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.

With all of this use of online systems, eg. Zoom and those offered by Microsoft and Google, can anyone tell me how much they cost? Or are they being offered to schools for free and for how long?

It’s quite a while since I worked in schools (six over my career), and these platforms were only at the development stage then. I remember schools trying to choose the right one but having massive concerns about the cost plus the amount of time and effort to prepare materials and then upload them. The training implications were massive. It seems that ICT provision has also been decimated during the last ten years.

Those parents complaining about their children’s schools’ performance often don’t seem to be aware that government policies, including the breaking up of local authorities’ oversight of schools, via the development of academy chains, have had a massive detrimental effect on school planning and budgets!

mistress - I posted this earlier...a guides for schools and parents.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources

@flamingochill

No teaching to keyworker kids is happening so it’s not going to help anyone catch up.

It’s not fair. Keyworkers Send their kids to school. Work a full day. Pick the kid up and come home and then teach the kid all before bedtime.

If like me you get slightly annoyed when the teacher who your child has been with all day then emails asking if “do you plan to engage with the home learning as it is very important and is there anything we can do to help”. And they don’t seem to think “you have her from 0830-1530 can you do any of the learning with her” is a reasonable suggestion. So I now wfh 2 days a week so dd gets some education.

Brilliant post bewillalways

It’s not just private schools.
Some state schools manage this. That’s my point. Of course private schools will be doing it.

I don’t think zoom is safe. Friends of mine got hacked by child porn while having a work conference. They had passwords I believe.

Delatron

This is exhausting- have you read ANY of the pedagogical/context based reason why live teaching may not be the best decision?

Delatron can you engage with any aspect of a post that isn't about "state schools should be delivering live lessons"?

@Jessicabrassica
**
“It’s unreasonable to start watching a whole day of lessons at 3.15”

What do you think keyworkers are having to do with their kids? Why is it not ok for teachers kids but is ok for drs and nurses and shop workers kids to have to have their lessons after 3.15?

GurlwiththeCurl

Google classrooms is free. there are also other platforms that are being used.
Teams also has a free version, there is a paid version, the paid version is currently free for 6 months,
Zoom basic is free and has had the 40 minute limit lifted for schools.

nonotthatdr lots of people are working full time at the same time as supporting their dc education. That’s the way it is at the moment. If teachers were all doing zoom lessons this would be even more difficult.

I have read all your posts. It doesn’t change the fact that many state schools are managing to do live lessons ...

Good for them for working through all the issues and finding a solution.

Rofl. You're getting quite funny now Delatron. I will say this again and then go and do something more enjoyable - live lessons are not better for many children than non-live lessons. why can you not get your head around that idea? They have many issues with them whether about accessibility, equity or safe guarding, and they will not become the norm. So why couldn't we look at the best non-live way to teach from home?
You never did say what in particular is wrong with the worksheets you've received.

Ffs LIVE LESSONS ARE NOT THE BEST WAY TO TEACH

Delatron

Only around a third of schools are doing live lessons.

I don’t understand why you are so insistent that it is the only way forward.

Sorry mistress took me ages to write in capitals

@FrippEnos Thank you for answering my question. Yes, I thought that some of the providers were offering their systems for free at the moment. I’m wondering how long this will last and how much they will charge when the free offer comes to an end? I imagine that huge bills will eventually be added to overstretched school budgets in the future!

Sending loads of sympathy to school staff in this current climate.

Dd's school started doing some live and some prerecorded. Now all are live because some students didn't engage well with the prerecorded lessons

Cuckoo

I did say that I don’t think full time zoom is useful or even desirable over recoded lessons or voice over PowerPoint etc. It would be useful for me on my homeschool/wfh days as we need to get through the weeks content in two days as I have to go into work on the other three (and dd goes to keyworker provision) so I agree.

My point was that yes it’s crap working from home but having kids around and it being your house and kit isn’t an excuse other than the very poor or those with no internet (due to being rural etc) if I have to show my patients the inside of my kitchen (we don’t use zoom or teams as it wasn’t thought secure enough so I can’t change background) and somehow figure out how to simultaneously keep a three year old safe and entertained while listening to patients talk about their serious health conditons then teachers should be able to manage some stuff.

If a timetable of lessons and daily interaction with the teacher was so terrible why do private schools do it?

It’s not the A4 sheet per se that’s the problem. It’s the no feedback or marking from the teachers that’s the problem. But according to you this is preferable to the example up thread where their child has a full daily schedule of teaching with feedback and marking. My child would thrive on that.

Hmmmm.

It’s as if some people think that no live lessons = no teaching at all.

Loads of my students have done brilliant home learning projects. I have carefully read through every piece of work that I have received and given proper feedback.

This is the best use of my time at the moment because it will help the students to progress better that any live lessons could.

I have classes of 30-35 students. How much individual attention could I give them in a zoom lesson? What would a live zoom lesson add to their learning?

If someone could convince me that live lessons would be better for progression than what I’m currently doing them I’d find a way to do it.

Putting words into my mouth now, you must feel you're losing an argument. Worksheet with no feedback - not where I'm working anyway. My dc have had feedback from some but not all teachers. Some teachers see everyone once a week, I can see how that would be hard to manage for feedback. The best we've had have been recorded (voice) feedback from Maths, very effective.
But I'll remember, the choices are worksheet or live teaching, with nothing in between

Delatron
If a timetable of lessons and daily interaction with the teacher was so terrible why do private schools do it?

Money

If someone could convince me that live lessons would be better for progression than what I’m currently doing them I’d find a way to do it.
Absolutely Cuckoo. You're been asked on here to stop doing something that generally works well and instead do something that might work ok or might not, and that lots of staff and students would struggle to access. Go figure.
(Fancy a pint Cuckoo in the teacher's local?)

Dd has a full timetable with almost instant feedback and marking, the teachers must be knackered.

It is also worth mentioning that dd year 9 is really tired and gets headaches from looking at a screen all day. Although she's definitely getting a full and thorough education it's taking its toll.

PE is done with Homecourt and Strava challenges as well so she's running and cycling every day.

Both quite looking forward to end of term tbh.