Sec of State for ed on now presenting about schools

[greenstream]

parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/8b18268d-531e-4d77-82bd-e363bbf50993

Can everybody's broadband cope with video calls etc? I pay for Fibre so we are ok but there are areas near here where you can't even get Fibre

Yep - we have terrible internet (average 2-5mps download, 0.5 up) and can cope with video calls fine

The majority of primary teachers that are fit to work are now back on the classroom. I am, teaching a reception bubble when I normally teach year 3. How do you imagine I’ll be able to teach live to my year 3 class online whilst managing my bunch of reception children?

All of our students have smartphones, but many of them with limited data packages. The provision of appropriate internet access is wider than a lack of devices. I would also argue that live lessons on Teams are actually not great accessed on a smartphone and while we do use Teams in our online provision, we use it alongside other platforms which work better with phone only access.

@madonna - yes you are right, there are niceties to it and always ways to improve. But the reality is this is the middle of an emergency and the basic need is for secondary pupils to have a structured week with contact with all their subject teachers.

There are only five weeks left anyway.

How exactly do they do the work (in a text editor) whilst watching the lesson if they're accessing it via a smartphone?
We have fibre broadband, but it gets v glitchy when all four of us are on video calls (teams/zoom/Skype). We also have a number of excellent modern laptops/PCs to work on.
The DfE funded devices are for Y10s only and haven't arrived yet

It's not "niceties". It's what works and what doesn't work. Children with no wifi will not be able to access a structured timetable of live lessons, smartphone or no smartphone. Children with only a smartphone may be better served in terms of actual learning with different, monitored, online activities, not live lessons. In our case, they certainly have daily contact with their teachers.

The laptops aren’t just for Y10s but also for vulnerable children with social workers.

And we have been allocated fewer laptops than we do children with social workers, let alone disadvantaged year 10s, and we haven't received any yet.

I i was going to try and watch it tonight but I don’t think I will bother, it makes me too angry

@twinnywinny14 if you want any answers I wouldn't bother!

hippy - Given the amount of complaints on here about the lack of support from schools, I am amazed that you think 1000s are being taught successfully. What measure of success are you using?

But the amount of complaints from parents, about schools really is only on MN.
I work for a huge LA - nearly 500 schools and during all of this complaints from parents are minimal...and I mean not even 20 of them.

In my school we've given them to Y10 only as there are nowhere near enough to cover all who need them. I say "given", "allocated" would be better as they're not here yet.
We have given school laptops to those in most need, and we've no way to actually guarantee we'll get them back, or even returned and in usable condition, in September. We won't be able to replace them either if they don't get returned.

@greenstream not all children have access to the internet or have a pc etc but could be several sharing as well as children sharing rooms it's not as easy as doing a zoom meeting for all
Some think it's great as there child would have access
There's also a lot of safeguarding go be considered if Zoom and live was the way forward we could get rid of schools and save a fortune but it's not
And you can't expect the government to fund every child a tablet and. Or broadband
Other countries are in the same position ,

@penquinice yes don't get it with next years exams apparently may run them a month later , like that will help with 3 months missed and potentially even more
Just do teacher assessments again and maybe exams for a few subjects like English and maths
This years were only cancelled as they couldn't run them I don't think what they had potentially missed was even taken into account

@ineedaholidaynow I did watch it and it was as bad as I had anticipated it would be!

Perhaps the Govt has other plans. Physically close schools, all lessons run like open university. Pop in every now and again for a catch up and lab work but ultimately children are taught by BBC bite size or you pay for private schooling. If you were cynical you could see this happening.

@flamingochill

I live in a new build estate and the internet is shocking. I pay for 200 somethings (?) I think, but often it drops or goes tremendously slow.

For the past few weeks we have had Openreach vans everywhere over our estate, but currently the internet isn’t much better. I’m currently using the 4g on my phone as it’s better than our WiFi.

I know that despite being completely up for Zoom teaching, my WiFi wouldn’t cut it. And there’s nothing I can do about that.

We’ve phoned to complain. But in the current climate they are slow to respond. They did some sort of online check and I was told the value was between 2 and 3 which apparently is rubbish.
If my school demanded I Zoom teach, I think I would struggle.