repeating years at schools? Covid

[mumwon]

Disclaimer I grew up in a country where repeating school years were commonplace.
I am beginning to wonder if because so many dc have missed out on education & fallen so far behind if there should be a system of allowing repeating school years
This would entail gov funding extra (temp) classrooms to do this is if this means in some areas that classroom sizes will need to be increased & funding for teachers - some classes might need to be expanded.
Specifically in some deprived areas where many families do not have access to the internet or where individual families don't or dc who have education issues anyway (note not just SEN but dc who struggle one way or another)
It would entail a major rethink & attitude change & investment but the way we are going this might be an answer to stop dc being disadvantaged.

I think they should.

Surely being a year behind their peers will also be a disadvantage? It’s an extra year they won’t be working and earning.

Do you mean just allowing some dc to repeat a year or are all children supposed to repeat a year?

Either way, there are too many reasons why it wouldn’t work. Parents can make use of the many online resources or hire tutors if they feel their child is significantly behind the rest of their cohort. Otherwise, it’s just not necessary, as all children in a class will have missed roughly the same amount so they can just be taught from where they’re at.

I'm interested in whether teaching unions would consider swapping summer vacation for january lockdown. So kids stay off another 2 or 3 weeks but it gets added on for July.

Keeps everyone safe and kids dont have to try and learn from home. Surely it must have been discussed somewhere.

I think this need is better served by intensive catch up courses as required (for example in areas of high deprivation, as you suggest). A blanket repetition is not necessary - plenty of children have kept up OK and would be bored if forced to repeat the year.

I think this would lead to more kids dropping out of school before taking their GCSEs.

The problem will be when they reach legal leaving age prior to finishing school - they can choose to walk away then without completing their education (we've had this explained in detail as DC1 stated a year late due to SEN). Might be better to provide extra support to get them caught up now, rather than add it on later.

YANBU. All situations need to be looked at to make sure as many of our kids as possible get the required grades.

My child’s learning about pirates and London Bridge so if they just cut the crap they could probably cram the basics of reading writing into two years.
School needs to get more serious not add extra years.

Genuinely I think that this should have happened for all students. Resit the whole year, that way even having two school years disrupted the students won't have lost out. They would never do something so radical though.

We need to look at the integrity of this school year first. I am nearly 4 weeks ahead in my planning as we had no Christmas Nativity, carol concert etc. I think for the year that is in it we should prioritise the basics, school tours, sports days , assemblies etc will not be going ahead so a huge amount of valuable teaching time will be regained.

Parents can make use of the many online resources or hire tutors if they feel their child is significantly behind the rest of their cohort.

This definitely qualifies for middle class comment of the day.

@Newdonewhugh I agree. Now I'm in Ireland where there is a different curriculum but a huge amount of time is wasted on fluff. During a normal year this is lovely and engaging but this is not a normal year.
I don't agree with repeating btw, I think the long term problems would outweigh the benefits

As I said I knew students who repeated in both primary & high school - it helped particularly in primary school but it gave secondary school pupils more time. But lets remember not everybody has as much access to these resources (for instance one computer in a home plus parents wfh & also sharing access with multiple siblings). There has been another issue that many older students have found it very difficult to work/concentrate & many have had mh issues.
Its not a simple one size fits all but I think it should be considered even at the individual level - these are extraordinary times - & the idea of using school holidays - again, teachers have been working over the lock down & had more responsibilities outside of straight forward teaching in the classroom & outside. In addition staffing has been reduced either but staff contracting covid or their families or being in isolation from being in contact.

I agree with PP who mentioned cutting the crap. My daughter is learning about pandas right now. Why can't we concentrate on core subjects? Make better use of the time and less pressure on the teachers and children

I dont agree. My kids are 7 and 10. If they retake, all kids would be in compulsory education until they were 19. I dont think our kids would thank us for this.
And as other posters have said, they just need to cut out the unimportant stuff

GooseyGoosey and while your child is learning about pandas, they are also learning about geography, science and the environment. The 'unimportant' stuff is usually very important - just not in ways that are obvious to most people.

As for closing down in January with schools staying open in the summer - that's been amply explained and is neither possible nor reasonable - unless you think teachers are a bunch of lazy dossers who never do any work.

I honestly don't understand why repeating a class is so unacceptable in this country at all at the best of time.

It sound like many parents get mortally offended and would feel unable to cope with the "embarrassment" instead of focusing on the best interest of the child.

Schooling cut down to the "basics" is not worth it. Children are allowed a childhood, they are not in prison and all the so-called extras are what make school.

Unfortunately, kids from private school are flying ahead as the level of education has been maintained or improved.
Bright or fully supported kids from state school will do ok-ish.

The rest will fall far behind and never catch up. The whole of the country cannot afford to stop educating children for years and stay at the level they were last February, so some will have to progress.

It's tragic, when there are possible solutions that work in other countries without drama, upset or traumatised parents who can't brag about their little darling.

There are a lot of children who are still doing well and have already caught up so it wouldn’t do them well to have to repeat a year.

I also disagree with the cutting ‘crap’ children still need to enjoy school and be motivated to learn with interesting subjects. My son wrote a great story that he never would have wrote had it not been focused around the term’s pirate topic.

@pointythings

GooseyGoosey and while your child is learning about pandas, they are also learning about geography, science and the environment. The 'unimportant' stuff is usually very important - just not in ways that are obvious to most people.

As for closing down in January with schools staying open in the summer - that's been amply explained and is neither possible nor reasonable - unless you think teachers are a bunch of lazy dossers who never do any work.

Exactly this, and the child will be reading, researching, learning how to extract relevant information from written text, assessing the value of the information, learning how to reform and rewrite text. They are learning how to use written language both for research and communication. This is why schools spend time teaching “fluff” because teaching “fluff” gives children the opportunity to use the skills they have learned from their reading books. Why else do we teach reading if not to empower children to use more advanced literacy skills than “reading with expression” .

@MrsFezziwig

Parents can make use of the many online resources or hire tutors if they feel their child is significantly behind the rest of their cohort.

This definitely qualifies for middle class comment of the day.

I agree. Those who can have access to those resources probably have already done so.

As there is funding for three years for 6th form maybe the current year 11s who need to do retakes could spend year 12 doing this before going on to A levels? Would this affect the funding?

How will this affect degree courses if students haven't covered enough content at A level?

What happens to the students who are due to start reception this year? Are we moving to a compulsory start age of 6 from now on?

What about nurseries and childcare facilities who have already got people filling in the spaces from September for the children due to move up to school. Who loses out on this? The new children or the ones who should be leaving? Thus leaving thousands of parents struggling to get childcare for the next year.

What happens to colleges and universities? Do they just not have a student cohort in September? This will send most colleges and universities to the wall financially so even more competition for places the following year as I would estimate at least 60% would go bankrupt with no fees for a year.

The theory is nice, the practicality is just impossible.

@NailsNeedDoing

Do you mean just allowing some dc to repeat a year or are all children supposed to repeat a year?

Either way, there are too many reasons why it wouldn’t work. Parents can make use of the many online resources or hire tutors if they feel their child is significantly behind the rest of their cohort. Otherwise, it’s just not necessary, as all children in a class will have missed roughly the same amount so they can just be taught from where they’re at.

Ah yes, because the thousands of people who have lost their jobs and businesses through the pandemic can just pull money out of there arse and pay for tutors and online teaching packages. Don't worry little Johnny didn't eat for a month but he caught up with his reading. Live in the real world! There are a privileged group who can afford this, and they seem to forget that a lot can't.

I am not sure your solution would work but I am not an expert in education- however love people creatively looking at ways forward rather than the blank and white schools open or closed debate Or a no without adding there own ideas.. We need the department of education or someone to show parents a plan! No one is currently leading the education agenda. It’s a mess. I don’t usually bash teachers but do wonder what ours were doing in the first lockdown when we had weekly uploaded twinkl sheets and I know there were only 2 key worker kids which were eventually sent to merge with a few other primary’s in a similar situation. This time they promise better so waiting to see.

Repeating years isn't really an option as if no one moves up there will be no space for new reception starters unless you want 60 children in a class and a tent outside for them to sit in. Also can't keep children at preschool longer as there again will be no space for new starter so unless the whole system and school starting age is going to change it won't work......