Oh, that's good to hear. When do you see all children going back to school to a full timetable and full curriculum?

Oh I've read the thread.

Yet more teacher bashing.

It's just not possible to do everything everybody wants.

A yr8 is going to be further down the marking priority list then yr10 and 12 right now. They just are.

Ask if school can set dome self marking quizzes (or maybe be proactive and go onto Seneca or BBC where they exist) and your child can write down their scores.

Take my classes, for example. I teach 90 Yr7 kids. So if I have to fully mark work for each of them, it takes hours. 55 yr8 kids, 30 in the 9 and 10 and then an A level class.

Even on bare minimum:

2 minutes to read and feedback on each on Yr7 = 180 minutes a week
2 minutes to read and feedback on each Y8 = 110 minutes s week.

5 minutes each for GCSE kids = 120 minutes a week

10 minutes A levels = 80 minutes

490 minutes a week. Or 8 hours. Or a whole working day.

If I'm teaching (doing revordings or live for GCSE and a levels now), writing new lessons, recording videos, having meetings and trying to teach my own kids at home I have to prioritise the marking.

The exam classes have to come first. It's just the way things are right now.

I suspect nits the same in your child's school.

There has only been a gazillion threads about this...

OP, I did read it all. Even SLT have limited power. They're being directed by government advice.

@FourTeaFallOut well quite clearly it won't be like this forever. Duh.

It’s not teacher bashing. Gosh that phrase is getting old.

We have huge huge levels of work uploaded to a website requiring 30 odd sheets of paper plus ink to print. Minimal guidance. Online lessons via zoom may be a safeguarding issue or isolate those without a computer / device, but firstly our school do zoom assemblies (discounts safe guarding item) and secondly if you don’t have a computer or printer you can’t do the work any how, children deemed as vulnerable can be given a school place or assistance.

I’ve bumped into a teacher in Tesco, and she was so bored working 1 day a week at school on a Rota. There should be a national weekly curriculum so things like oak academy or bbc bite size are not extras but what all kids follow.

The volume of links, tasks, work sheets is bewildering with very little assistance on how to actually teach it. If you have more than 1 child and work from home it’s frankly so very very stressful
And busy.

My US colleagues all have online lessons every day right down to age 5. It works for them. Ok
Unsure why we can find all the excuses under the sun to not make it at least part of the week.

I’m in awe of teachers after homeschooling my children though! Horrendous experience thus far!!

well quite clearly it won't be like this forever. Duh.

It could quite clearly go on for long enough to make a significant dent in the quality of our children's education. Duh

I’m very upset that my DS is missing 3 months school (Scotland) when he is sitting his Nat 5s next year. We’ve had very little support from the school - couple of emails about bbc bitesize and some suggested websites from his French teacher.

Why can’t we talk about this? Am I supposed to pretend that education isn’t all that important now?

Chill Karon it's all going to be fine - it's like a miracle...

Totally - qualifications don’t matter anymore. Education is now optional. Praise be.

A soon as anyone raises a point about education ,its called teacher bashing.OK a few people are having a go ,you always get that,but ofen people are just raising concerns.And there are huge concerns about children' lack of education,and mental health.
I can't teach mine at home as as I am working full time ,and everything takes longer in the current circumstances.

I am accessing paid for tuition as I am not prepared to let mine fall behind their peers in private school,who they will be competing against for Uni places in the next few years

A teacher being bored doesn’t mean they’re not doing enough though. I’m bored as hell of teaching remotely. It’s all the dull bits of teaching without the fun of being in the classroom. Spreadsheets and PowerPoints and registers and emails and rank orders and trying to log on to exam board websites and team meetings and so on. I’m still working damn hard though.

The OP is new to MN but at last has the grace to respond to comments.

I taught for years in FE and would die of shame to be as ignorant about the workings of schools as the OP is.

If you read my posts, my concern isn't with the teachers at all. It's with what the leadership team are asking them to do

So get in touch with them, we why don't you?

Where did that "we" creep in?

Ok. I'm not teacher bashing but, at least twice now, it has been said on this thread that year 8 is lower priority than year 10. My year 10 has had absolutely no feedback for anything he has completed. We have had no contact from school, they 'check in' online once a week or supposedly the teacher calls home on friday afternoon we deliberately didn't check in and nobody contacted him. I've emailed school, as we have been told not to phone, but not received a response, not even an acknowledgement. With the exception of one teacher who is emailing PowerPoint lessons home daily (the PowerPoint presentations are around 2 years old) all other lessons are 'look on ....name of website...write a summary, file it's
If any of this is acceptable then I'll stand corrected but, frankly, I'm so angry that this is all that is being provided.

Sorry, there was paragraphs in that, really shouldn't use the app.

I’ve emailed the school 3 times and have had no reply.
Some schools have been amazing over this and have set work, given feedback etc. Why can’t I talk about how crap my son’s school has been?

@GravityFalls she said she was bored as wasn’t doing anything. Our school uploads worksheets to a website once per week. No expectation to submit it for marking. Lesson planning is done for entire year group, so perhaps that takes 1 teacher from 5 in year group to plan an upload, a day. Then Rota for key worker children. I’m not sure how anyone can possibly fathom that the same level of work is required to do this vs normal teaching. Teachers are amazing! However the general consensus on MN is there is not a cohesive or helpful system in place 7 weeks or so in. It’s not teacher bashing. It’s just how it feels for many of us at home trying to educate our kids and work, cook, clean, shop etc it’s an unprecedented situation, but I feel that every school appears to be offering something different and if state based that doesn’t appear to be as much help as us non teacher parents require to get through this.
I would love some teacher training!

It’s useful to hear what other schools are able to do. My Y7 has work set through the online homework system, usually 3-4 hours a day which feels about right. Some teachers provide feedback on everything, others not much or at all. DS would really like some interaction with other pupils and ‘taught’ lessons even if recorded. Current set up is good for his independent learning though.
Primary (Y4) set a couple of tasks a week, nothing submitted, plus mathletics, no direct contact from school at all so far.
We are working from home, both flat out, so we are not doing any ‘home schooling’ , I definitely don’t think schools should expect that parents should be picking up anything that they’re not doing.