Ideas for alternative education system in corona times

[swg1]

So, I started to consider what schools would look like if a) this was indeed It for the next year or two and b) we determined that yes, kids do spread virus. This is a "what if we scrap everything and start again" scheme. It's also based on having money to throw at it which I appreciate is unlikely to happen.

We've been using Outschool while schools have been out (honestly it's been amazing for us, but expensive). It's small (usually 4-8 kids) zoom classes, you pick the class and the time and the teacher designs the class. Kiddo has done everything from a multi-week Life Science course based around pokemon to a one-off class in correct use of the apostrophe and the design of it means we've been able to wiggle it around us. Mum has to work long days Tuesdays? Guess you have 6 classes then. But Mum has Mondays off and so do you. Or Mum needs you occupied while she makes dinner so let's find a class at around 5PM.

This model could actually work on a wider country basis. The only problem I can see is that balancing the curriculum is a pain in the neck and while I know my kid well enough to identify issues he might need a one off class about not everyone would. So, add a counsellor into the model - a bit like a form tutor . Their first job is to look over teacher reports from classes and see when they're reporting "kid clearly has no clue here, switch to a class really going over the basics" or alternatively "kid is way ahead for this class, switch up a few levels". Their second job is to ensure the curriculum is balanced - make sure kid doesn't race ahead in history but forget to learn fractions. And their third job is to collect behavioural reports. If a child is consistently not showing up to lessons, if they are constantly misbehaving and distracting others or alternatively if there's stuff going on in the background which is causing the individual teachers cause for concern then they can collate this.

The good part of this system is the things you can do given economies of scale. A teacher given a kid who is struggling with a subject still has to move on after time but this would give the ability for a properly personalised education, trying different things and teachers until something stuck. You could to some extent throw away the usual "kids must learn with their age" motif - a kid could do english with kids 2 years younger and maths with kids 2 years older if that was where their abilities lay. And if you started with a basic timetable but parents/children had the ability to rejiggle this to a certain extent that opens the door to all kinds of things - yes, you can go on holiday in a random week if you ensure there are extra lessons in other weeks to make up for it. Kid is horrible in the morning? Schedule lessons later in the day.

It takes a lot of manpower buuuut if you're talking individual classes rather than a full work day, you've actually got people in this country we could use for that. There's a whole lot of teachers who quit because the school day was incompatible with work:life balance who might be tempted back if they were asked to just sign up for however many hours they could do per week at times convenient to them. And for some stuff you could use tutors rather than registered teachers. This also helps actually employ people in our coming massive employment crisis.

THIS IS NOT GOING TO SUIT ALL CHILDREN.

The younger the child, the less likely it is to suit - my wiggle-bottomed 4 year old has tried a few zoom lessons but with a lot less success than with the 6 year old. And some kids are going to have SEN issues or unstable home environments or other reasons they can't do this. And this does nothing at all to tackle the massive childcare issue. But it does provide an alternative - an alternative which actually adds value and isn't just "have a rather worse online education than you would have in a building" - for SOME children. And the more children you can get out of the actual buildings the less likely the kids are left inside to be massive disease vectors.

It's pie in the sky "please give the education system money" thinking I know, but I still think it could work it we stopped singing EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE very loudly and started looking at alternative solutions. Maybe as a private school? Anyone want to throw money at me for a free school? :D

I'd make the (children's) school day much shorter and teach in much smaller groups, which would mean lessons could be better tailored to the individual and more actual teaching (rather than behaviour management) could be done in the time. Fewer teachers would be needed, which makes education more affordable for the taxpayer.

Surely the shorter day would be counteracted by the much smaller groups so you'd need the same number of teachers?

i.e. if you halved the day but halved the class size, you'd need the same number of teachers? (assuming they'd be on a shift system and half in the morning, half in the afternoon as otherwise you'd need more space which would be more expensive)

@Bol87

Home learning is fine but who is doing it? When both parents work? Probably mum. And how does mums employer deal with that? I had friends who nearly had breakdowns trying to home educate & work full time. Their days started at 5am to get some work done before 9am. Then they tried to juggle work & school when most of their clients needed them to work a regular 9-5 day. Then they’d finish, cook tea, kids to bed & work from 8pm-midnight ..

It is not realistic. Or do women just give up their careers? Families struggle to keep up with mortgage payments cost parents had to give up their job or go part time etc etc. The implications are enormous.

Which is why what you need is a "no one size fits all" system.

We are never ever going to have a system where online learning suits everyone. And we no longer have time to build a system where we could adequately house and educate all children - we could MAYBE have done that if we had spent the last 6 months desperately looking for locations, erecting Nightingale style schools and taking over village halls but unfortunately we squandered that time in favour of a "if we close our eyes it will go away" method.

We can't have what we had before. So, why can't we develop a truly amazing online system (rather than a half-assed "it'll do" system that everyone knows is nowhere near as good as what is in schools) that is separate to and running at the same time as the bricks and mortar schools.

So, the kids that absolutely MUST be at school for whatever reason - self-assessed by parents, I'm okay with that - go to school but the kids that don't get an offering which is actually decent enough that some parents might opt for it BY CHOICE rather than feeling like their kid has been shorted out of an education. And so you empty more kids out of the building and the kids who are left in there are at much lower risk because there are less people in there.

This might mean some reworking of buildings because it's likely that there will be far more 4 year olds who will need to be in school full-time than 14 year olds. And that's ok! But we need to think radical solutions rather than sitting wailing "BUT I WANT WHAT I HAD BEFORE" because that's not working.

How can employers be expected to be understanding long term, I employ staff and at least 2 of my staff have been working at 40% capacity max since March as they’ve had kids at home demanding their attention - I get it, I’ve been understanding but the business cannot keep functioning this way post September, the staff (both women) would have to reduce their hours to match school hours

My autistic child has zero social contact with anyone outside of school. He needs to be amongst peers for social and emotional development - these are the things that will change his life and I don't think you need to be autistic for that to be the case either!

@willandgrace I guess it depends on your business. DP company has been fantastic and said to all their staff that they can work flexibly for example one member of his team logs in at 9:30am for a team call, then logs back in at 1-3 as her DC have zoom classes in this time then logs back in after 5:30 and works the rest of her 8 hours. It is possible in a range of companies (not all) but employers are so set on the 9-5 working day that it doesn't happen

It sounds complicated, but I reckon there are more options for children when they're over 5 years old.
Our nursery has set up some online lessons for preschoolers, as they are the ones preparing for a different level of education. Three 30 min sessions per week.
So far, so good, but I think some parents have difficulties to realise that children can be learning without sitting and looking at the screen all the time.