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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Only 3 live lessons pw Y11

114 replies

Timtims · 22/01/2021 22:03

Plus Y8 DC only had 2 this week (none at all March 20 - Dec 20).

So many friends who have DCs in other schools have almost a whole timetable of live lessons.

Seems so unequal and unfair. How is a child who has had about 20 live lessons since March 20, supposed to 'compete/compare' with a child who has 20 hours per week. At GCSE!!!

No joy with speaking to school about it. They just say they are doing their best.

AIBU to think my DCs are being massively disadvantaged and let down.

(apologies if this topic has already been discussed 1000 times).

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 24/01/2021 00:50

I give live lessons.

You’re not a teacher. You’ve tutored online. It’s not the same thing at all.

maddening · 24/01/2021 00:50

Nope, do you know how few qualified maths teachers there are? A critical shortage meaning that warm bodies in the classroom are the best that can sometimes be hired
You do realise that this is a broader discussion than maths. There are many subjects, incompetence should not be tolerated, if they are substandard the school that hired them should be developing them. And this is both primary and secondary.

noblegiraffe · 24/01/2021 00:55

You do realise that this is a broader discussion than maths. There are many subjects, incompetence should not be tolerated, if they are substandard the school that hired them should be developing them.

Oh you have no idea.

PotholeParadies · 24/01/2021 01:00

@InTheDrunkTank

The idea that kids sit still in class and don't mess around with their friends or shout out answers at the wrong time is fairly laughable.
Yes. Pothole Jr er, kids in Pothole Jr's class have totted up detentions in RL for it before.

I've not sure that's possible right now and I'm sure some of them are bright enough to work it out. Grin

InTheDrunkTank · 24/01/2021 01:00

@noblegiraffe

I give live lessons.

You’re not a teacher. You’ve tutored online. It’s not the same thing at all.

Yes thank you again for your patronising attitude. I am actually a qualified teacher but no longer teach. (I'm almost embarrased to admit that with the awful attitude of teachers like you). My tutorials are effective and that has been demonstrated by external assessments. If I (who hasn't taught since before I did my PhD) can give a successful tutorial to 6 students then surely a currently practising teacher can do the same? You have the advantage of actually knowing the students.

My DC's teachers are all qualified and experienced and manage to give very effective live lessons. The kids did end of assessment last year after a term of lockdown and on average performed slightly above their age standardised scores from last year. It worked. A few teething problems yes but it does work. Parents like it, kids like it and results are good.

noblegiraffe · 24/01/2021 01:01

The teachers know the students, they know who will speak up and who won't

I’ve got a Y13 class. I’ve taught some of them since Y10. We get on brilliantly in class and have lots of discussion.

Online all but two of them are pretty much mute. The mute kids will talk in breakout rooms when I’m not there but the minute I go in it’s silent. No idea why, but it does make it incredibly difficult.

InTheDrunkTank · 24/01/2021 01:05

@PotholeParadies

I'm sure I'll have to return my Oxbridge degree and Dphil because someone on mumsnet (who doesn't come across as an intellectual giant) doesn't think I'm bright. I'm a qualified teacher, I know about behaviour management. If you think all kids respond to the threat of detentions I don't believe you've been teaching for more than five minutes. You come across as inflexible and uminamginative which is probably why you're struggling to adapt to online learning. Never mind. We all have limits. Lots of schools are doing live lessons effectively. If you're struggling it's either you or the particular enviornment. The ridoculously patronising attitude does you no favours though. You have very limited experience. You've attempted to give online classes and apparently failed. Not everyone else has failed. Maybe it's not your fault you failed but don't dismiss the experience of kids, parents and teachers who have had success with live lessons. You're not an authority.

noblegiraffe · 24/01/2021 01:05

If I (who hasn't taught since before I did my PhD) can give a successful tutorial to 6 students then surely a currently practising teacher can do the same?

Yeah, pretty sure I could give a tutorial to 6 kids online. Hmm

In fact I’ve had emails praising my live lessons from parents.

That doesn’t mean that I can’t see the problems with them.

PotholeParadies · 24/01/2021 01:07

Mini-Pothole will not speak on the computer. He just won't. He says he feels shy. I think there are four out of 30 kids willing to speak from what I can overhear.

TBH, I understand. There is something about speaking to people when you can't see them.and you can't see their reaction (and whether they're laughing at you!) that is very offputting. I expect some of them are bright enough to know they have no idea who has got parents in the same room.

PotholeParadies · 24/01/2021 01:11

InTheDrunkTank

Cool.

I don't think I said anything about whether you were bright or not? You've clearly put a lot of thought into drawing extrapolations about my intellect, character and life from my posts, and honestly, I can only say I'm flattered by the attention.

greenseabluebell · 24/01/2021 01:27

Our school starts a live lesson send the dc off to do whatever they've been set and the. The teacher is available for the whole of that lesson time. It's been useful tbh because if my dc didn't get something they just log back on and ask the teacher. My dc do that all the time.

The downside is if they really didn't get something a video would probably be better to go over a few times.
There's no easy solution to all of this. I dislike the approach though that if one person in the class doesn't have access to lessons all the dc should also not have access. This doesn't make sense to me bringing everyone down to the lowest standard.

noblegiraffe · 24/01/2021 01:29

I dislike the approach though that if one person in the class doesn't have access to lessons all the dc should also not have access

Why do you think it’s just one kid, in these schools that are going with other options?

LolaSmiles · 24/01/2021 12:13

InTheDrunkTank
I see so the fact that the children you tutor have one experience must mean that your opinion on live lessons is totally relevant to the nation's state schools.

As ever on mumsnet, it's the privileged whining that they don't get to further entrench their privileges.

Your posts are very selective in how you present things and they all stem from a position of privilege:

I don't think there's any point a teacher recording a video lesson then they may as well use oak academy.
Good for you. Last time I checked teachers were more than capable of selecting resources that are appropriate to their classes. There's a fabulous Oak lesson that I would use, but it isn't flexible enough for my class so I'm not using it. Surely a teacher would understand this fairly basic fact.

The point of a live lesson is that it's interactive. There can be discussion between students, students can ask the teacher questions when they're stuck.
They can ask questions if they are stuck watching pre recorded material because many of the schools using pre-recorded material have staff signed into the platform all day

The children I've been tutoring often have missed out entire topics because they watched the prerecorded video, didn't understand it, couldn't answer the questions and that was that. They sometimes could send an email and get one back a day or two later which just raised further questions and it isn't resolved by the time to move on.
That is a problem of how individual schools manage remote learning, not the use of pre-recorded materials.

I can usually clear things up live with them in 10 minutes.
Of course you can. You are providing a service to those families who can afford to pay someone to tutor.
It may surprise you to hear that I also clear up misconceptions too, though surely a teacher would know that teachers can do this.

Works great for both my DC too. Teacher explains, kids ask questions if they're unsure. Then they're off screens doing the work. Teacher remains live so if they have questions they ask. Work gets marked to ensure they've really grasped it, if not they go over it again. Pretty much as it would happen in a class room.
All great, if you have a class where everyone has an appropriate device for all children to access the live lessons.
Care to enlighten me how some of my families should manage this like-for-like learning experience when they have an older phone that can'teasily access documents, one tablet that has to be used for a parent working from home and 3 children? Seriously, do explain to me how 3 children can access a full live lesson timetable.

Also a lot of real lack of logic going on here. Doing a live lesson doesn't stop children passively watching a video on oak academy afterwards.*
The lack of logic is assuming that watching a video is passive but having access to a live lesson is active.
It sounds like a throwback from teaching 2010-2015 where students listening to a teacher was a passive activity but get them all doing card sorts was active learning.

I tutor maths as part of the national catch up scheme and the students who haven't had any interaction with teachers are massively massively behind
Lack of contact with a teacher is different to having live lessons.

If they don't understand after watching the video once, they won't again
Again, an issue with how remote learning is facilitated, not the existence of live lessons
Even worse quite often they think they've understood but don't know why they can't answer the questions.
And that proves live lessons are better because...

Roughly speaking:
You have your opinion that live lessons are great and it's awful if students don't have them.
EEF have reviewed research and concluded that the quality of teaching, not the method of delivery, is the biggest factor affecting the success of remote learning.
But your opinion has more weight than extensive research reviews, right?

PotholeParadies · 24/01/2021 17:05

As ever on mumsnet, it's the privileged whining that they don't get to further entrench their privileges.

Also, as ever on mumsnet, if someone departs from the party line that live lessons > any other format, they are assumed to be a teacher. Grin

It is just not considered possible for a parent to have compared and contrasted the results and concluded anything other than that live online lessons are superior to all other methods.

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