Why aren't teachers providing lessons by Skype?

[Folicky]

If schools are to close, which they will eventually, why don't they teach the lessons via a video link / Skype? At the moment, as I understand it, if schools close, parents - many of whom will be working from home - will he expected to home school their children. How is that going to work?

You know, all this talk of worksheets and Skype and online resources makes me laugh. If schools hadn’t become so anti-textbook then it would have been a simple case of giving each child a copy of the class text book and using email or google classroom etc to give instructions on what chapters and exercises to work through. Kids could have submitted answers the same way, and ask for help direct from teacher too.

Yes sometimes kids have to share books, but if so much money hadn’t been spent on fancy technology based resources maybe there would have been some to supply everyone in the class with their own copy for the year. Once you start giving out worksheets and moving away from books then the kids get out then habit of always packing their books and taking them to lesson and they start going missing. And so teachers move even further away from using books. Vicious circle.

There is a lot to be said for hard copies of text books in this situation. Jam packed full of info and exercises already compiled for your students!

(Can you tell I’m a librarian? 😂)

There is literally no technical way that a teacher, Skype linked to 30 kids in one go, could 'help' individual students with queries in the same way they could in the classroom. OP you have been given dozens of reasons why this won't work. A tiny minority of schools who have already embraced digital learning, all kids with ipads, no textbooks or paper etc might be able to manage delivery of digital lessons, but that doesn't solve all the issues at the receiving end. Most schools simply are not there yet, at least in part due to lack of funds and time for training. As pp said, teachers, me included are frantically using our non contact time to get hard copy resources ready, or on the VLE and making sure kids know how to use their school email address. As for at their side support, we simply can't do it. If we are officially closed I'll be home schooling my two tweens, or trying to, whilst responding to all the practise essays my y11 and y13 will hopefully send me!

Yes it's a terrible idea for a multitude of reasons

I'm interested in why op is so keen

What's your angle op?

Our school has set lessons online but not video because it is a wasteful use of bandwidth and impractical for those accessing via phone.
I’ll work through ds’s lesson plans with him. Help him revise his French, German and maths, provide some of the books from his reading list, take him cycling and teach him some basic cooking. That will have to suffice until the summer.

DS's school still open and most kids attending, but the school have been setting up each child with their own email address this week so they can use Google Classroom as and when the time comes, and that's alongside schoolwork being posted on Purple Mash for any kids currently having to stay off school.

My DSis is in China teaching English to kids, and within a week of schools shutting there, they were all set up to teach online using China's version of Google Classroom.

My dc have started e learning, they are having all of their classes via zoom.

The first day worked ok, although we did have to buy iPads for them so they could do this.

I think it also helps that classes are only about 17.

Some teachers have audio and visual on for pupils others just talk and set tasks. DC are year 7.

A university lecture is fifty minutes of one person talking to fifty, a hundred, five hundred silent students.
Yes, it's is possible to record and deliver that electronically (obviously not for lab-based subjects!).

How on earth is a teacher supposed to get 30 seven year olds to listen whilst they speak at length? In schools pupils pose questions all the time, it's part of their learning, they wander off to the loo, they lose their equipment, wet their pants, get a nosebleed etc etc
If the teacher is purely broadcasting possibly ten percent of those receiving will be learning anything.

Teachers will be working at home- marking work, setting more, clarifying understanding, fielding a million questions, etc.
They will also be giving priority to Y11 and Y13 (quite rightly) who are about to sit the most important exams of their life so far.
In my school we are bending over backwards to support those children because they're so close to that end point, and it's so important that they are confident and strong enough to get through what is possibly the most surreal exam season ever.

@CurlyhairedAssassin - yes! The days of working your way through a Ginn Maths textbook or an English comprehension book at your own pace. I do actually think this makes a lot more sense than photocopying reams of paper and then sticking it onto even more paper in books. I hate the waste...

We are setting daily work on Google Classroom, are online during timetabled lessons, & are using Zoom for conference calls.

^^ My children's schools are closed and they're also doing the above.
The online classes aren't for a full school day, though, DS had two yesterday morning and three this morning. Then the teachers assign work for them to do independently. They all brought their textbooks home on Friday and the teachers also post worksheets on Google Classroom.

It's obviously not the same as a full school day, but they're learning something.

although we did have to buy iPads for them so they could do this.

Which is a huge reach for a lot of parents.

@CurlyhairedAssassin I don't think schools are "anti-textbook". I think you'll find the government reformed all the qualifications so that none of the textbooks could be used any more...but neglected to fund the purchase of new textbooks that met the scope of the new courses.

I will be wfh (I always wfh), however I don't want to be in the same room as 3 dc having lessons from three different key stages while I am trying to work. Also you are assuming that everyone is going to stick to 9-3 hours. I am planning a fairly early start - say 8.30-10. Garden for half an hour. Back inside to work 10.30 to 12. Lazy lunch, few games, work maybe 2-4. That is for the children- I will be obviously working through lunch to keep on top of my work too.

I still don't really see why you think Skype or some sort of live session would be better than asynchronous presentation. It won't be a substitute for childcare. I will probably try to set up some video calling but that will be between the DC's friends, they have no wish for Freddie W*. who they despise to watch them in their house. In fact they were citing that as one of the silver linings if the schools close that they might not need to see Freddie W. for a few months.

*name changed to protect the guilty!

Of course, those parents that don't currently have devices or broadband at home will be rushing out to buy iPads as soon as Boris gives the nod for schools to shut down...

We are in Asia where we've been homeschooling for seven weeks now! My year 7 has his regular school timetable delivered by teachers online. It's not perfect but it's working. My year 5 has a zoom call each morning with his teacher and then work to complete. He doesn't have enough to do but we do other things too.

It's working but it's hard! And it assumes that you have space and technology to make it work. We are lucky that this is the case but it's hard on lots of families, especially with younger children. I also work for myself and have basically stopped working since January - not ideal but we can afford it.

But I do think that schools need to provide parents and children with something and not expect parents to step in and become teachers. I wouldn't know where to start and my kids need the structure of school. It's been a long slog to this point and I doubt my DS10 will be back at school before May at this rate.

To those of you just starting, good luck - I think low expectations all round are crucial for everyone's sanity.

Unless its an exam year does it really matter if children fall behind in their schoolwork by a couple of months? I mean with all the shit thats going down is it really that big a deal.

We are setting daily work on Google Classroom, are online during timetabled lessons, & are using Zoom for conference calls.

Ours are doing the same except using Google Hangouts for calls.

They do a max of 4 x 30 minute video classes each day, plus they have time to work on their work independently. They have every third day off. Some teachers choose not to do video classes and just set work. Teachers give specific times when they're available to help students 1x1.

My kids are 14 and 16 - I've no idea what they're doing with younger children.

At the end of the day the whole advisor group gets together for a 15 minute chat and catch-up - they admire each other's pets etc.

Our school is able to do this partly because the state provides a laptop or tablet to every child in 7th grade and above. Also the local internet provider is giving internet for free to any families that don't have it already.

Yes, the school has loaned iPads to the older children, the younger ones have worksheets to do.

@FlamingoAndJohn
It would be an impossible stretch for many families, fortunately we had planned on getting new IPads as birthday presents so we just moved the purchase forwards a few months.
The actual teaching seemed to work ok, although with two dc and a dh all on laptops in the house I have no peace.

Unless its an exam year does it really matter if children fall behind in their schoolwork by a couple of months? I mean with all the shit thats going down is it really that big a deal.

I'd love to say I agree with you - I think there is so much for children to learn away from the classroom - but the fact is that if a significant proportion of schooling is missed, you end up playing catch up later. Even after the summer 6 weeks there can be a big dip in retained knowledge. Teachers would much rather retain the flow of teaching as much as possible.

You can almost guarantee that school league tables and Ofsted inspections and performance management will continue, if not this school year then definitely next, and probably won't take into account these gaps in pupils' knowledge. Teachers and other school staff will take the hit for missed schooling, either losing their jobs due to bad Ofsted (heads) or lack of funding (due to falling pupil numbers after bad exam results), or denied pay rises or the chance for promotion due to not meeting target pupil numbers meeting expectations.

What teachers can do, if schools close, most will, with bells on.

i think you'll find the government reformed all the qualifications so that none of the textbooks could be used any more...but neglected to fund the purchase of new textbooks that met the scope of the new courses.

The school I work in has for YEARS not been in favour of giving out textbooks for children to keep for the year, even before the exam reforms. Because our pupils are not very reliable at all at bringing any school resources back into school once they have left the premises. Most of them don’t even come to school with a pen. Exercise books were not sent home for revision recently as SLT were concerned would be lost forever. They have now changed this for future exams after complaints from parents I think. Anyway, I don’t think we are alone in the reluctance to let precious text book resources go home with pupils. Funding does have a lot to do with it, yes, but it is mostly because schools don’t have the money to replace lost resources and not because the up to date textbooks are not available in school.

All schools and their intake are diffferent though. My own children’s school issues them with textbooks in some subjects to keep for the year. But that could be because it’s a grammar and so all the kids and parents are invested and involved in education anyway and more likely to be properly equipped and return school resources to school. Other schools will have a more varied intake from the very dedicated students and parents, with students with full pencil cases, to the other extreme of no interest in supporting their child with their education at all. Books are not returned (or come back unusable for subsequent year groups), homework not done, parents evening never attended, school rules not enforced etc etc. Various reasons for this of course. These are the kids whose education will suffer under any lockdown.

Schools are working extremely hard to prepare for closure - it is like a war zone. You seem to be accusing teachers of getting ready for an extended Netflix sessions, I can assure you this is not the case. Some schools and departments are discussing conference calls. Others are finding alternative ways of setting work. I will be supervising students remotely for up to 5 hours a day.

It is true schools are working incredibly hard to prepare at the moment but I cant help thinking it's going to be a wasted effort.

I think households where the work will be done would have done valuablee work anyway and even the very committed student/parents will lose enthusiasm after a few weeks, especially once it becomes clear exams won't happen.

Our SLT effort is mostly going into how on earth we're going to safeguard the vulnerable.

I'm sorry that some teachers have been subject to pedantic and/or vexatious complaints I really am, it sounds unpleasant but there must be a way of dealing with that.

Yes, by not doing lessons via Skype and using alternative methods.

And you keep going on about teachers working from home after 3 days-we’ll be working the very first day!

You also forget that teachers have already been working many hours in unpaid overtime for weeks and weeks now, to prepare for the eventuality of weeks of school closure (it’s why I was still awake late last night on this thread) and it just really grates when ungrateful people have such unreasonable opinions and expectations of us and ultimately get judged in such a way.

Oh good. Another way to criticise teachers.

Do you have any idea how stressful it is to be in schools at the moment? On a minute by minute basis, we are making assessments about other people’s health, about our own, we’re trying to support pupils’ and colleagues’ mental health, worrying about our own children, trying to get up to date information about exams, preparing additional resources for pupils who are self isolating, responding to emails from parents, etc etc. All the time, simultaneously also doing our already very time consuming jobs.

The link is here if anyone thinks they can do it better: getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/

Lots of posts on Faceache (including mine) from teachers offering online help to parents:

If you are home schooling /remotely/digitally educating your children, if you need assistance with understanding something that has been assigned for your child, or if you need more resources, just give me a shout.

I teach GCSE Maths.

I’ll be happy to answer questions (to the best of my ability) both academically and technical! We WILL get through this! #bettertogether ❤️📚✏️