Scottish Govt saying PT home schooling is likely for the full school year

[YeahWhatevver]

Scottish Govt is saying that blended learning (part time in school, part time home schooling) is likely to be in place for the full academic year.

Honestly, if I'm trying to juggle work and teaching 2 primary kids this time next year I'm going to have a nervous breakdown.

Funnily enough, UK govt at pains to reassure people that it's safe to start shopping on Monday, if its safe enough to shop, how isn't it safe enough to open schools?

the school have been excellent at home learning

That's great. But not every school has been great. I have a child who will be doing Nat 5s next year and one who should have sat his Highers this year and obviously didn't.

The online provision from our school has been awful. My children have not had real-time communication with a teacher at all. No phone calls. No video lessons. No zoom groups where they can interact with a teacher. Work uploaded on Show My Homework or Glow, email a teacher if you get stuck. No feedback on work, no chasing up work which isn't submitted. It's been VERY poor.

@Devlesko

Do you not think that women will be the ones to be made redundant so they can be sahm's. Conservatives have usually gone for this, they don't like women working.

Of course they will. If the conservatives don't want women working they need to start paying us for being at home working as pt tutors.

The whole thing is becoming a travesty. I’m dismayed. One of our local schools has released plans suggesting each child might be in for a day per week- not for a week or a month, but most likely at least one term and quite possibly the whole year.

I’m dumbfounded by it. We know that children are highly unlikely to be badly affected by covid in the event they do catch it. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that children are also significantly less likely to pass it on than adults. In other countries the transmission rates did not accelerate rapidly- there was a short-lived and very slight rise in most but this did not vastly increase population level transmission. Teachers were not being infected and admitted to hospital in their droves. And yet we are still willing to cause profound and lasting damage to the education and mental well-being of our children. I’m both dismayed and incredulous that this has come to pass.

WHY can we not look at the innovative models used elsewhere and recreate and/or adapt them to meet our needs? It cannot be beyond government, education authorities and schools to devise ways to manage schools to allow children back safely. We cannot possibly be the only country in the developed world who cannot manage it.

I’ve been a supporter of the way the Scottish g’ment have been trying to be clear and concise regarding the rules and regulations, at a time when Boris did nothing but bumble. But I fear they are going too slowly for fear of making a mis-step in the run up to an election year. A concern the uk government does not have for another few years.

A year? That is devastating. I was hoping for the other side of the October holidays. A year will crucify kids, working parents and families. Utterly ridiculous.

@TheMurk totally agree having worked with children like this you are absolutely right, I don’t know how this is supposed to “Close the Attainment Gap” in any shape of form. I was thinking about when schools were saying children had to have fresh uniform each day about children who had the same short on for weeks at a time, same one from a Friday to a Monday and teachers trying to think of ways to get a new clean one on them.

My child is in secondary school, I have had no contact from the school since they finished in March. As I work full time in the nhs, there is little homeschooling going on here. Im aware they are prioritising P7 and S6 but the Nat 5 years are just as important. I'm starting to worry about their future if only in school 1/2 days a week.

Take a part time job at supermarket or food.

You dont get to chose your hours.
They only offer 15hrs a week these days, thats below Tax Credits minimum.
I am having to inform Tax Credits that despite being promised 16 hrs I am only working 15 and despite the promises of plenty overtime, there is none.

Send kids full time then?
How do you propose we do that when there will be only be a mximum of 1/3 schooling per child per week for god knows how long in Scotland? And if you need school transport then you are probbly screwed as they are cutting the numbers of kids in the bus to stick to the 2m rule. 72 seater buses are now only going to take 10 kids! Its bloody ridiculous.

Employers to be “flexible and sympathetic” of course they will. They will go on paying you for doing nothing until NS says education finally matters for kids, clubs can open again and parents can go back to work.

There's space outside the supermarket and when you reach the head of the queue you go in. It would need a rather different system for parents. Is it worth it? If people don't socially distance and there's a new outbreak I'd say no - if distancing can be maintained then yes. Lots of people collecting at our school are grandparents.

Are you seriously suggesting that we couldnt figure out how to stand 2m (which will be less very soon) away from each other just the same as we do at a supermarket? Are you suggesting that all those grandparents have the ability to look after children but not work out a queue?

Grandparents are not an option for a lot of people they never were for us.
Until they reopen before and after school clubs grandparents or nothing and not being able to work will be the only options for many people.

I'm pretty confident all kids in the UK will be part time until the end of the calendar year.

Hi Bairnsmum, your school hasn't set any work at all for a secondary pupil? That's very strange. Nothing on teams or the school website even?
I think at this level there is an expectation the student will do some work at home on their own, if they can't do that or refuse to you might get a space at the hub since you work for the NHS, though depends if you have another parent who can work from home.

@puffalicious We have been told that in our council area all children will only be returning 33% of the time, so will be receiving less than 15 hours a week in secondary. I am glad you feel your high school is providing a good service, but not all of us feel the same way. I have two high school age children and am not impressed with blended learning. One child has had 3 virtual lessons, the other has had none.

Blended learning hasn't started yet, has it?
I see we are back to the "live lessons or it's rubbish" idea. What else has your dc's school provided?

I should have added that both children have been receiving work through teams, but it is not the same as direct teaching.

Is this just Scotland?

What’s going on in Scotland at all? I’m in England but I have a Scottish friend, she thinks is Nicola Sturgeon is wonderful. It looks to me like she’s playing politics.

The irony is that everyone who has to reduce their hours or give up work will stop paying taxes and then it won't be long before teachers and schools run out of money because goverment budgets will be cut. A strong economy and being able to offer all kids a good state education go hand in hand. Part time schooling and the impact on working parents finances is going to widen inequality and lead to huge problems for the future

Honestly I’d be happier with the Scott government prewarning about this than the UK gov letting parents think schools would be back in June and then it didn’t happen. I think in many of the countries that have schools going back already they anticipate PT/blended education continuing for most of the next year. I think that’ll happen in England and other UK areas too.

It’s just Scotland that has said it will go on until the end of the academic year - our education minister said this on BBC interview today.

What’s even more ridiculous is the segment that followed had Sturgeon saying she would consider reducing SD to 1M.

Now, surely if that happens this whole discussion about schools is meaningless as the rationale behind kids being in 2 days etc is that classrooms aren’t big enough to keep them all 2m apart. If that’s reduced to 1M they can have twice as many kids...

Which begs the further question, will it really be about social distancing and COVID in the end or is this all a way of saving some money and blurring the education performance figures in the run up to the election?

Is NS popular? My Scottish friend thinks she’s wonderful and this is everyone else is a dick!

Totally absurd. Modern households aren't designed to be supported by one salary.

Funny how pre-pandemic the gender pay gap was one of the big discussed issues. Now that's out the window and we're happy for women (because we all know that it will mostly be women) either giving up their jobs to home school or suddenly being forced to produce inferior work as they balance childcare.

Murk:
Now, surely if that happens this whole discussion about schools is meaningless as the rationale behind kids being in 2 days etc is that classrooms aren’t big enough to keep them all 2m apart. If that’s reduced to 1M they can have twice as many kids.

With 2m I can fit 10 in my classroom. With 1m that goes up to 15, so about half the class. With everyone back they sit about 10cm apart in my classroom.

@CountessFrog it’s 50/50 I would say although the media in Scotland very much in SNP’s pocket so it may appear that she’s more popular than she is.

This schools move and her reticence on reopening business are not going down well. Also criticised today for slowness in getting health and hospitals back to full speed. Really we are all just stuck in limbo here.

Nicola Sturgeon appeals to those who want independence but are unable to see how economically devastating it would be. It’s a lot of people unfortunately. She’s dire.

We are City of Edinburgh council. They have banned any form of video lessons and are only offering 4 days teaching every 3 weeks. Does any other council have a worse education department? I’d be surprised!

Exactly @autumnsloth its like we're losing the last 30years of progress. I'm the bigger earner in our family and yet i feel pressured to give up as many or more hours than my DH (and without wishing to sound awful I earn 3x what he does so its totally nonsensical but the school still calls me to check how DC are doing not him)

I am with you OP. I have 2 jobs and my DH also works so how are we meant to juggle 3 jobs and 3 days of home schooling! Plus I have a DS with ASD which is another challenge..

WTAF @Coastercat

How do they justify that?!??

Time to take to the streets I think.