BBC being forced to remove BBC Daily Online Lessons on 27th July

[Worriedmum999]

I’ve just found out that the BBC are removing their Daily Online Lessons on 27th July. I am absolutely shocked. Apparently BESA who represents online providers have kicked up a fuss and threatened them with legal action. You would have thought that, in the middle of a pandemic, they could have let it go until at least September. Lots of children haven’t managed to access this during term time due to parents working all the hours god sends on the front line and were going to catch up over the summer but now what opportunity will be gone. Another way the children of keyworkers have had their education fucked over for 3 months. There is already an article about this online, saying who it will disproportionately affect the children from poorer families.

Not sure if the collective power of Mumsnet can do anything about this to keep the content available until September? The BBC have offered to put something there for the children to do over the summer but it will be shit compared to what is there now. Alternative is Oak Academy but I find the children struggle to get on with that themselves and I still haven’t worked out how to print off the linked resources!

I have tweeted by disgust to BESA. Not sure what else I can do

Thats a real shame to just take it down and not leave the existing up.

I used the bitesize to introduce a topic and maybe clarify something if I'm not explaining it well

It’s the summer holidays for all the kids though. Expecting children to still be doing school work in the summer while everyone else has the summer holidays especially at a time where people can start to go out again is unrealistic.

And where does it say the bbc are being forced to remove the lessons?

I don’t agree with the poster who says we are no longer in the middle of a pandemic, we are still in a pandemic. But I think that lessons being removed is a good idea so that it gives the same message to all that it’s now the holidays for all

Oak academy is brilliant. Stick with the english, science and maths. Perhaps if you have the time sit with them. Google search the printable items that's what I did.

I worked the extra hours and didn't use the keyworker school places as dh and I worked around it. It was only a childcare element anyway so there wasn't much learning going on anyway. I will also be using the school holidays to keep my children caught up.

I’m a key worker and DH is working full time. They don’t do any work at school. It’s just childcare. Both of us have a lot of annual leave booked over the summer. Basically 4 days a week between the two of us to cover it. We were planning to do the BBC bite size to during the time. It is the summer but DC has already had a whole term without doing homework. They literally just play all day and watch TV at school.

They just seem to have made Oak Academy so difficult to use. I couldn’t even see how to print off any worksheets. Why not just have a button that says click here for resources??

And we will be going out for the summer holiday as well. The lessons on bite size takes an hour at most anyway,

Anyone know if it's possible to download and save what's already there?

I can understand them stopping making content but not just taking it away. My son likes looking at it independently. Makes no sense to me.

Oak academy is far better. We found the BBC lessons very dumbed down. Oak has actual teachers doing a lesson and it’s far better for children to engage with. Give it a go and stop frothing.

It’s because the educational companies who BESA represent have complained that it is taking business and money away from them. I can see their point longterm, but for the sake of a few weeks so that more children can catch up? Seems very mean spirited.

Another way the children of keyworkers have had their education fucked over for 3 months

I thought keyworkers’ kids had school places throughout. The schools were kept open for them, weren’t they?

I’m confused - is it just that they won’t be putting up any new lessons? It seems to say ones already released will be available for 12 months?

As long as anything already released remains I think that’s fair enough.

Lots of children of key workers couldn’t even get a place in school! And even many of those there didn’t access much academic work.

My children (y4 with SENs) and y2 have found Bitesize easiest to navigate and access. I was planning to continue into the summer because we've done little and often since March but have missed daya and had bad weeks along the way where we clearly didn't have the headspace to enforce home learning.

We're also not exactly desperate for 6 weeks off after 18 weeks at home before they even break up!

OP where does it say that BBC is being “forced to remove” them? Quote above suggests they are being deliberately taken offline to help them update. Both annoying but not exactly the same.

Keyworkers children were allowed in school, but most have done very little learning. The absolute max amount of work my DC have done is one Oak Academy lesson a day (by themselves, no teacher input). Some days none. It’s just childcare. We’ve been trying to catch up at weekends, but DC, DP, & I are frankly knackered by the weekend so it’s not gone brilliantly. We are hoping to do a bit to catch up over the summer.

I agree with the OP and think there are some obtuse people on this thread.

It’s the summer holidays for all the kids though. Expecting children to still be doing school work in the summer while everyone else has the summer holidays especially at a time where people can start to go out again is unrealistic.

I don't understand this at all. Who is "everyone else"? Most working adults do not get a six-week summer vacation.

I am sure nobody is planning on their kids doing a full-on schedule over the summer, but most kids' learning has been compromised over the past few months. It's completely reasonable and sensible for parents to get their kids to do a little work each day over the summer, to catch up. I'd rather my kids had a "less-fun-than-usual" summer holiday for one year, than that they fell behind and had permanent gaps in their knowledge.

If parents haven't been able to homeschool, what makes you think they'll be able to do so over the summer?

Working parents have done their best but their children have been doing less learning per day than they would normally do (in most cases). This means that they will need to keep plodding on and doing the same over the summer if you don't want massive gaps in their education.

As for key worker kids, it depends on the school. Most schools have been sensible and have made the kids sit down and work through their home learning packs, just like they would have done at home. Some schools have not and KW kids have just been babysat.

I am teaching a bubble of keyworker children.. I am still doing formal maths/writing/reading/spellings each day. The afternoons are more art/craft as they are reception-y4 so topic/science would be tricky but not all keyworker provision is just childcare :)

DC has already had a whole term without doing homework. They literally just play all day and watch TV at school.

Yes, this. I don't think this is the norm, but some schools appear to have basically done this. I really don't understand why or how anyone can justify this to be honest. But this has been talked about on other threads so I will shut up about it.

They are not taking them offline to update them. Why would they do that? BESA is threatening them with legal action (as they have done before). There are articles online available about this.

Text from article...

The British Educational Suppliers Association is seeking written assurances that the national broadcaster will wind down its beefed-up education offerings amid claims they may breach competition laws.

One of the demands is for the BBC to remove lessons from its Bitesize website from the first day of the summer holidays.

But Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: “Any move to withdraw the BBC’s online resources for home-learning would be a retrograde step as it is increasingly clear that children will be continuing to learn online for an extended period, stretching into the new academic year.”

As a teacher, who has used BBC resources for home learning, I don’t think 6 weeks of access to their daily lessons over summer will make a huge difference to a child’s 13 years of education.

I’m in Scotland, so we’re now on holiday and haven’t seen our main cohort of children in school since 20th March. There will undeniably be a huge disparity in the experiences that children have had in lockdown.

I’m worried about the children who will have not been well fed, might be living in unstable or unsafe homes, might have been left to their own devices or alone with screens for far too long.

I’m not concerned about the children, who might not have engaged with home learning, but have been out on bike rides and family walks and had proper conversations. Children who have had enough to eat, been encouraged to read or have had bedtime stories every day.

When we return to school, we can identify academic or social gaps and try our best to fill them. When we ask for parental support in this, some will engage, others won’t (for a variety of reasons).

The gap between children who get extra support and enrichment at home and those who don’t has always been there. It reaches far out with the school closures. We can only provide so much in the school day, and we try so hard to mitigate that ‘gap’ but it’s one of our biggest issues in education. Whether or not those BBC lessons remain online over the summer will make very little difference in my opinion.

There are lots of resources that a parent can use if they suddenly have more time or inclination. I suggest asking your school for support ASAP and they will hopefully provide you with materials for over the summer.

This seems a pointless move. We didn't need to use the lessons as had good provision from school but I know that they were a real support to many.

I do think one of the greatest failures of this debacle was the decision not to educate children of key workers while they were in school. Our DCs are at different private schools and both schools taught KW pupils through exactly the same videos and online resources as were being offered to children doing distance learning from home. Its hardly rocket science and I hope that schools that didn't try to find solutions in either sector face a reckoning ( private schools will as parents will simply send their DCs elsewhere).

This is mad. BBC Bitesize existed way before lockdown. It's packed with educational resources to support the curriculum. Teachers frequently refer to their videos during lessons or to assist regular home learning. For instance it's got lots of material to help with GCSE revisions.
The BBC's mission is to inform, entertain, and educate. Someone is taking the piss.

As a general principle, it does seem really disgusting, mercantile and backward to remove free educational resources that have already been produced, if there are people who want to use them.