If only schools had planned for blended/part time learning

[pontypridd]

I watched the discussions here, before September, and was never convinced that going back as normal - full schools, classes and timetables etc was going to work.

It seemed obvious what was likely to happen ... but so many others didn't see it that way. Those arguing for blended/part time school - so that bubbles could be smaller and better controlled said that school would be more likely to last until Christmas etc if done in that way.

What do people think now?

Will the current school plan work? Is there a possibility of changing it to something else (blended learning is just one option) if the current plan fails?

I'm dreading going back to homeschooling as before. If only more thought had been put into this.

I'm not convinced my 5 year old would cope with blended learning, she's sad enough that school isn't on at the weekend! She missed socialising with other kids so much and spent so much time angry and frustrated.

We are in the privileged position that we can afford financially for me to give up my long awaited plan to get back to work over the winter and wait until the spring in the hope I can get my feet under the table before needing more time off. Whether I will cope with yet more time with minimal adult interaction and keeping my increasingly definitely 2 year old happy while doing blended learning activities is far more in doubt...

There's a big difference between primary (need near enough full time in person supervision and teaching) and secondary - especially between the exam years and EYFS/KS1!

Exam years basically need money throwing at the problem, access to labs and practical subject facilities and then robust, school provided internet, potentially with centrally provided lectures freeing known local teachers to deal with queries and checking understanding, or facilitate group discussions. Space is required for children who say they need it, or those teachers believe need in person teaching for children to be educated away from home.

What does need to happen would be required attendance at online lessons at a fixed time to limit opportunities for cross school mingling when not in school and not supervised by parents because this group where definitely not social distancing over the summer...

Blended learning in primary is the worst of all worlds, a large proportion of the children would be in cross bubble childcare while parents work, again spreading the risks.

From a Scottish perspective I think that the kids' reaction to colds has gone back to normal so we're just getting snotty noses rather than the high temperatures the first colds of the year were causing although it doesn't bode well if Covid gets into a school bubble if not picked up.

The main thing we needed was testing to be robust, Westminster had adequate warning from the Scottish return to school and dropped the ball, as usual!

[quote RippleEffects]@BatSegundo I don't think it needs to be a government mandate for (sensible) people who want to keep their children at home and educate, without deregistering, to do so.

Its in the schools interests to keep them on their books and I'd have thought many schools would be happy to have fewer pupils in at present. I'd have thought that heads of year/ head teachers would be open to a degree of flexibility at present.

BUT, for some children this option would be a disaster so it can't be one rule for all. Shouldn't we allow headteachers to have discretion?[/quote]
They do still have discretion. Not for fear from coronavirus because that is not a threat to anyone obviously, but for mental health and logistical reasons.

They won’t take away this discretion because they need to be able to blame the head teachers for all the fall out once the guidelines are long forgotten.

If anything there should be more exceptional reasons granted at the moment not less.

Even if there is a parent at home if they're working they can't necessarily home school a child too. My daughter is 6 and I have to be at my desk set hours with work to do and external phone calls coming in. When I'm finished it's generally time to make dinner, eat dinner, listen to DD read, bathtime, bed time. Fed up of people thinking working from home means you're free to be a full time teacher.

I can't reply without being really rude but people need to get their head out of their backsides and actually consider the reality of other people.

You honestly think that parents worrying about affording to feed their children are defeatist because they haven't got the tech available to them.

@RippleEffects that would be great if it were happening. Being shielded and so on those threads, I have seen a number of examples where heads are NOT being sympathetic to families where kids/parents are vulnerable. The government have said 'all in else fines' and many heads seem to be toeing the line regardless of circumstance. They have had years of being badgered about high attendance by Ofsted and attendance at all costs has become endemic.

My own kids are in at the moment (actually they're at home with a cold as are many of their friends) because numbers are low here. If numbers go up, i will have Frank conversations with both schools. But I'm confident, used to advocating for myself and in a position to pay fines if it goes that far. Not all families are in that position.

@TheGreatWave

I can't reply without being really rude but people need to get their head out of their backsides and actually consider the reality of other people.

You honestly think that parents worrying about affording to feed their children are defeatist because they haven't got the tech available to them.

This!!!!!

The volume of overpriviledged aresholes on this site and their selfish wants continues to defy belief. They are quite happy for working class people to go out commuting and working to service their needs but heaven forbid their own precious fucking bubble is exposed in any way. Let’s just turn on parents who have to work out of the house in order to feed their kids! The teachers who spout the same trope on here with an obvious agenda should be fucking ashamed of themselves- it’s amazing how many of them seem to have time to endlessly mumsnet during the school day.

@KnobChops I doubt there are many/any teachers who have time to MN when at school. But some teachers, like many other people, do work part-time.

My DC is in Y11 I would rather money had been given to schools so there could be plans in place, so if it looks like his year group will be playing the Hokey Cokey of self isolating and being in school, that actually something like blended learning which would be less disruptive than that, could be put into operation quickly and efficiently. At 15 he is more than able to stay at home on his own and do school work and he knows that he has to be responsible if he wants to get any GCSEs this year.

The volume of overpriviledged aresholes on this site and their selfish wants continues to defy belief. They are quite happy for working class people to go out commuting and working to service their needs but heaven forbid their own precious fucking bubble is exposed in any way. Let’s just turn on parents who have to work out of the house in order to feed their kids! The teachers who spout the same trope on here with an obvious agenda should be fucking ashamed of themselves- it’s amazing how many of them seem to have time to endlessly mumsnet during the school day.

Yes,yes, yes

There are families right now having to share a toothbrush because they are so fucking skint because of the after shocks of a lockdown. But only on Mumsnet is that called defeatist and they should just pop out and buy all the children a laptop.

I'm off today tralala. I am sitting in the garden and mumsnetting during a break from the housework. That ok?
I've also been off at times when English teachers are in schools due to not being in England. I also have (unpaid) breaks at work.
Would anyone go on a thread and tell a SAHP that they should not be on mumsnet? (Well possibly, as some people are arses).

Schools would have been safer if the government hadn't insisted on the full time attendance of every child including those whose parents could and were happy to plod on with their own homeschooling. They didn't even need to take time away from teachers learning those in the school. How hard would it have been to send an email stating 'this is what we'll be doing this week' or for parents to do their own thing for a little while. Or like you suggested OP blended learning. Instead people were forced to lose a school place or be fined.

At least it wouldn't have been as disruptive as this. What happened to the test for every child that needed it in September. How many people are now isolating because their child has caught a cold and couldn't get a test. There's now more than half of the schools in my area affected. Government has messed up and now we'll likely face another lockdown because the R number is closer to 2 than 1.

Keyworker children, including teachers' children, always had access to schools throughout
That's not accurate, I for example only had access to it when working in school with keyworker children. I did not have access to it when wfh. (I didn't use it either way).

I used to hold the teaching profession with very high regard but the actions of teachers posting on Mumsnet has cancelled all of that out. Many teachers seemingly hate children, have no empathy and couldn’t give a toss about families seriously struggling. Clearly in the wrong job and should resign.

I actually think it’s obvious that teachers do care about the health and safety and well-being of the children and their families.

We should be angry with the people who have messed this all up by opening too much before schools opened and messing up the testing. If the virus wasn’t circulating and we had enough tests this would be a very different story.

Why on earth would anyone want blended learning?

I don't want blended learning @Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow.

I just want my kids to get an education and the way things are heading they'll be at home again soon. Blended learning will at least give them half a week with real teachers and their friends.

I remain of the opinion that full time school for as long as possible is the best option. Since I honestly believe he will get the most education that way and that is my number one aim in sending him to school.

Even just taking what we have had so far and comparing it to the part time option that was touted. So He has been back two weeks full time, so he has spent ten days in school, under a part time option with social distancing our school estimated time in class would be 25 percent so he has now had ten days, under the part time option he would have had two days! It’s quite a significant difference and means he has to miss a lot through bubbles bursting before we would get close to him getting less than he would part time.

Obviously we need to get to Christmas or even the end of the next academic year but it’s important to recognise how minimal the option of social distanced school was for some children it means the level of bubble bursting needs to be very high - his bubble would have to burst 5 separate times between now and Christmas for him to get less than education under this approach than under the part time option (and that of course assumes no school missed on the part time option which is far from certain!)

@pontypridd

Why on earth would anyone want blended learning?

I don't want blended learning @Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow.

I just want my kids to get an education and the way things are heading they'll be at home again soon. Blended learning will at least give them half a week with real teachers and their friends.

Why would they need to be home? The first (endless) lockdown didn’t work, why would another shorter one? The government needs to start being honest with the public and tell us that the virus will need to run through the younger population.

@FreidaMind can you give examples where teachers on MN have shown that they dislike children, I can’t say I have seen that lately. I have seen that they were concerned about schools going back without proper measures in place, and they were fed up with teacher bashing. But not dislike of children.

Blended learning is going to work is if? Something more radical would need to be done with further lockdown

Part time school isn't going to be significantly better either.

If schools are the priority, it's other stuff that needs to shut. Children especially those not from such privileged backgrounds shouldn't be the ones to take the brunt again.

Cases are predominately coming here from socialising pubs and adults not socially distancing at homes. Why should schools shut for this to continue? That's some shite priorities.

@FreidaMind

I used to hold the teaching profession with very high regard but the actions of teachers posting on Mumsnet has cancelled all of that out. Many teachers seemingly hate children, have no empathy and couldn’t give a toss about families seriously struggling. Clearly in the wrong job and should resign.

Absolute rubbish. In normal times I love teaching. I have been doing it for 25 plus years. I feel utterly let down by the government as, I am sure many NHS workers feel. Colleagues who are clinically vulnerable now teaching all over the school with hundreds of kids, poor ventilation, teenagers unable to socially distanced, sanitiser/hand washing/cleaning issues, no masks (as are allowed in European and Asian schools)... colleagues who have been shielding now coping with this.

@FreidaMind

I used to hold the teaching profession with very high regard but the actions of teachers posting on Mumsnet has cancelled all of that out. Many teachers seemingly hate children, have no empathy and couldn’t give a toss about families seriously struggling. Clearly in the wrong job and should resign.

I'd love to see these threads where teachers demonstrate they hate children and haven't given a toss about families struggling, because all I've seen on MN is thread after thread of posters slagging off teachers. I'm sure lots will resign soon - because they are sick and tired of being attacked and blamed for a crisis that wasn't of their making.

It's lunchtime. I have a 20 mins lunch break after cleaning the desks and I'm taking it.

I have to set work for absent students from all five classes I teach today. One parent has said her child won't do anything on screen (I sympathise) and wants paper-based work. We don't use text books and rarely use worksheets so I'm going to have to come up with something specifically for him. I also have marking to finish and next week's lessons to plan before I go home. Next week I will have a 25 min bus duty as well.

I'm told that if my family has to SI I will need to deliver all my lessons online so my own DCs will be left to their own devices.

The title of this thread is most unfortunate.

has it ever occurred to you op that some families have two working parents, or one single working parent who therefore cannot be around 3 weekdays to homeschool? Some of us need to work full time to pay the bills, you know?

I would love to be so privileged that blending learning seemed like a good idea to me.

I kind of think the would still have got less time.

They would have still had to isolate all the time and so possibly had way less school days by the end of the term as they would have been missing days where they weren’t isolating.

Plus most parents I know don’t have the appetite for homeschooling anymore so it would have just been part time school.