If the schools close there should be no pretence that they have switched to "online learning".

[Billie18]

If the schools close they are shut. Schools are not equipped to deliver teaching online. Teachers have not been trained to teach online. Children are not equipped to learn online. The curriculum has not been designed to be taught online. If schools close then children will not be receiving an education. It is dishonest to pretend that they are.

So if the schools close then teachers should be furloughed and children's education should be paused at the point of closure. Closing schools should not be disguised as something it is not. This would allow the damage to continue indefinitely. If schools remain closed for a longer period then teachers should be made redundant so that they are free to do other work. This of course would be terrible and would hopefully not be allowed to happen... But then schools have already not been fully open for nearly a year.

@TheEchtMeaningofChristmas

I'm sure your teaching was great. It's not the point though.

Online learning is absolutely not as good as being in school for most children ( not least those who learn differently, or who don't have broadband, or any kind of means of accessing it, and who can't learn, play and hang out with their friends, or access pastoral support or a free school dinner).

I don't agree with the OPs solution at all. But we need to drop the pretence that everything is peachy. Online learning has been a woefully inadequate solution for my reasonably bright, reasonably supported, well fed and well housed children. It is simply catastrophic for those who have none of that luck.

@ Dukekaboom my "what a load of crap" was in relation to the op’s pie in the sky ideas of how we should proceed, rather than a dismissal of her experience. I have five across various settings so have seen the good, the bad and the ugly.
So we should try and follow the successful models in future . There are brilliant models for teaching online, as proven by many institutions way before we’d even heard of coronavirus.

It probably is woefully inadequate compared to being in school. But when being in school isn’t possible, it’s the best we have. The alternative for many kids is simply nothing. Even if teachers just touch base by saying good morning to their students online, its

Better surely than nothing

unions are dead against it too.

Evidence? The NEU and NASUWT don’t hold this view currently, for example.

Perhaps we need a distinction between remote teaching and online learning. I would be overjoyed if the school taught remotely. My experience of online learning is basically the school saying "Here's some worksheets/online links - get on with it," leaving children to teach themselves or parents juggling teaching their kids while doing their own jobs.

I'm the first to say I think online learning is crap and inadequate In comparison to f2f learning, I think many teachers also agree its easier to be in the classroom, but to say teachers need to be furloughed or even made redundant is just outright bonkers!

I am not happy in the slightest from a personal/selfish perspective that online learning is going to be a reality for a period of time, but I'm not so stupid to dismiss what education level I deem to be inadequate for the other option of no education at all. I fully understand the reasons why we are in this position though whether I like it or not .

Our local council has put a total veto on live teaching

There’s zero research that suggests remote live teaching leads to the best outcomes.

Teaching online must be utterly exhausting. It is more work, not less.

If schools close then my children's education will effectively be paused, our school has not provided good online learning so far. One of my children didn't even log on for a month in the first lockdown (a whole other issue) and school didn't seem to notice.

I've read many people's experiences of excellent online learning and support from schools though. The lack of consistency across schools concerns me, but I don't know how that could be addressed.

I’m a lecturer so obviously older students, but from March until now we have been delivering live online lessons, tutorials, and one to one meetings. We use Teams, which means the students see the chat function like messaging on social media, meaning there are messages 24/7. Feedback from the students is very positive, which was surprising at the start as we were basically learning a whole new way of teaching on the hoof! It doesn’t always go smoothly - we had to switch broadband providers at the beginning, my cat frequently makes an appearance, and I have met many pets, siblings, and parents, not necessarily by design.

Classes are huge as there are no physical restrictions on numbers like there are on campus. My workload is pretty much double this time last year, and I (and most of my friends at work) have worked right through the holidays.

[quote Ihatemyseleffordoingthis]@AccidentallyOnPurpose

The existing, entrenched inequalities have been massively exacerbated and it is naive or obtuse to pretend otherwise. And the blame squarely falls with the government for that.[/quote]
I don't think anyone can deny that.

If schools close then my children's education will effectively be paused, our school has not provided good online learning so far. One of my children didn't even log on for a month in the first lockdown (a whole other issue) and school didn't seem to notice.

Sounds like you’ve got problems on both sides.

@SmileEachDay so what does the evidence say does give the best outcomes?

If schools are to remain open there needs to be a massive investment of energy, strategic and creative thinking and cash to make it possible for everyone to be safe
If schools are to close, but fair and adequate education provided remotely, there also needs to be a massive investment of energy, strategic and creative thinking and cash

As unlike punting multimillion £ contracts to their pals new start up for PPE (undelivered) the govt. can't quite see how to monetise this tragedy, none of this investment has happened or will happen, schools will have to try to do their best regardless, and our collective futures will suffer as a consequence.

The OP is a windup merchant but her first paragraph is largely true.

Agreed. My dcs got f**K all education during the last closure, and I spent a fortune paying teachers (who were I presume supposed to be teaching at their schools) to tutor my dcs. Even on recent trials at the dcs' schools half the teachers claim not to have access to a laptop/not to know how to use Teams/that their microphone is broken.

mynamesnotsam

edtechhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Remote_Learning_Rapid_Evidence_Assessment.pdf

Essentially that the method of delivery isn’t important. It’s about quality of teaching, not whether it is “live” or “recorded”.

Even on recent trials at the dcs' schools half the teachers claim not to have access to a laptop/not to know how to use Teams/that their microphone is broken.

To be fair. teachers use their own laptops, phones, internet.
Is this what employees in the private sector do when they work from home?

The online teaching at DS's (state non selective) school has been excellent.

The teachers have worked their asses off to make it work and "translate" their lessons to facilitate this.

I'm frankly in awe of the work they've put in and grateful for it - they must have bust a gut to do it.

My next statement isn't going to be popular, but my opinion echos that of DS and most of his friends. Those keen to blame the school/teachers have children who've chosen not to engage and have seen the pandemic as the opportunity for a jolly.

I've no doubt that not every school has done as well as DS's has and that some parents have very legitimate concerns about online provision.

However, this constant teacher bashing is absolutely bloody awful and there's a substantial cohort of kids and parents blaming schools and teachers for their own child's lack of willingness to participate and their ability to ensure they do "log in" (and usually a correlation between their willingness to engage even when physically in school).

I've been good over Christmas so don't care less if I'm given a few biscuits

Even on recent trials at the dcs' schools half the teachers claim not to have access to a laptop/not to know how to use Teams/that their microphone is broken
Since many many schools don't provide staff with a laptop, and those that do are often providing very very old ones, that's not much of a surprise.

@SmileEachDay

Our local council has put a total veto on live teaching

There’s zero research that suggests remote live teaching leads to the best outcomes.

No idea about research into it but I saw it done really well over Teams for my children and they have not fallen behind, carried on with the curriculum as close to normal as they could. It was also beneficial socially.

Friends with children at schools who simply set tasks online were fed up of it and the children (secondary age) mostly bored of a list of work that rarely got any feedback. Took until October for one friend to be told her child hadn't done any work for two of her subjects (autistic and avoiding the harder ones!) - why hadn't the teachers raised this before? Embarrassingly though, for the school, she was working in school throughout as her parents are key workers so it should have been picked up by staff.
Whatever research may say I know which type of home learning I prefer!

Thank you, DeRigueur
You've said the thing we're not allowed to say!

@MrsFogi

Agreed. My dcs got f**K all education during the last closure, and I spent a fortune paying teachers (who were I presume supposed to be teaching at their schools) to tutor my dcs. Even on recent trials at the dcs' schools half the teachers claim not to have access to a laptop/not to know how to use Teams/that their microphone is broken.

Have you written to your MP to make your views about inadequate technology in schools known?

I have a school laptop - many don't, I've never had one in any previous school. It's years old, a bit prone to crashing and has no whiteboard facility. I am absolutely fucked if I am paying for anything better from my own money, especially when I know I'll be roundly criticised by the likes of you anyway.

@Candiscophonous

@ Dukekaboom my "what a load of crap" was in relation to the op’s pie in the sky ideas of how we should proceed, rather than a dismissal of her experience. I have five across various settings so have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. So we should try and follow the successful models in future . There are brilliant models for teaching online, as proven by many institutions way before we’d even heard of coronavirus.

Yup. I personally loved a flipped classroom when I was teaching. I taught at senior level and taught at a school where parents were engaged with their children’s learning which made a huge difference. Although I was introduced to it while training and the school I had my placement in was a very different school to the one I ended up in but it worked there as well.

Most children have smart phones while it’s not the perfect way to access content it’s is possible to access the content. Note taking would need to be perfected for the subject I taught (computer science) but it is possible to program on a phone, importing files adds a level of complexity.

For primary level it would be crazy to not attempt to educate children this year there’s lots of educational research which shows there are optimum times for children to learn certain skills to ensure they are embedded so I would not advocate children having the year off. My DS’s school provided him with adequate work during the first lockdown, they clearly were working hard throughout to ensure the content was there and even asked follow up questions when he’d completed his work.

At DS's school the teachers are trying their best but lessons aren't helped when there are pupils muting the teachers or kicking other students out of the Teams meeting. It's so frustrating