To wonder why schools are saying they’re not allowed to do live lessons

[Plinkplonkplank]

Because they’ve just started doing them at my ds’s state secondary. We had to fill in an online permission form. So it is possible after all.

Good questions smile
It’s been heartwarming to see so much concern for disadvantaged students. I can’t wait to see all this concern put into action. I’m personally looking forward to all the new volunteers to help with my scout group whet we restart Face to face meetings. I had no idea there were so many people out there who cared so much about children living in poverty.

FrippEnos is very aggressive.

I’d rather do without the live lessons if he/she was my child’s teacher.

So many posters claim to be governors on these threads. I’m not entirely sure they’re being completely honest. I’ve worked at 5 schools in my career and have only ever spoken to governors at interviews. I really don’t think governors have that much interaction with classroom teachers.

FrippEnos. Is frustrated by the absolute refusal by some posters to accept that there are very good reasons - some pedagogical and some context driven - by live lessons aren’t a magic wand.

I think, anyway. Correct me if you’re wrong, Fripp

Whenever I read a thread like this and the term "can do attitude" it makes me think about this.

digitalsynopsis.com/inspiration/privileged-kids-on-a-plate-pencilsword-toby-morris/

*I’m wrong 🙄

FrippEnos is very aggressive

Nah. She argues a rational point. And always under the same name.

Welcome to MN, YardleyX

SmileEachDay

yup that is entirely correct.

(with the amendment of course)

Bluefoxmug

But where does the money come from for all that?

We can't afford to provide devices and Wi-Fi dongles for all the pupils who don't have their own access to them and can't afford to buy them.

echt

thanks

Ds is at a fairly big name private school and he has a full Online timetable and has done from first day of lockdown, we were never asked to sign anything. They have a significant number of children who live overseas so all lessons are recorded and can be watched at anytime for those who can’t make the standard timetable. All kids have scheduled one to one zooms with their teachers each week to cover anything from class that it may not have been possible to do during the live lesson. Being a boarding school the normal school day and extra curricular timetable is extensive so there was plentiful extra time for teachers to do this, plus classes are much smaller, all student have to have a laptop anyway so available tech is not a problem. I can understand why full time teaching would be harder for state schools.

I have 36 kids in my class.8 of them have laptops. A further 10 have access to one but need to share. 6 have no access to any ict at all. The remainder are accessing via their phones.

Most of my class are accessing work sporadically not because they don't want to do it but because they are sharing, or have no workspace, or have run out of data. I get work back at all hours.

They need work that doesn't have to be printed. It needs to be doable at a home with few resources. It needs to be doable independently. It needs to be downloadable so it is not using their data. It needs to be readable on a variety of screens. It needs to get through our firewall. It needs to be on an accessible and safe platform for 24 hours.I need to be able to send paper copies of it. They need me to be able to respond by message or email and give them personal feedback. The teachers in school need this work for the children in school.

What they don't need is me doing a zoom lesson.

This is less about what the majority of children actually need and more about what a few parents think they have been done out of.

@CuckooCuckooClock

Wait, parents playing martyrs? Surely not. My able year 10s are managing to produce some very high level pieces of work. Their independent study skills have developed really nicely. I’d question how high ability a so called able year 10 was if they couldn’t manage to learn without someone spoon feeding them.

I think that attitude is really unfair. My dsis is a single mum and really struggling to keep her, yes, ABLE, year 10 dd motivated during this.

Fair enough teachers are doing their best in difficult circumstances but there's no need to snipe at year 10s.

Aragog, obviously YOU'RE meant to pay for them, you must have saved some money by not having to buy as many pencils, gluesticks and white board pens for your class from your own pocket and if you couple those savings with your massive salary (apparently more than the Prime Minister earns) and your gold plated pension you should have more than enough. Don't be so negative you CAN DO it.

@Aragog

devices came from school. they were given tablets (10 per class) from a local company and school bought an additional 5 per class.

the 4g dongles were organised by the pta.

phlebasconsidered

Exactly this.

I think you need to think about the reality of putting a video of yourself into the hands of teenagers. Would you really want there to be a possibility that students could alter that video or screen shot your face and then use that image without your permission? There is a vast difference between video conferencing in an adult workplace and streaming to young people's personal computers. There is absolutely no chance that I would take that risk.

I’ve just started Teams with mine. I think you can block the teacher image so they can’t do stuff with it.

Aragog, obviously YOU'RE meant to pay for them, you must have saved some money by not having to buy as many pencils, gluesticks and white board pens for your class from your own pocket and if you couple those savings with your massive salary (apparently more than the Prime Minister earns) and your gold plated pension you should have more than enough. Don't be so negative you CAN DO it

Top post, titbumwillypoo

ITonya I was responding to a pp.
I certainly wouldn’t snipe at a year 10 who is struggling with motivation at the moment but that is a totally separate issue.

I’d question how high ability a so called able year 10 was if they couldn’t manage to learn without someone spoon feeding them

That is sniping at kids who need actual teaching. If you didn't mean it then you should correct yourself.

Also GCSE work needs to be taught. At A level they can do their own thing much more. The gcse syllabus has no room for mavericks going off piste with their own independent research.

You should rtft and not take my comment out of context.

What subject do you teach ITonya