Why can't secondary schools do lessons via zoom?

[Dickorydockwhatthe]

I know not every child will have access to a computer or be able to log online but I'm surprised our school has not attempted it or even pre recorded lessons like the online oakwork academy. I know most private schools are setting up lessons via zoom. I really hope the government and schools take this into consideration for our children especially those coming up for GCSE's next year. It's just seems our children will be disadvantaged.

I have had some lovely feedback from parents, both via email and when I have phoned them about the alternative paper based activities I have thought up for pupils who literally just have pen and paper to hand and struggle to use a device to even Google, due to their home circumstances.

They have thanked me for the ease at which they can read the tasks from my email, go off and do it. One parent also said it was appreciated that I didn’t just assume they would be able to access the tech.

There is more than one way to deliver education to young people.

So you are in agreement that there should be no teaching for anyone because some cannot access?

MsT

Which post said that?

It seems clear that there will be no return to school on a full-time basis for anyone in the foreseeable future. What I would like to see to remedy this is:

1. Laptops to be provided to all those DC currently without

1. Suitable workspaces available at places like libraries and community centre for those who lack study spaces at home

1. A full programme of online classes designed to replicate as far as possible the in school experience for the time each week where DC are at home

1. Teaching unions being put on notice that if they refuse to co-operate with the above, private tutors and overseas teachers will be brought in to replace some current teaching staff

So you are in agreement that there should be no teaching for anyone because some cannot access?

Not sure who you are directing that at?

If it's me then no.

But live teaching disadvantages more than providing the same resources via email or moodle etc that they can access at any time. Because they might have to share access / be caring for siblings or even parents at the time that they are supposed to be doing their live lesson. There's over half a million young carers in this country.

1. Laptops to be provided to all those DC currently without*
By whom? How are they to be distributed?

1. Suitable workspaces available at places like libraries and community centre for those who lack study spaces at home

How does this work re social distancing- which is the reason schools can’t open fully? Who supervises then? How do you make parents feel safe re this?

1. A full programme of online classes designed to replicate as far as possible the in school experience for the time each week where DC are at home

Oak Academy have done this, to an extent.

1. Teaching unions being put on notice that if they refuse to co-operate with the above, private tutors and overseas teachers will be brought in to replace some current teaching staff

Well, your ideas are very practical, so I’m not sure this last point is relevant 🤷🏻‍♀️

Why are you so obsessed by online learning?

*1. Laptops to be provided to all those DC currently without

1. Suitable workspaces available at places like libraries and community centre for those who lack study spaces at home

1. A full programme of online classes designed to replicate as far as possible the in school experience for the time each week where DC are at home

1. Teaching unions being put on notice that if they refuse to co-operate with the above, private tutors and overseas teachers will be brought in to replace some current teaching staff*

1+2 are admirable goals but:

1. Seeing as I've taught students who've been pimped put for drugs by their own parent, I'm fairly sure that some of those laptops might not stay in the students hands for long

1. See my comment on young carers in earlier post

1. Fine as long as online doesn't mean live - see previous post

1. Most private tutors are either retired so in the enhanced risk group or unqualified. I'm not sure we're an attractive prospect for overseas teachers in normal circumstances let alone now with the second highest deaths in the world.

@SmileEachDay

Clearly live online lessons cannot fully replace being in school. However, as private schools have demonstrated, they do provide a much better offer than a few worksheets.

I don't believe our state school DC deserve a lower standard of education than their more affluent counterparts, so I think the unions should absolutely be put on notice that their belligerent tactics will not be tolerated any longer.

. Laptops to be provided to all those DC currently without

The device is only part of the equation. They also need access to the internet. Will government also be providing this? Will they also provide devices and suitable internet provision to staff too?

HakeFish

1. Laptops to be provided to all those DC currently without
I agree, maybe we could take the 10K office allowance that has been given to MPs to facilitate this.

2. Suitable workspaces available at places like libraries and community centre for those who lack study spaces at home

Who will be supervising these spaces?

3. A full programme of online classes designed to replicate as far as possible the in school experience for the time each week where DC are at home

Go for it, how you are going to do this with hammers, saws, lathes etc. is a bit of a mystery but go for it.

4. Teaching unions being put on notice that if they refuse to co-operate with the above, private tutors and overseas teachers will be brought in to replace some current teaching staff

Yes, but lets go one step further and remove the rights of all workers. After all teachers are not a special case. But at least teachers will be able to take the government/LEA to court for huge amounts of money for breaking contracts, employee rights acts and I suspect Human rights.

@hearhooovesthinkzebras

Absolutely- I think mobile dongles should be provided to DC without internet. As I said, spaces could also be made available in facilities like libraries and leisure centres.

To be frank, I don't think taxpayers should be funding internet connections or laptops for teachers who are already well paid, however, no.

HakeFish

Clearly live online lessons cannot fully replace being in school. However, as private schools have demonstrated, they do provide a much better offer than a few worksheets
These are not the only two options.

I don't believe our state school DC deserve a lower standard of education than their more affluent counterparts
Nor do I. Longer term, a good way to achieve this would be to dismantle the independent sector altogether, and to plough that money into a single education system.
In the meantime, why are you suggesting the lessons I am providing are lower quality?

so I think the unions should absolutely be put on notice that their belligerent tactics will not be tolerated any longer

Which of the union requests are “belligerent”?

@SmileEachday

Where do I start? Face masks for teachers, no online teaching, no marking work, no phone calls to students, social distancing for 4 year olds.

All of these are totally unrealistic demands to make and the unions know it. They have no interest in facilitating a safe return to school at any point and it is time the government called their bluff.

[quote HakeFish]@hearhooovesthinkzebras

Absolutely- I think mobile dongles should be provided to DC without internet. As I said, spaces could also be made available in facilities like libraries and leisure centres.

To be frank, I don't think taxpayers should be funding internet connections or laptops for teachers who are already well paid, however, no.[/quote]
So, most of our libraries have been closed due to cuts (pre Covid) so good luck with that. Leisure centres? We'll, we've got 1 leisure centre and 18 secondary schools ( don't know how many primary schools) in our borough. How do you plan on staffing these centres?

Who is going to be sourcing these devices and dongles, and paying for them?

To be frank, I don't think taxpayers should be funding internet connections or laptops for teachers who are already well paid, however, no.

You are kidding right,? We have to supplement our son's wages every month. He's a secondary school teacher. His rent alone (no bills) is £750/ month for a room in a shared house, twenty miles from the school he works in. By the time he's paid rent, bills, petrol, car insurance etc he has barely anything left. His starting salary was £25,000 a month. That's hardly well paid for a profession that requires 5years training and a degree is it?

HakeFish

Interesting that you ignored the rest of my post.

This is a useful guide to what unions are actually saying

@SmileEachDay

IMO, I think that @HakeFish just wants flowers.

@SmileEachDay

To be quite frank, these 'guidelines' should not be coming from unelected unions, they should be coming form the government.

The unions' position seems to be that there should be no online lessons but also no return to school- that is not fair or sustainable while teachers are receiving full wages.

If they are refusing to teach online and refusing to return to school, they should be furloughed on 80% pay like everyone else.

Some of our students who don't have devices are the more affluent/middle class ones, not the poorest, because their parents don't want them to have them yet. My own dc didn't have a phone until he was 13, so no good for the first two years of secondary. Desktops in a communal space are a perfect solution for doing online homework in normal circumstances, but are now being used by parents for home working.

And that's without the issue of rural broadband. I can't upload big files/resources to our school platform at the same time ds is having a live University seminar, and my broadband is averagely fast.

40% of our averagely affluent cohort has requested paper packs. Online lessons that are live and at a set time just wouldn't work for more than half of most school communities. Some pre-recorded video and/or audio content is great as it mixes it up with paper lessons but can be accessed at any time when Mum/Dad/siblings have finished with the device/bandwidth.

[quote HakeFish]@SmileEachDay

To be quite frank, these 'guidelines' should not be coming from unelected unions, they should be coming form the government.

The unions' position seems to be that there should be no online lessons but also no return to school- that is not fair or sustainable while teachers are receiving full wages.

If they are refusing to teach online and refusing to return to school, they should be furloughed on 80% pay like everyone else. [/quote]
Or, government could have actually consulted on what was realistic, engaged with schools and actually addressed the barriers to returning, rather than issuing some half baked edicts that are unworkable.

Again @danglingmod, poor parenting by those who subscribe to ridiculous theories about the evils of 'screen time' should not be allowed to damage the education of either own DC or others.

Fgs. Grow up.

The unions' position seems to be that there should be no online lessons but also no return to school- that is not fair or sustainable while teachers are receiving full wages

If they are refusing to teach online and refusing to return to school, they should be furloughed on 80% pay like everyone else

Ok so you’ve not bothered to read them.

just for you @HakeFish

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-gibb-clinically-vulnerable-teachers-safe-schools?fbclid=IwAR33P0qu9aItwSixbxN-xuTcPt_CTot2KZdgLtqBM-zBumKatdQqorUiXlc

I suspect that you can't see the hypocrisy that the unions are up against.

I used to quite like Nick Gibb...

Interesting that the household of a shielded person get more protection than a vulnerable person who might just have missed the shielding list!