If blended learning was the thing for all of next academic year?

[porktangle]

www.thenational.scot/news/18454764.blended-learning-become-new-normal-schools-return/

This is obviously just an article and anything could actually change in the next year but I read this and suddenly the possible next academic year just hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't know why it's taken until now tbh. I think I've just been thinking about June 1st mostly!

I could still work (I'm full time main earner) but husband couldn't so we'd have significant money problems after a few months. My son is autistic and wouldn't have his EHCP fulfilled. He's done reduced timetables before and they were a disaster, he ended up out of education for over a year.

If blended learning (half in school with social distancing, half at home remote learning) is for the next academic year.....how would you manage?

But if the schools have gone all in on "part time learning" as the default, then the danger is that the class sizes will be restored, but the part-time will be kept.

It's not the schools that want part time learning!! We've been told by the Government we have to have classes of 15. I think I'd speak for most teachers in saying that if you could pull some strings and double the number of classrooms in every school by June 1st, we'd be more than happy to have every child back full time.

For our family it would be absolutely perfect. I have always worked from home part-time so helping dd with school work is not a problem. She has “mild” autism and getting to work at her own fast pace on the easy stuff and spend hours and hours on the projects works so well for her. Her father and I both are highly educated and can easily provide assistance when she has questions. The only catch is she misses her friends so some Time at school each week would fix that. If she wasn’t such a social creature, this experience would cause me to homeschool her. We already knew the academics at school weren’t rigorous enough for her and getting to work at a higher level has been amazing.

If the schools want the kids back full time, then they really need to work on their comms.

Because the message that most people are hearing is that schools don't want our filthy germy children back at all.

@Nihiloxica agreed. The message from the unions is we don’t want to open until it’s completely safe.

If they went in saying, “schools do your risk assessments, put together your lists of what you need to run effectively they would be doing their members much more of a favour”. The government is handing out money.

I mentioned on another I can see a huge backlash against schools in September if they aren’t open full time.

Nihil, have you, in real life, spoken to a real teacher about this situation?
Anyone can say anything on mumsnet.
Newspapers are economical with the truth.

The government closed schools.
The government have stated in the guidelines that classes can't be anymore than 15 and have specified which years have priority.
The government have decided the timescale for reopening.

Teachers will go back when they are told to.
If they don't we won't get paid.

MPs have expressed concern about the safety of going back.
Dyson employees today were reported the same.
NHS staff and transport staff the same.
Why are teachers not allowed to express the same concerns?

It's not that we don't want your kids back.
We love your kids.
They're why we do the job.
We don't want them to get sick.
We don't want their parents to get sick, because we've all seen the effect of grief on a child.
And yes, selfishly we don't want to get sick either, or pass it on to our families.

But we will go back when we're told.
We'll even do it with a smile on our face because the kids need to know we're not scared, even when we are.
We'll put in extra time to help the kids catch up, even the ones whose only barrier to completing it at home was the lure of an xbox.

If you feel shat upon by the government, you are certainly not alone!

There will be people quick to profit from any sniff of part time provision next year. Look carefully to see who is the first to set out their stall re part time private school and childcare to answer the need. School could become a luxury now and parents will be told to fork out if they want it to be full time :(

I don't think this has got anything to do with teachers, just like the nurses have no say in the wider nhs offer. This is governments idea of a best strategy to tick the education box and move on.

I agree that there will be a big gap in the market for 'childminding' that is 'doing the remote learning' something that has never had to exist before. Private educational companies will probably be all over it.

even the ones whose only barrier to completing it at home was the lure of an xbox.

If you think there are chidren who have been entirely deprived of socialising with their peers whose ONLY barrier to completing work at home was the lure of an X-Box, I'm amazed you are a teacher.

I come from a family of teachers. I know plenty.

I also know what the teaching unions are saying.

I said the comms were bad, and I think it they have been handled appallingly. If I were still teaching I'd resigning from any union speaking in that way on my behalf.

There are parents afraid to send depressed children back to school because of the judgement they expect (and in some cases have received) for sending them back to school.

I'm glad you will go back when your told and that you love our kids and want to teach them again. I'm not sure you can speak on behalf of most teachers. You certainly can't speak on behalf of the people who claim to be teachers on MN.

@Barbie222 agreed. You could see school becoming very much 3 hours per day maths, english and one other subject. Half a day. Then the private sector can provide sports, arts, music etc.

I think there is a big difference between the union / teacher battle regarding opening on June 1st and the safety / unknowns around that and the longer, wider term proposal on mandatory part time education for all in the next academic year. My understanding is that pretty much all teachers want to get back in the classroom fully in the autumn but I'm not sure that this model will be easy for them either!

I don't think this has got anything to do with teachers, just like the nurses have no say in the wider nhs offer

What it has to do with teachers is that when the government said it was time for schools to reopen there was a MASSIVE pushback against that from the teaching unions.

One might have imagined that the smart response was to say "of course, we need to get our very important education system back up and running again, children are missing out on crucial learning".

But that's the opposite of what they did.

And the Tory goverrnment didn't even bother arguing with them, because their position was so entirely against the long term interests of their own members it was embarrassing.

I want my kids back at school ASAP. I want them in full time. I want them taught by well-remunerated teachers with good pay and conditions who love their jobs.

The very idea that children are going to miss out on education at the behest of teachers is just bonkers.

If the government tell you you can only take in 15 pupils per class, then you ask how the other 15 can be accommodated. You don't say you don't want any children back until you can dress in full PPE like you work on a high dependency unit.

DH and I are working harder than ever so trying to home school and work for the past two months has almost broken all of us.
However, if the DC were in school at the same time (albeit on a part time basis and no doubt with staggered start/finish) I think we could manage. DH and I are thinking we might be wfh for the foreseeable future so someone would always be here with the DC. DD would be in Yr6 so could walk to and from school by herself. DS would need to be accompanied but no doubt we'd work out a rota with neighbours whose DC are in the same year. We'd then employ a nanny for the times the DC aren't in school which would be expensive but quite easy given how many people will be unemployed and students will be home rather than at Uni and would be completely worth it from a sanity saving perspective.

Nihil, sorry, badly phrased. I didn't mean to suggest they're in anyway more than a minority, but the ones who aren't doing the work I set are, on the whole, the kids who never do their homework because they'd rather do other, more fun stuff. Which is fine, it's their choice. What I meant was, that I'll give up my time for them, like I do every year, alongside the kids who have struggled to work from home for other reasons.

If the government tell you you can only take in 15 pupils per class, then you ask how the other 15 can be accommodated

What do you suggest?
It needs double the number of classrooms and double the amount of staff.

What I meant was, that I'll give up my time for them, like I do every year, alongside the kids who have struggled to work from home for other reasons.

I bet you will. And I know loads of other teachers will go above and beyond like they always do. For pay and conditions that are not what they should be.

I hope you get to go back soon. I'm sure the kids you teach will be delighted to see you.

My kids have hardly sent any homework in since this started. But they are doing it, but their Dad and I can check it and then I forget to upload it because I'm busy with my own work.

One of their teachers is doing an outstanding job of sending work every day. She's a brilliant young teacher, in my opinion. She has fantastic ideas and she's obviously working really hard and consistently throughout lockdown. I feel very supported by her.

It has created real cognitive dissonance for me to see teachers so vociferously refusing to have schools reopened.

What do you suggest?

What does the government suggest?

They are the ones who are insisting upon it.

That's the fight that it makes sense for the union to fight - to make them justify part time schooling, or explain how it can be full time with only 15 pupils per class.

To make the government take the blame for the fact that educational provision will be part time. To ask for a clear roadmap to full opening.

To put pressure on for smaller classes on a longer term basis by asking to have more teachers hired and trained.

If you're willing to go back but the government is preventing you from doing your job properly, that's the time you can push for better pay. For addressing the issues that have led to the retention crisis.

But to refuse to return for H&S reasons?

Jeepers, that is such a stragetic own goal.

My DC’s teachers (early primary) are bloody brilliant and I’m sure will do their absolute best to make this ‘blended learning’ work.

But I still don’t get how the 50% of in-home learning is meant to happen.

Either it needs adult supervision/assistance/feedback etc and that adult is the teacher, in which case they’re expecting teachers to do all of that on top of their existing job in schools, that doesn’t seem possible.

Or that adult is a parent, which again isn’t possible for many families where both parents work.

Or we say that actually half their work doesn’t need any adult support or input at all. In which case why bother setting it? What’s it accomplishing if it doesn’t matter how they do it or even whether they do it?

I guess the home learning could be things that are more straightforward at home such as art, music, PE - as in activities children quite often do but dressed up as education while English and maths are prioritised at (primary) school. Still relies heavily on parental input though but with less setting / marking for teachers.

A lot of us are understandably concerned about how we juggle work commitments and part time school with home learning. It's going to be tricky for my family.

But there's also thousands of children in homes where parents are illiterate themselves, or have disabilities or substance issues or many other reasons and tragic circunstances that mean they simply cannot home school or even provide the bare minimum for children. I am very concerned for those children and what this all means for them, their attainment and already poor life outcomes.

I don't consider art, music, and PE to be "dressed up as education".

They are fundamentals to my mind and I would like them treated as such.

In particular I want my children to resume their music lessons.

I’m a teacher, my mum was going to look after ds1 when I went back to work.

So where does this leave me? If I’m due back in august (I’m in Scotland) what do I do with ds?? Is it okay to see grandparents again by august? I can’t get my head round what it is I even need to think my head is fried from dd and ds today

I just can't believe this is even being discussed. If we can do bubbles of 15 why can't we do bubbles of 30? Come September surely track and trace will be running etc?

If this becomes I think I swear to god I will protest. I have never felt more strongly about anything being wrong in my entire life.

Becomes a thing*

If childminders can look after children maybe all us grandparents who normally do childcare need to register as childminders.

Im thinking about registering as a childminder myself to be honest because that's going to be the only way I can earn a living! I'll have to brush up on my primary level English and maths cos they'll need teaching too!