..to think that state educated kids are going to find themselves at a huge disadvantage in public exams?

[SpiderPlantSally]

Every privately-educated Year 10 or Year 12 child I know - this amounts to six different fee-paying schools - is having a like-for-like learning experience at home with live online teaching, following their usual timetable.

Every state-educated child I know of the same ages (also five or six different schools) is being set written work, with very little or no live teaching. At DD's school there one hour of live Maths for the whole Year 10 cohort each week, and a contact session for the other subjects once per week, when the teachers are available for email contact or chat. That's it. Otherwise lone book work.

AIBU unreasonable to think that state school pupils will be at a huge disadvantage when applying for selective 6th forms and universities in the autumn? Surely the private school pupils will absolutely clean up on the top grades in next summer's GCSEs and A-levels?

All schools and the government should probably learn from this and start to make online teaching a priority as far as training and equipment goes.

It is very hard to generalise but it would not be surprising if the 8% of children in private schools were getting more than those in state schools. I have been against school closures from day one (and mandatory lockdown) but we are where we are.

Online is not great for lots of people and risks of passing around CV may be less of a problem than damage done by the school closures and indeed changes being made in schools to be a bit safer in class eg having school 2 days a week or just half days is obviously not great for children either.

demolitionBarbie you demonstrate your ignorance of the fact that a significant proportion of the private sector is independent Special Schools, whose fees are paid for in 99% of cases from local authorities' Sen budgets.

Great username though.

And a lot are just bog standard, very little SEN, fee paying schools with excellent results and good work ethic that parents feel are worth paying for. I'm unapologetic for choosing this type of education .

@BeltaneBride The starkest thing about this is how it has highlighted the disparity between state schools -that's where an independent enquiry should focus and local leadership competence scrutinised.

Absolutely! I will be writing to my M.P. Although it will almost certainly be a wasted exercise. Labour safe seat. The votes for other candidates don't ever run close enough to stir up the state of complacency they're in.

They're done as unlisted YouTube videos, so I can see how many times they are watched. I upload them to the school website and email the links to parents - each video gets an average of 5 views.

That's dispiriting. I must admit that within the state sector there can be an attitude of ambivalence and for those parents, if they rightly or wrongly receive the idea that teachers aren't concerned about going back to schools, then they'll take it as confirmation not to be arsed.

However as PP have said, had there been as concerted an effort made in the state education sector as in the private system and other state funded sectors like the NHS with a compulsory weekly online signing in, then there likely would have been more engagement.

@CatherineOfAragonsPomegranate and some of us state schools are doing just that! The investigation should be in to the quality of advice from government/DfE which led to the differences in provision.

My two privately educated, year 9 and year 12. Full online school. Luckily when the new head started 2 years ago she pushed for better tech and pen enabled tablets so marking could happen in real time in some subjects. This has continued with full online virtual school

I'm Jealous and frustrated.

And a lot are just bog standard, very little SEN, fee paying schools with excellent results and good work ethic that parents feel are worth paying for. I'm unapologetic for choosing this type of education

And I suspect that this situation will challenge the views of previously educationally socially democratic parents, so that there will be a surge in the numbers choosing private after this or switching schools.

Perhaps DS is reaping the deserts of my naively optimistic social leanings. They certainly look silly now.

I should have planned better for my children with regards to formal education. We were homeschooling for years and a bit complacent about secondary education. We placed more emphasis in the social and cultural side of things in terms of choosing schools.

Big regrets now.

You clearly did the right thing for your dcs @ITonyah no need to apologise.

@DippyAvocado I find your cynicism about the dispensing with of bubbles in September & the reasons given for that very refreshing. 😁
PS I also agree about performing in front of a camera. I think my heart missed two beats in sympathy with my poor friend.

@GrammarTeacher Are you suggesting that the reason some states schools are providing a decent service is purely down to interpretation of government advice,even 2 months after lockdown, with complaints from parents and nothing to do with individual leadership competency?

On previous threads, teachers have responded with 'It's a failure of leadership at your school..write to the Head' We are led to believe that the state system isn't failing at this on a whole, it's down to individual schools and their management team and how they choose to allocate resources.

For certain the management of this crisis by the government has been shambolic in the main. But I cannot believe the disparity in provision is completely their fault, even allowing for ineptitude of ministers and their dismal ability to communicate effectively among themselves, let alone with anyone else.

The whole thing is quite grim.

And I suspect that this situation will challenge the views of previously educationally socially democratic parents, so that there will be a surge in the numbers choosing private after this or switching schools.

Mmm, we are looking at a deep recession, so I suspect there will be fewer not more people choosing private education in the next ten years.

I DO think that there will be big increases in online tutoring going forward. This crisis will have opened parents' eyes to what is available going forward, and supplementing with tutoring will be seen as an affordable alternative to full time private school.

Maybe some private schools which are at risk of collapse will set themselves up as tutoring businesses instead, hmmmm.....

You have to balance it out with the fact that people who send their kids to private schools, use nannies etc have zero clue how to care for kids and run a household without outside help.

This is hilarious! I’ll tell my aunt who was a single mother and sacrificed to send her DC to private school that she was doing it all wrong 😂

I also agree about performing in front of a camera. I think my heart missed two beats in sympathy with my poor friend.

I will most definitely be deleting all video evidence of myself after lockdown ends and will be getting Botox.

Wish Teams had filters on it. I do look about 105.

Remember when Labour was looking at abolishing private schools?

There were quite a few posters on here suggesting how great that would be, because pushy middle class parents would expect more and demand more and be listened to, so pushing up standards.

This situation has showed that premise up for the total rubbish that it was.

No matter how middle class and pushy you are demanding more and better virtual teaching in state schools, the unions have made sure that no change is possible.

It's my experience too - private schools have 6 hours of teaching a day plus homework, state schools range from nothing (they have been given access to educational websites but no one is checking they are doing it) to weekly work packs. My teacher friends are working 3-6 hours a week babysitting the keyworker kids and polish off their contribution to the packs (not marked) at the same time giving them 4 days off a week. As they are secondary not going back yet then only for year 10 as no 6th forms in schools here. It's a huge divide

@Howaboutanewname

For super selective universities it could make a huge difference though.

Where are all these teachers doing no work? They can do some of mine if they want!
It's been nice to have people saying my school rather than schools on this thread although generalisation is creeping in now.
The government did say at the outset they were 'suspending the curriculum' I'm not entirely sure what they meant by that. We set work as boredom is no good for anyone. Some schools seem to interpret that as no work necessary. Although given we weren't furloughed it should be clear that wasn't the intention.
As it goes, I am a member of a union.

I don't think it's trade unions, iTonyah. It's the real limitations that exist in the state sector.

Ironically, had the government utilised the trade unions as a means of talking to the sector, we would see better, system-wide, provision in the state sector.

As happened in Denmark.

This government doesn't listen.

Demolitionbarbie you clearly have no idea about the majority of people who send their dc to Private schools
We don’t all live in London in mansions and have staff (unless the bloke who mows my lawn once a month counts)

@iTonyah

What I find interesting about the demonetisation of the unions is that country that is being upheld as the pinnacle (slight exaggeration on my part) of education during the lockdown is the country where the government listened too and was aided by the countries teaching unions.

No matter how middle class and pushy you are demanding more and better virtual teaching in state schools, the unions have made sure that no change is possible.

Bleakly agree.

Agree that people should be listening to the parents who are shouting because they value education.

I have given up shouting though. And switching my children (depending on age and needs) to online tutoring/ online school/private school.

I have lots of teacher friends and I don't envy them. Most are working very hard in stressful circumstances.

I don't have a problem with unions either, think they can be very important in a socially democratic society. They've shown their intransigence about school though.

@DemolitionBarbie many people go private as a last resort because dc have sn

There is a problem with the unions in Scotland too. And education is the job of the Scottish government here. From what I've seen, the teaching unions are particularly strong here.