AIBU to think that online school should be a thing?

[Norabird]

I think that the government, or perhaps LAs, should establish online schools.

Not for everyone.

There have always been children that couldn't access physical school due to ill health, mental health issues, fear of bullying, anxiety, poor behaviour etc. etc. now there will be even more children whose parents just don't feel comfortable sending them (not judging that). Wouldn't it be better if, instead of threatening these parents with fines, they had the option of taking their children out of the physical school and enrolling them in an online school instead?

As a school that was specifically intended to be delivered online, the lessons would all be planned to take that into account. It wouldn't be the same as normal schools frantically scrabbling to put some home learning together. Also, children enrolled in the school would be provided with internet access and a laptop etc. so they could access it. There wouldn't be the costs associated with school buildings to run so I should think that would be manageable.

I think there are a lot of children who this would suit better than the current system. What do you think?

@MarshaBradyo

Oak Academy is online lessons. It’s pretty good as online version but no replacement for school.

Exactly, it isn't online school. Children aren't enrolled in it, they don't have interaction with staff or other students, nobody is monitoring the work they are doing... That's not what I'm talking about at all.

@RainingMeatballs

Inter high isn’t a state school but there are funded state pupils, with some of the needs you mentioned. A part of EHCPs

I didn't know that. That's really interesting. It obviously is a better option for some children then.

@Grasspigeons

Children out of school due to illness, lack of school places or excluded are still supposed to recieve a FT education from the LA. This normally involves some tutor time and access to the authority's online school. This can be a mix of pre-set exercises and sometimes virtual groups. Its not as good as bitesize/oakleaf in my area. Its massively underfunded and getting access to it is hard. In my LA sub area the service is set up to work with around 50 children and they have 200 on their books. My son was out of school for a year and was awarded one half term of access. Funding the existing service would be a good idea. My only concern is how cheap and ineffective it could be compared to finding a proper school place for a child with SEN or one that had been excluded and needed more support.

Yes, it would need to be properly funded and run as an actual school or it wouldn't work well.

If it was state funded who would provide resources such as reading books, printer, pencils etc?

Nora ok I haven’t experienced the full version. Oak takes loads of effort on my part it’s true, for y5.

Ds y10 had loads of online lessons, but he found it much harder to engage for a whole day. School for him is a much better fit.

There are independent schools that are fully online such as inter high. They have opportunities to socialise online as well as real life (optional) meet ups. I think this would work well for a significant minority of young people. Young people whose parents need to move for work frequently, who are getting medical treatment or just prefer it due to anxiety or ASD. I think it should be an ongoing option. For many I imagine they would do a year or two and then want to go back. But they would be in a really good position to get back into ‘normal’ school as they would have continued in the curriculum.

@BuffaloCauliflower

I’d rather they spent the money on both schools and better mental health provision for children. CAMHS is massively underfunded. Let’s build children’s emotional resilience instead of encouraging anxiety by keeping them home. For children with physical illness concerns, specially prepared work by teachers/schools that know them will be much better than the huge, centralised and impersonal solution you suggest

It wouldn't need to be any more impersonal than any other school though. They would still have teachers and other students to interact with. Just it would be online rather than physical. Done by a teacher who operates this way all the time rather than an already stretched teacher trying to add it on to their existing workload.

I don't disagree at all about funding for children's mental health but that's a whole other rant.

I worked on something like this back in 2002ish. It was a last resort for children who really couldn’t access any other type of school. I only did lesson content so had nothing to do with the pastoral care bit but I know it was mainly about that rather than qualifications as such. We didn’t follow a curriculum just aimed to enable the students.

@Tink88 these are being provided by most secondary school parents here already. My niece had to buy her English books, her text books and provide pencils etc.

But as someone said upthread with no buildings I imagine that some of these could be provided.

@Frozenfrogs86

There are independent schools that are fully online such as inter high. They have opportunities to socialise online as well as real life (optional) meet ups. I think this would work well for a significant minority of young people. Young people whose parents need to move for work frequently, who are getting medical treatment or just prefer it due to anxiety or ASD. I think it should be an ongoing option. For many I imagine they would do a year or two and then want to go back. But they would be in a really good position to get back into ‘normal’ school as they would have continued in the curriculum.

That's exactly what I'm thinking. Normal school doesn't always work for all the children all the time. Some would be better with a break from it, others would be better out of it long term. It would be good to have an effective alternative option for those children.

I always thought real school would be better for children to learn how to socialise but it's not that straightforward. Some children just can't learn those skills, certainly not in that environment, and school can be a thoroughly miserable experience for them. I've seen it in phases with my own DD (ASD) and also with other children (often ASD but not exclusively) in the school where I work. It's not because other children are unkind or that the staff aren't trying their best to support them. It's just not always the right environment. Equally, I know ASD children who have really struggled with not being in school. It's just all about finding the right fit for the individual.

I think this is a brilliant idea and I hope that it will indeed become part of a way of learning and teaching in the future. It doesn't have to be all or nothing - a combination of online learning with some face-to-face or group learning would be great imo.

Yes. I agree. I have an autistic child who was utterly failed by the education system on this country. I was forced to remove him and home educate him while the LA danced for joy and gleefully reminded me they had no responsibly to finance or facilitate his education now. How much easier things would have been if there had been alternative on line provision. People who say no have obviously never been through the hell that is an autistic child too high functioning for special school and too low functioning for mainstream. There are a whole swathe of children like this falling through the cracks. Lucky those who aren't affected.

I’ve met home educated children with online school or EOTAS Tutors and I do think they miss out on the social contact side of home Ed. Groups tend to be at set times and rarely fit round these things. You end up doing both ineffectually

As a parent home educating in London this simply isn't true. Maybe in smaller towns where there's less going on but even then there's loads going on. Honestly people who don't HE haven't for the first clue about what's available. We could have been out from 8 in the morning till 8 at night doing classes and groups if we'd wanted to be.

I think it’s great if a child responds well to this and can access it.

Ds is the opposite and suffers more with home learning so as long as it’s not introduced to all as a part time solution.

But yes if you can see the difference great, I see the difference the other way it cannot he underestimated.

I agree OP. Our mainstream schools are homogeneous and don't suit hardly anyone. An online choice should be available.

This is the project I did some work on in 2002 www.notschool.net/default.html