Why on earth do you think home ed would work second time around?

[Whatchasayin]

We know that a huge percentage of DC didn't even log onto home learning earlier in the year. We know thousands of DC don't have devices, WiFi, space to work, parental support. We know thousands of DC can't be bothered to do it and who's going to make them when parents are at work/don't care. This all happened a few months ago so why are so many people advocating going back there? For a virus that many people don't even realise they have and most don't get more than mildly unwell. Average age of death is 82.

Home Ed when the parent is willing, able and has time and resources, is a completely different thing to Home Ed when it’s been thrust upon the parent

I do agree with this. And I am aware how privileged and fortunate I was to find it easy having home educated a dc previously and enjoyed it, and being a Sahp who could afford to buy learning resources.

My DD last year of A levels did precisely nothing between March and September. Oh, actually yes she did, she logged onto lessons, left it playing in the background and watched Netflix. And trust me, no 17 year old will listen to her DM suggesting she might want to turn her phone off and concentrate on a Law lecture online.
Also some of her "lessons" consisted of "go and revise - see you next week" can't see it being much better this time.

I'll answer the OP genuinely, rather than just rant at the fact that people think its Home Learning v Full Schooling, rather than Home Learning v Part Time or Home Learning v Fuck All.

This time around, my school is very much aiming to provide a full timetable of lessons. It's likely that these will be pre-recorded, with work set alongside and teacher support available throughout the day. All our staff have had much more training in using the online systems we have in place. We're thinking that the teachers may be in school, working full time, whilst the students are at home isolating.

Last time around we made much more use of online, pre-made work, so from the school end, we have made a huge effort to improve on what we put out last time (although the general consensus was that our school didn't do too badly).

Whether or not the fact we are planning on providing a full time-table of pre-recorded lessons, accompanying work, and prompt assessment will make any difference to the uptake, is anyone's guess.

@Dontforgetyourbrolly

Someone please tell me that as a single parent that works full time how I should make this work? Oh yes if course , I need to stop being so selfish don't I? And need to stop thinking about money, because after all my house can be repossessed if I dont pay the mortgage but COVID And while I'm at it , me and my son should stay locked up at home and never mix with anyone else ever again. Funny how I hear this kind of attitude from people in a stable marriage, with no money or loneliness worries.

I didn't see my disabled child for 12 weeks due to care home restrictions last lockdown. I hope you aren't including me in that- this is a hideous time for everyone, there are no winners. and to you, it is shit.

@BelleSausage

No one is talking about schools fully closing. Teachers are talking about BLENDED LEARNING FOR OLDER YEARS.

I don’t see why that is impossible. We’ll be monitoring them and keeping track. All you have to do is ask them is they’ve done it and let them get on with it. Let them have a bit on independence. They aren’t made of sugar.

It is not good enough for kids in or approaching exam years.

Either way - not preparing for school closure would be very unwise. Having a single national curriculum and getting the bbc to do videoed lessons would be good. Exercises and forums like mumsnet but based on the exercises and lessons would be helpful. If given the tools perhaps some vulnerable teachers could reply to posts and moderate the forum. This could be used to cater for people who are not able to go to school (eg isolation, vulnerable parent, medical treatment, mental health) - so would be good anyway.

It would not replace school, but at least there is a back up plan on case too many teachers become sick or it does get bad enough for closures. Live zoom could be used to supplement or replace the bbc lessons. This would be more efficient than schools having to do all this individually themselves.

Or at least it is not good enough for just those kids to have substandard education. If there’s a move to part time everyone should suffer equally. The education of senior high school kids is not less important than younger kids’

The education of senior high school kids is not less important than younger kids’

No, but their ability to use tech without support is very different. I'm a year 1 teacher and I'd be pretty pissed off if my class was sent into blended at the same time as the upper secondary kids. The proportion of the curriculum that doesn't translate well online gets bigger the lower down the school you go.

Everyone should not suffer equally. What we need to do is make sure that students aren't permanently disadvantaged by the variation in provision, that we find a way of making GCSEs somehow fair this year and that we focus on improving further and adult education over the forthcoming years.

Home Ed didn't work for many children. It's unsustainable at primary level. Kids need to be taught, they need support and supervision while learning

Don’t be daft, plenty of people home educate right the way through. I did with my son until secondary school.

Lots of people don’t do it, but the ones who chose fo generally do it well.

@WankPuffins - well dome!

My point is, it will not work if people have to work 8 hours/ day and teach for an extra 2-3 hours minimum.
Home Ed did work for me during lockdown BECAUSE I was at home on furlough... I will not be on furlough again, even if there is a 2nd lockdown...

I don't think you need a lot of money to buy resources, we earned very little and managed it.
There are thousands of free resources, but of course you'd need paper and printer.
There are free websites too, so wifi would be needed.
But as for a huge expense you can if you want to, but it's not necessary.

@Ylvamoon I totally get that. This is why schools have to remain open. I have no idea what working parents are expected to do.

I completely accept that it is an inferior way to learn.

However given that last time round the work set from our secondary was sporadic, hard to follow, uninspiring, and we had zero marking, no feedback and no help when things got tricky I do hold out some hope of it being better a second time around.

@Devilesko oh totally. I only go for the cgp books as that’s the best way my child learns. There are many free resources.

What did piss me off slightly was that some of the websites I used when my Ds was home educated (education city was one) was that I couldn’t sign up as a home educator anymore as they were prioritising schools. My Ds hadn’t set foot in her new school after our move before lockdown started so wasn’t on roll - so we were in limbo land.

The one thing I will say though is that my year 13 is doing a business level 3 Btec. We moved in Jan - he enrolled in college here rather than going it Online as we moved 200 miles away. I did it for the social aspect so he could make friends at college and know people here .

If I could Turn back time I’d have bought him the course on line. He flew though the last term in a week. But this year they won’t let them do it. He would have finished the course by xmas if they would just tell him what modules he has to do. I know why, it’s the funding etc but he’s very frustrated.

He’s only in one day a week at the moment.

I heard that about Mathletics, but for those who can afford it there are several I heard mentioned on the then very active H.ed board.
Mine has been at school for secondary, now 6th form. Going from H.ed straight to boarding.
bet limbo land was weird after deciding on school, but great that you'd already done it.
It was my dd idea when she was 8, I researched for about 6 months and then agreed. I thought it was something hippy types did, until I started to research.

The education of senior high school kids is not less important than younger kids’

It's act more important as they have exams coming up. We cannot repeat last years gcse and a level fiasco. And the government have confirmed that they ARE going ahead next summer.

*No one is talking about schools fully closing. Teachers are talking about BLENDED LEARNING FOR OLDER YEARS.

I don’t see why that is impossible. We’ll be monitoring them and keeping track. All you have to do is ask them is they’ve done it and let them get on with it. Let them have a bit on independence. They aren’t made of sugar*

That is really not good enough for years 10-13 with exams coming up! I witnessed it last school year unfortunately.

@Devilesko I’m am about as far from a hippy type as you can get but I do know what you mean . My Dd who is 6 is thriving at her new school and had made so many new friends after having to move from our old house and leave her old school at pretty short notice. She’d be deviated now to have the school closed. She was upset enough that it’s half term next week (little weirdo).

@MadameBlobby

Why not? My kids would still have access to me for the same amount of hours each week. And o would still be setting and marking their work. How is that any different to being in school?

We have a situation at the moment where more and more students are off to self isolate. It is extremely disruptive. This way we can create a high standard of online learning that is consistent for all pupils. I would rather they had consistent learning.

I think the issue on this thread is that people don’t understand what blended learning is. You won’t have to buy website access, work sheets or sign up to anything. The kind of blended learning we have been told we have a legal requirement to provide has to be set, monitored and marked by the child’s teacher.

It won’t be anything like lockdown. Because we weren’t told to provide work during lockdown. Now we are. And it won’t be schools closed to all pupils. It will be half year groups in at a time to allow for social distancing to create a space between infections. This your child is less likely to be sent home to self isolate because the bubbles have been cut in half.

[quote monkeytennis97]@Deliaskis at the moment there is huge inequality in privision (there always is anyway with private schools), but some schools in the NW are facing repeated closures for exam group bubbles. There already is a lot of inequality going on (and always has been). One of the reasons I, as a privately educated girl, has worked in the state system for over 25 years is to try to level this up.[/quote]
I agree there is. But we've had attendance well over 80% for half a term now. Yes, it's not good enough, and it is affecting delivery of education, but I don't understand how blended learning would be better, given presumably less than 50% in at a time, and the same huge issues for accessing and delivering remote education as we saw in the spring and summer.

I can accept that for some, all schools open all the time isn't working, but blended learning didn't work for many many children either, so it isn't the solution to the problem we are faced with.

I am not claiming to be able to solve all problems for all people, nothing like it in fact, but I do plenty to try and redress thre balance where I can. It's possible to be a decent and reasonable person, and at the same time believe that blended learning fails far more children than its proponents would like to admit.

That sounds reassuring @BelleSausage. I was actually OK with part time school but I think it should apply to everyone the same I don’t agree with some groups’ education being considered less important. Our letter from our school re the part time didnt fill me with confidence I have to say. Maybe it was just the way it was worded. Comments like it being “not ideal” for example

@Deliaskis

How about this one- making a requirement for blended learning provision that is fully accessible to all students would go a long way to evening the playing field for students nationwide.

What should be happening is that schools in tier 3 areas being targeted with funding to run pilots with blended learning and for the expectations to be built that GCSE and Sixth Form students start to learn to work more independently (aside from additional needs which must be allowed provision in school).

What are these students going to do when they reach uni or work and they have to plan their own study or work load? We are setting them up for an enormous fall.

I actually see blended learning part of the way we can assist students to be more empowered in directing their own learning.

WankPuffins

I have a weird one too I'm glad yours is thriving in school.
All 3 of ours spent time both H.ed and school, depending where we were, their ages and needs/wants.
I'm a Romany traveller, me and dh travel for work when able, but have lost most of our business now.

What are these students going to do when they reach uni or work and they have to plan their own study or work load? We are setting them up for an enormous fall

I left school at 14 with nothing, they soon helped me at uni if there was anything I couldn't do. Managed to gain a PgCE in the end.
My parents education was halted by the war, they had to land work instead.
Dad became a Maths whizz and intricate engineering for Vickers, also left school with nothing.
It needn't hold you back if you don't let it.
Not an argument to allow thousands to die from infected children.
Not saying schools should or shouldn't close btw. I don't care either way tbh.