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.

@MarshaBradyo as far as I know, the DfE were not collecting information on cases in schools in June.

@TrustTheGeneGenie but delays can mean better understanding, improved therapies, closer to vaccine...

My kids' school here in the US is doing blended learning. They're in school 2 days a week and home 3 days a week. It's working out so far - the teachers are working incredibly hard to make it work. They actually teach to both in-school and at-home students at the same time.

It means everyone can keep 3' apart at all time - they also wear masks.

No schools have shut down anywhere near us, and colds don't seem to be circulating either. There hasn't been any massive increase in people needing tests.

My friends who have younger children have found childcare for the home days. It wasn't easy, but it was better than school suddenly shutting down, or kids being sent home with colds and waiting for tests.

Right now blended learning seems to be the best of a bad bunch when it comes to options.

The schools are considering switching to full-time in-school once they've worked out how to continue keeping everyone 3' apart. Some schools with a smaller population and bigger buildings have managed but most haven't yet tried.

We are in France and although the kids are back full time the schools have planned for isolating students. It doesn't have to be a 1 or the other situation.

I had to attend a parents meeting at my sons primary this week where they talked us through their covid set-up and we were all given a log in for an online portal. Should we have to isolate or the class be sent home at short notice we can access all the work on the portal.

My dd is in secondary and both the teens and parents have been using a portal successfully for a few years but the school has also ordered hundreds of text books. None are now to be kept in school or shared and each child has all the required books at home should they need to isolate.

Dd tells me they also asked in the tutor group on the first day back if any child doesn't have regular access to a computer at home (working parents need it or siblings) the school is putting together a register and will make sure a school laptop is sent to your house if you have to isolate.

It's not perfect but I do feel that the schools are doing everything they can to make it work and if as a parent you need to take time off to care for your child during a school shutdown the government have guaranteed you will be paid through the french version of the furlough scheme.

Just checked my email and there is a survey from the school on how we feel about going from blended learning to full-time in-school learning.

Although they are gathering our opinions, the final decision will come down to the school superintendent and board. Here's some of the email...

"As the school year progresses, we hope to move to an “all-in” schedule at some point (but only during those times when State Department of Education determines the county to be “green”). An all-in schedule would mean that each student would be in school five days per week, following the modified daily schedule (8:00 – 2:00 for high/middle and 9:00 – 3:00 for elementary), while fully remote students would remain off-campus. There are significant challenges in that effort, as the state requires that we abide by CDC standards whenever students are in school. Most notably, those standards require three-foot distancing between students wearing face coverings, and six-foot physical distancing between students when eating, with no more than 50 individuals in a single indoor space (such as a gym or cafeteria).

While we have found the hybrid model allows us to meet CDC standards, we know that having half of the students on buses and in schools, while warmer weather allows for outdoor learning, breaks, and dining, is much different than having all students in our corridors and classrooms during cooler, wet weather. Moving to the “all-in” format will require:

• increases in staffing (as we must divide students into smaller groups in order to provide proper distancing, especially during lunches);

• further adjustments to the academic day, in order to make use of larger spaces (gyms, etc.) during lunch periods and to allow for modified bus runs if crowding becomes a concern;

• more substitute teachers and additional instructional adjustments as larger numbers of staff will likely be placed on leave or work from home under federal leave provisions;

• increased contact tracing and quarantining when members of the school community become ill."

[quote monkeytennis97]@TrustTheGeneGenie but delays can mean better understanding, improved therapies, closer to vaccine...[/quote]
Ah yes.... Better understanding which has lead to us... Doing the same thing again? Right.

One drug that works, yes, but this has been totally disregarded clearly as it it was effective why bother locking down again?

Closer to vaccine? Well we'd have been just as close surely. The lockdown didn't facilitate the research If anything it slowed it as at one point they didn't have enough people in the UK to trial it on!

Teachers should be building on this finding that many people share to advocate for their profession and how important they are and the job they do - not trying to claim everyone is behind the times if they hate on-line learning.

I'm a university tutor and even though my students were not children but young adults, almost without exception they hated online learning. So do almost all of my colleagues. It's OK as an emergency stop-gap but the idea that interacting with students via a computer screen could be the future of education depresses me.

All my lessons are 'blended friendly'.

We are in school right now, but should we have a local isolation or local or widespread lock down, school will continue.

The testing we have done on students in the last week suggests that 95% of them did not regress during lock down, as we soldiered on with our normal timetable online.

As a closure could happen without notice, it is important to have all your resources available at home or in the cloud.