To think schools have got to reliant on technology

[Jelllytotss]

When I was primary school a very long time ago now. We were sent home a report on paper for parents evening and then they saw our parents on the bigger parents evening later in the year. Our kids school have decided they want to do parents evening on camera through zoom this year because we can't go into the school. I have no more room on my phone for this app. But my partner will have to download it. There's 30 seconds in between every ten minute call and you can't be a second late. They've advised you lurk for an hour online or something to ensure you are ready.

I have toddlers in the house. A partner who works often until 7pm and I just wish she could email across some basic details about the first month at school or arrange a phone call if there's anything serious to discuss.

All homework is done now on a seperate app on phone too. Plus parent mail is constantly pinging throughout the day with loads of stuff about online this and that. Setting up accounts. Etc etc.

Do they not realise parents are busy working, caring for other children and only have so much space on phones for the required stuff.

My daughter's 5 and it's already this technical.

Well aware of the situation. But surely a message on parent mail to each parent is enough!

btw both my 3 year old child and my 78 year old mother have mastered zoom in seconds.

@babyguffingtonstrikesagain

I am not being unreasonable

😂😂😂 Get out of AIBU then!!!!!

Exactly - it’s the classic am I unreasonable? Yes

No I’m not

Why did you ask op

My FAVOURITE kind of AIBU are these ones.

OP- Am I being unreasonable?

Everyone- yes!

OP- Well I’m not being unreasonable and you are all stinky poo heads so there.

Zoom doesn’t need an app. Just do it on a browser it use big girl words to the teacher and say, “I’m really sorry Zoom doesn’t work for me, would you mind awfully calling me instead and, by the way, thank you SO MUCH for teaching my child during a world wide pandemic. I really appreciate all of your hard work.” Go on, I dare you.

also, zoom runs on ancient devices without any issues - we run it on a 10 year old ipad.
If there isn’t enough space, temporarily delete another app, install zoom, and afterwards delete zoom and add the other app again. takes less than 2 minutes.
School can’t make coronavirus magically disappear (they would if they could), they are trying their best

Going off on a tangent somewhat, but a quick message for all school staff reading this -

you're bloody brilliant. The majority of parents appreciate you're doing a cracking job in ridiculous circumstances. Sometimes I don't understand why you've made a particular decision, but I always know it was with the best of intentions. On the whole, you've done everything amazingly over the past 8 months. I'm grateful for the care and education you're giving my DC and hope you get some well deserved down time over half term.

I didn't want to do Zoom either so I requested a phone call.

They phoned me, it was fine.

Honestly be grateful. My DDs school are only making appointments with those parents they genuinely need to speak to, according to the class whatsapp for our class thats only 2 DCs in a class of 25. We've been told the rest of us will be contacted if needs be.

Just use your PC, like all the other parents who can't afford fancy phones have to.

@Jelllytotss

I'm not being unreasonable. They just presume everyone has up to date fancy phones with loads of space etc. A phone call would be great but that's not how they are doing it. Like I said it's all apps and downloading things to open files and stuff. My phone's rammed with school stuff.

The problem with phone calls is that we have more than 600 pupils’ parents to phone (large primary) but only 2 phones available to use that are not in the school office. There is no way that I’m using my own mobile to call parents or my landline at home in case parents find out the number. Also it’s not fair to my own family if I have to make these calls at home in a silent house. The conversation needs to be professional so the teacher can’t have the tv blaring in the background and their own family making noise.

If a parent cannot do a video call then we will of course use the school phone and do the appointment like that but this will be at a different time to the other parents’ evenings due to availability of the school phones.

Schools can’t win at the minute. If you are unhappy then that suggest you resolve the problem with the school office.

If you are having issues accessing the technology then talk to the school so they can come up with a plan to help.

Otherwise accept that at the moment it is that technology which is going to help support education and communication at the moment

@Gazelda

Going off on a tangent somewhat, but a quick message for all school staff reading this -

you're bloody brilliant. The majority of parents appreciate you're doing a cracking job in ridiculous circumstances. Sometimes I don't understand why you've made a particular decision, but I always know it was with the best of intentions. On the whole, you've done everything amazingly over the past 8 months. I'm grateful for the care and education you're giving my DC and hope you get some well deserved down time over half term.

Hear hear.

Your responses do in some ways remind of stuff my very elderly Dad would come out with.

He is very much an old-school type (and is a long retired teacher too). He has never used a computer and rarely even a scientific calculator. He doesn't believe in them and still wants everything on pen and paper only. He would go back to that if he could.

He has never touched a smartphone at all and thinks that their ancient brick of a mobile phone is extremely high tech. If my daughters or I have to show him anything we have looked up for him on our phones then he totally glazes over, even though he does listen to the information if we read it out to him.

Even he knows though that technology is here to stay and that schools and parents have to embrace it. So long as he doesn't have to touch it himself.

That is fine by me, and fine for him and people like him who are no longer working. Not fine though for parents of young children to be stamping their feet about it.

This is increasingly how schools work these days. Accept it or you will get left behind.

If you don’t have a laptop or any device other than a phone, then your children are going to grow up very disadvantaged compared to their peers.

It would be like a child of the past not having access to books, paper or TV at home.

I know your eldest is only 5 so no rush for a year or two in ordinary times, but with COVID as well maybe look about getting a cheap or free laptop sooner rather than later.

Jeez...just ring the school and tell them that you can't do a zoom call and could the teacher phone you instead. It's really not difficult.

Given that parental engagement and parental education (especially the educational level of the mother) are key indicators as to a child’s academic potential, I do think the current situation will unfortunately widen the attainment gap. Those with parents unable to afford or unwilling or unable to use the technology will fall further and further behind. Those in crowded housing, without decent internet, a quiet place to study, or sharing one device between multiple people will be the ones who fall behind. I see the difference in provision from schools in my deprived area versus in the wealthier areas where my family live.. and it’s worlds apart. Not because the schools don’t try, but because their focus is on making sure their pupils are fed and safe.
Sorry if that’s a bit off topic, but while I don’t really agree with OP, I do think she has a point about poorer families.

Just ring the school and ask for a phone call. They are not mind readers.

Maybe you should start to save money toward buying a computer. They are pretty much essential for secondary school, lots of homework, especially maths is online. Plus needing it for research etc. Even art we had to print off pictures so that includes needing a printer. As your child is very young this gives you time.

And yes to all the teachers, thank you. I would like to especially thank my son's year 13 teachers who are currently providing him with Google Meet lessons where he can hear you talk and you share your smartboard. He is self isolating because a student in his bubble tested positive for covid.

Also for long time AIBU, this reminds me of supersoaker!

The world is reliant on technology. Why would you expect schools not to move with the times as everyone else is?

I'm not being unreasonable

I think you might have misunderstood the point of the AIBU section.

The Zoom app is fine on a smartphone, I used it the other night so I could watch Bake Off while attending a running club meeting :)

I also found the show my homework website useful when ds was in secondary school.

Not everyone has a laptop but are there really that many people with school-aged children (other than my DH :) ) who don't have a smartphone these days? Albeit that it might not be one that is compatible with the NHS covid app, but we'll leave that for another thread.

If you have neither internet nor device, you could try your local library. I know not everyone has a library nearby, but if you do, they have computers available for use, even with covid. If you have a device but no wifi, they have wifi for free

And if you have wifi but no device, the Amazon Fire tablet is quite affordable, relatively speaking.

I would much prefer school letters by email than on paper.
When my DC were in primary, it seems that the parent helpers were sometimes asked to distribute letters into bookbags and sometimes 'missed' the bags of the kids/parents they didn't like.

In terms of Teams, my DC changed schools and we never used this before so it has been a very steep learning curve with no leeway given by the new school for parts of the system we did not know were there or homeworks missed due to be being put in chat rather than homework areas. Also yes, multiple different apps and websites, all with different logins and codes and school access codes etc. Very hard for a new starter mid-way through school to get up to speed on these in time for all the homeworks - even in class, no support was given for how to access these so DC had to sit and work on their own from a text book rather than do online app activity that whole class was doing. I know schools have more than enough to do, but with increasing app/website use, more of the induction/welcome process needs to cover the tech side (but maybe that is just my DC school - they weren't even shown where the loos were on the first day).

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer

Your point about lack of parental engagement is absolutely right.

But technology is not the problem. There are some families without decent internet and who don't have laptops but almost none without a smartphone.

If anything I would identify the parents who are least likely to have a smartphone to be the middle class ones who are a bit snobby and screen-phobic who insist on having an old phone. Everyone has access to a smartphone including some of the most deprived families.

This is a perennial issue but not one to do with technology and certainly not one which will be improved by people having less technology.

@Pangwin

Jeez...just ring the school and tell them that you can't do a zoom call and could the teacher phone you instead. It's really not difficult.

But she can use the technology, it is just inconvenient/hard for her. Adding a phone call in will throw off the evening. And multiple calls can't easily be made from the school's network at one time.

“araiwa
Bit rich to complain on the internet about having to use the internet“
😂😂🙌🏼🙌🏼

OP YABVU. You’ve got a smartphone. Delete one of your apps for an evening so you can talk to your child’s teacher, or just do it through the internet browser on your phone. And stop finding things to moan about.

I think all establishments need to get more tech savvy not less. The pandemic has shown that companies who can't adapt to new tech focus won't survive.

I think they should make it clear what you need to do and offer support if you're not able or do not have the equipment eg a laptop but this is the future. It's better to embrace it now.

You can just save all the school stuff in a Google drive folder and delete it from your phone.

@thepeopleversuswork I think you’re right, and I think that one of the big problems with local schools is that they’re presuming children either can’t or won’t access online lessons, so are providing less than their counterparts in leafier suburbs. (More of an issue during the full lockdown and for those isolating as at present the majority seem to be open.)