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.

Swiftseason was that a work force working with minors and the associated legal protections?

And/or people whose usual job roles do not involve much sitting in front of a screen?

Or indeed were teachers?

Did they have colleagues or customers who don't have access to tech or broad band to factor in?

Do they have to differentiate provision for every client in meetings of 30??

And chase up non-attendees?

What job roles were they out if interest

If teachers are being paid they should get on with it. I think one of the major issues is the unions.

My SIL is practicing for live/recorded lessons now, has delivered one last week which she found awkward, it took ages to prepare but thinks now she has done one, with practice, she'll relax into it and won't need to prepare as much.

It was no video, presenting and talking through the slides/tasks she had already set, chat enabled for pupils to ask questions. Recorded for pupils who couldn't listen at the set time. She spent a little time setting out the code of conduct for them during online learning.

She refuses to listen to the lesson recording of herself as she knows she will think she sounds terrible and it will make her more nervous , but sent to me and I listened and it was very good for a first attempt. I could tell she was very nervous to begin with but by the end of the lesson she was getting right into to flow of it.

Previously she never did them because the choice was live lessons or give out slides/worksheets, so she and her colleagues refused to do live/recorded online lessons quoting many of the reasons above. The one teacher who had done some short recorded videos (of his hands writing/explaining some physics equations on a piece of paper) was told to stop so the rest of the teachers would not be challenged to do similar.

Now schools are heading back the choice is actually be in school more (which I dont envy any teacher as I think it's too soon) delivering the same short lessons to your split classes twice or 3 times, now live online lessons are more attractive.

In hindsight, now she has done one, she wishes they had bitten the bullet and started sooner so they would have been comfortable doing it and had proven it as an effective and viable option to negotiate with their ht instead of all the initial reasons they said they couldn't be done being discussed..

Our school aren’t because apparently some teachers ‘arent Comfortable’ on video

Wow, that’s pathetic

Meanwhile, in the real world, everyone else has had to get comfortable with that concept (video conferencing) real quick, as without it, most people would be fired.

Absolutely. Pretty much everything is done on these platforms nowadays.

Chocolate card... And your responsibilities as an employer? Workload and Wellbeing. Key issues at the start of this year for Governors. It doesn't quite fit with your approach.
Plus people in the corporate world tend to get bonuses, pay increases, benefits when they go above and beyond.
Most teachers work over their hours normally and get very little reward for extra effort.
Do you not think as a Governor you should be making noise about ever decreasing funding?

But teachers are getting on with it. Most have been getting on with it from day one whether that be providing childcare in schools or providing a range of home learning activities from home.

A live lesson isn't always the best way to 'get on with it' however. Other methods can work just as well, often better. It very much depends on the whole school context.

And individual teachers rarely have the power to decide what they can and can't 'get on with' as they need to follow the information given by the school leaders and, in the case of a maintained school, the Lea and ultimately the Government official documentation.

If you have an issue with an individual teacher or school you should take that up with that particular school, rather than rant about 'teachers' as a group.

Plus people in the corporate world tend to get bonuses, pay increases, benefits when they go above and beyond

I really don’t believe this site sometimes.

Revenues in my company are massively down. I’m on 65% of my pay and the more senior directors are on 50%. We’re all going above and beyond, because if we don’t the business fails and we lose our jobs.

Btw we use Microsoft Teams not Zoom. In private schools every child has had to sign a contract on behaviour before live lessons began. Attendance has been 100%. Schools very concerned parents would not pay fees if they did not fulfil their contractual obligations to provide children with high quality education.

I think people perceive things differently in the state sector but if you are a tax payer, you have a right to question why provision is so poor.

School Governor here ... our high school has not been doing live lesson, due to the union telling their members not to do them.

LaurieMarlow

Wow, that’s pathetic

Its less "pathetic" than your response.

I think people perceive things differently in the state sector but if you are a tax payer, you have a right to question why provision is so poor.

Particularly when there are schools in the state sector providing very well.

ChocolateCard

This is where the “can’t do... won’t do” culture stems from.

Nope, this is a bullshit attitude made up by wankers on MN to make themselves feel better about having a go at other people.

Private schools doing lots of live lessons.

You can't see why there may be a difference in what a private school can offer than a state school?
Or why live lessons might work better, or be more appropriate there than at a state scho?

Just take a moment to consider pupil numbers, the school community, the amount of resourcing and money available, the likelihood of pupils and parents having tech and internet access, the likelihood of staff being provided with the tech and internet required, etc.

It's two entirely different ballparks in most cases.

And for what it's work not all private schools are providing a full timetable of live lessons.

Having experience of both systems with my own child, with friends who work or who have children in both systems, the offerings are still varying hugely.

I'm not sure that shyness, lack of confidence or lack of training are adequate reasons tbh - they are the same challenges most of us are facing in finding new ways to work during the pandemic. It's not an excuse for most work, so I don't see why teaching should be any different.

I teach live lessons via Teams to my year 10 class. No video on for anyone, audio and PowerPoint for teacher. Audio available for students to answer a direct question only.

Lesson is recorded and can be watched back. We have 2 staff members per session for safeguarding.

Students who don’t have devices could be classed as vulnerable and be asked into school to participate.

That's not how it works. The government advice documentation tells you who is vulnerable. It's not someone who can't afford a laptop or tablet for their child.

Why on EARTH would I EVER agree to have my image on a students screen and put myself at risk of being screenshot, edited, made into a meme or photoshopped onto something? What a joke.

Your children aren’t adult working professionals who understand the legalities of the law and copyright protection - of course zoom in a normal working environment is different than it is for a teacher with 30 kids.

I should say - no video live lessons are fine!!

My friends daughters school has been brilliant at keeping her class connected. 2 live online assemblies from the head each week and one lesson a day from their teacher. He starts by asking them what they had for lunch or if they would like to tell the class anything, a show and tell one day went down well. The vast majority of pupils have access to a screen and she juggles her one screen between her 2 kids as and when they need it. It’s not that big a deal and the kids love it. My child has had a learning pack, unmarked, online maths things to do, not teacher contact. The bare minimum has been done and I’m quite shocked by the lack of effort that has gone into it.

Do they stream in state secondary? Would even the top sets muck about and not engage? Seems a shame to ignore them if not.

Why on EARTH would I EVER agree to have my image on a students screen and put myself at risk of being screenshot, edited, made into a meme or photoshopped onto something? What a joke

Isn't this a risk every day in RL?

LaurieMarlow

Particularly when there are schools in the state sector providing very well.

Define what "very well" means?

In the end we all know that what you actually mean is that the state school is doing what you want.

We had a poll about live lessons (amongst other things) and the parents replied that they didn't want them.

Having said that, several of our parents have been 'persuasive' enough to manage to get our HT to agree to some live lessons.

Bloody hell this again! @Plinkplonkplank you mean some schools!

At my secondary school we provide a full on-line curriculum using Microsoft Teams. Therefore if your child has 7/ 8 lessons at day then that it what they receive. Plus we are running extra curricular on-line clubs and each student has received a report at half term wrt progress and they will all get a report next half with their end of year exam results on it.

Not all schools stream but many do.
A top set can, of course, still have class clowns who don't know how to behave.

I still cannot see why a love lesson is perceived, on MN anyway, as the best system. A well planned and thought over recorded lesson, with slides and voice over, and accompanying printouts (or work on screen) sheets and exercises can be far superior than a live lesson with potential tech issues and interruptions. Having been on the learner side of a live training session twice now I really do not see how live lessons are better. A recorded session with the opportunity to respond and get feedback after would have worked much better.

ITonyah

The risk is minimised in classrooms, that is why schools ban phones or require them to be in bags and off during the school day.