To think the government should pay private schools?

[Summerofdespair20]

My children have barely had any formal education since schools closed. A few Twinkl sheets, links to maths etc. I've tried my best, also wfh and different age children, I'm not the best teacher.

I understand state schools dont want to provide zoom/Google classroom lessons. Private school teachers seem to be doing this with success, I know it will never be good as a real classroom but all the parents I know would like it for their children.

My Y6 child has done Zoom Spanish coaching with a teacher, it has been great.

Aibu to think that the government should look to pay private schools to teach state children? I know there are far fewer private schools, so the lessons may need not to be interactive/more like lectures? It might be a far fetched idea, I find it very sad that my Y6 has been told no school after half term (school not following government guidelines). I can't afford private school, I had always hoped from an ideological perspective that state schools could provide the same great education, but now I can see how impressive private schools are, sorry for my kids I can't afford it.

Aibu to think that the government should look to pay private schools to teach state children?

Why don't they pay state schools to teach state children?

But the government does pay for every child to be educated.
Why should they pay twice

Get in contact with the school. Ask for better work. Mine is providing lots. Too much!

@SoupDragon I know they are paying state schools, but they arent doing what they are asked. Private schools are teaching online, the government has failed to get its own schools to do this.

Hold your horses OP,

I‘m in a constant battle to get any zoom interaction going on with my private school.

£7k down there drain this term.
Kills me.

I was very surprised to learn that my nieces at state school don’t have any provision.

From what I read on MN approach varies enormously school to school. I’m not sure why there’s such disparity yet within the state sector. It seems terribly unfair.

You realise that just because private schools are doing stuff on zoom, doesn’t automatically mean there’s much high quality teaching and learning going on? I think a lot of the things that some schools have been doing is just for show and to appease paying parents rather than it being particularly beneficial to the children.

But the government does pay for every child to be educated.
Why should they pay twice
The taxpayers pays for the education of all children.

Private schools are teaching online, the government has failed to get its own schools to do this.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. The Govt cannot force teachers to do their jobs.

As far as i'm aware the issue isn't an inability to teach, it's the fact that nothing like all state school pupils have access to shared or preferably their own devices or broadband. Having state school kids join independent schools online provision isn't going to change that. The lack of Zoom lessons is a safety concern (again that's my understanding) which Independent's can decide for themselves.

What? How? This wouldn’t work on so many levels.

Firstly, where would the money come from? Where already heading into a recession.

Secondly, how do you think parents who are paying for private school would feel about their Zoom lessons being infiltrated by hundreds (and it would have to be hundreds in order for private schools to cater for all stare school pupils) of other pupils?

Thirdly, you are assuming that all state schools are not providing an education, which is wrong.

Fouthly, how would you stop disruptive pupils from disrupting the lesson for everyone?

You could argue that a private school education is always better than a state education, so by that argument, are you saying that the government should always pay for a private education for those that can’t afford it

Perhaps the government could adequately fund state schools to even out the provision.

Have you looked at the national oak academy online? the Government arranged on line school? There are classes for every day of the week, taught by teachers, assemblies etc they're not interactive, but it's basically what you are asking for. It's been an fantastic resource for us

I think the point is OP that the state is paying state schools to teach yet somehow many of them are doing very little compared to private schools and some state schools that have got their act together. They are using the excuse of not all children having access/some being disruptive but, frankly, this lets down the vast majority of children.

Oak Academy has been great for us too!

The barriers aren't just in the schools. Generally speaking there is less 'inequality' in the cohort at a private school in terms of access to resources in the home.

I work with a group of independent schools, and broadly they are able to do zoom as they provide each pupil with a device - there is no way a state school could fund this, and even if they did in some areas no guarantee that the pupils' home would have internet provision.

Teachers in all schools are working hard, but those in the independent sector have the advantage of better resources in schools and in general a pupil base whose parents have the means to resource the infrastructure required. That said, they don't have the 'slack' in the system to do this more widely, most are running hard to stand still with their existing classes.

No the government should not pay private schools they should ensure that there is consistency in the state sector. I hope the schools that really let their pupils down during this by not providing an education are exposed.

What's the difference in 'safety' terms between state and private

Why not approach a local private school and ask if your children could join some of their online lessons? If it's one that is a registered charity maybe it would welcome the opportunity to support a struggling local family...

Thanks I will try Oak Tree Academy then

My child's state good is providing online Zoom teaching. Those that don't have access are able to collect paper lessons.

It's not straightforward. (I'm guessing) private schools don't have the amount of safeguarding issues to deal with as state schools, this is where an awful lot of our teachers' hours are going atm.

Rightly or wrongly, teachers haven't used this technology to deliver lessons before, so there was training, trials, policies to write and safeguarding concerns to iron out. We are ready to go with it from after half term but as PP said only about 20% of our students have access to a "proper" computer to work on, many have to share devices with siblings or parents wfh, most do have smart phones but a lot more than you realise have no or very limited data and no broadband at home. They were all reliant on free Wifi in McDonalds and at school etc, that are no longer available.

The government's pledge to provide IT (which hasn't actually happened yet) doesn't help the poorest families unless you also install broadband.

So, schools have a dilemma. Do they deliver what they can to the privileged children who can access it, making the gap bigger than ever or do they treat everyone equally?

I agree with pp, there is massive inequality in provision, though most parents I know at various state schools have said there is very little work being set, none is being marked. We haven't had a phone call from the teachers since lockdown started, maybe this isnt a thing though.

State schools should do what they're being paid to do.. teach and educate their pupils. Lots of them are doing exactly that. If they're not then the parents need to find a way to hold them to account. That might be through complaints to the governors or the LEA or their local MP.

Whatever the sector the job of a school is to educate their pupils... imagine if private schools turned round to their parents and said "hey we know you're paying us but would you mind paying the school down then road to do it as well as paying us?" Replace private school parents with government then ask the tax payers what they think.

The problem is, I am only able to teach my full timetable online effectively to my private school classes because they are small.

My largest class is 18 children. It's still far more stressful and tiring for both me and them than it is having them in the classroom and I hate every second of it. But it does work. We can cover the curriculum fully and introduce new material. We can support individual children in the variety of ways that they need.

But if you added in a huge, unknown number of additional unknown children with unknown needs, temperments and abilities then you might as well not bother. The education would be no better than the remote worksheets and feedback type model that the majority of state schools have adopted.

My son is in reception he has weekly 1:1 phone chat with his teacher/classroom TA, worksheets (these can be hand delivered once a week if you do not have a printer). They are doing lots of video sessions, these are prerecorded and they give you resources to use during the video the day before. Today we have words on the floor and the teacher shouts of a digraph and they have to jump and stand on the correct word. They have been doing story time, songs, dances, maths fung fu, all sorts.

School have stopped using zoom as it was constantly cutting out, they also stopped using Teams as some parents complained if their child’s webcam wasn’t the one shown

I only have one laptop, so my son can only do the video lessons when I’m not using it for work.

He’s at a state school.