Can primary homeschooling be enforced for non KW/V kids?

[Lemons1571]

For those of you who’s primary schools are closed next week, do you know if the DfE expectations of parents will be different now that the curriculum has to continue as normal? I am just thinking aloud really:

• If both parents are key workers, your primary kids will get a school place and do the curriculum work set whilst at school

• If one parent is a key worker and one is a SAHM, are you unlikely to get a place, and the SAHM is expected to spend the day organising the homeschooling

• What if one parent is a work-out-of-the-home keyworker, and the other parent is a non key worker wfh full time? Is there an expectation from schools that the wfh non-keyworker does everything? What if the school see no work submitted, as both parents jobs/incomes are equally essential to pay the mortgage and bills? Can the LA/school take action against the parents for not “doing it all”?

Any links to updated guidance welcome, as I am wondering if the continuation of the curriculum and the legal requirement for remote learning that came into force in October, has created any “carrot and stick” rules that work set remotely must be completed.

This is an interesting thread. My eldest started school in September so this will be our first experience of having school work to do. I am working from home too so will have to juggle that.

I did assume that we would be expected to do a similar amount of work and was hoping we would receive frequent work sheets to do. Our school did ask what kind of equipment we have at home in case of lock down so hopefully as pp said they will have been able to prepare a bit more for this

I don't think this is right, as far as I know we're obliged to keep some sort of a register of who is "attending" online schooling either by uploading work, speaking to somebody on the phone or attending an online session.
In our (small 1 form entry primary) every teacher will have a register and will tick off each day that a child engages in some way. That's not to be used as a tool to cause trouble for parents btw, we do understand but if we know a child isn't engaging then we can try to help in some way

Sorry, of course there is a ‘register’ - if we haven’t heard from a child either during the Zoom sessions or by submitting some work in a day, we keep a note of it. More than a couple of days leads to a phone call home to see if all is ok and if we can help.

What we don’t do is keep a list of who has completed which piece of work and when - we don’t have time to do that, and have every sympathy with working parents. I always say to anyone who is struggling to focus on lots of reading, practising spellings and learning times tables.

I don’t think the DfE can have any expectations of parents whatsoever, and they certainly have no powers of enforcement against parents. Their jurisdiction is schools, not parents.

At primary mine learnt more at home than at school in any event and sometimes what they did learn at school was inaccurate.

I'm looking forward to the response of HT's and LA's if dc are taken out for a two week holiday again. I cannot imagine they'll be able to keep up with the impertinent letters and fines moving forward. Oh what larks there may be to come!

@Timeturnerplease

Trust me, in the event of school closures most teachers will not have time to be making checklists of who has completed what. They’ll want to know you’re ok from a safeguarding perspective, but honestly that’s all they’ve got time for.

Don’t forget that most teachers are working parents too, they will understand.

As a completely normal primary teacher, I did this for every piece of work throughout lockdown. I used it to contact parents and children weekly, both positively through marking and feedback on every piece of work submitted, and in terms of e-mailing regarding work that was not accessed or not finished, to resolve access issues as well as content issues.

I continued to do this when I was also in school full time 4 days a week teaching a different year group face to face from 1st June. As did my colleagues in a similar position.

The guidance specifies key workers and vulnerable to be in school full time.

Doesn't specify any working requirements.

I would imagine you would take all critical workers unless you have to limit numbers due to staffing levels. Then you would look at those who can safely stay at home. But if it is full time this is what the aim will be.

Well we are in an area with shut primary schools and he won’t be doing any work unless he suddenly develops the independent study skills of a uni student by Monday and given he is eight seems unlikely.

It really hadn’t occurred to me the school would care either way. Nothing done remotely has to be handed in so how would they know if the kids are beavering away on twinkle worksheets or watching Netflix?!

Unless the theory is the school checks up when they get back? But I cannot see that happening before September so they would check six months worth of worksheets for every child?! Seems unlikely 😂!

I suppose they could check he had done an accelerated reader quiz online and I expect he will do that as he quite likes them but no it hadn’t occurred to me for a moment that schools would be phoning parents about completing worksheets. They didn’t contact us at all in the spring lockdown and certainly didn’t ask on return if he had done any work.

I am a teacher, I worked part of the time in school and part of the time at home during lockdown 1. In June I went back full-time. I have a partner who wfh anyway pre-covid. We did no home schooling whatsoever, and my child's school was rubbish - no contact at all 1-1, and only a few whole class bits. But we did do reading, we played Minecraft and went for a tree climbing or river swimming trip every day if we could. It was fine.

@Wsdhgujn - during lockdown i chatted with my class about what they'd seen on Netflix or iplayer. We watched the same docs and discussed them. Loads of learning going on.

What if the school see no work submitted, as both parents jobs/incomes are equally essential to pay the mortgage and bills? Can the LA/school take action against the parents for not “doing it all”?

Of course not, that would be deeply unfair

One of my kid's parents wrote a report for him in the summer. From the work he'd been handing in, she was spot on!

no it hadn’t occurred to me for a moment that schools would be phoning parents about completing worksheets. They didn’t contact us at all in the spring lockdown and certainly didn’t ask on return if he had done any work.

Ofsted want to know this time so you might get a call. Like pls have said, there's not really any mechanism to enforce it, but I agree that in principle you should be able to have a dialogue with parents about what the barriers are to completing work. Of course there are going to be parents who can't do a full three hours a day and as I've said I'm not sure they should have to. But if no one chases you the truth is most people won't do much after a week or so even if they don't have the barriers. It might feel inconvenient but it might be the difference between a child staying on track or not.

Our weekly work in the last lockdown (5 x English and 5x Maths activities, 1 x activity for each of the other subjects, plus spelling and reading) was designed so that a lot of it was submitted online - either through proprietary software platforms or through a more generalised one on which we set quizzes, spelling tests, stories could be submitted etc. Children and parents could also take photos and submit them via a safe 'social media type' platform. In the final half term, we had weekly online meetings in small groups.

Across the school, there was a really tight correlation between how much each teacher kept up feedback and contact (we could see dips when e.g, a member of staff was ill or in school with keyworker groups) and how much engagement there was from the class.

Oh I agree re Netflix being educational I actually found I had loads of interesting conversations watching stuff together, watching film versions when we had read the book etc but the school really didn’t know what we were doing which is more my point. Same when he self isolated they don’t need to see anything so I had always assumed that the stuff didn’t really need to be done and you can do what you wanted.

He can read, add numbers do it’s timetables. If he never learns what a frontal adverbial phrase is I am sure he will be fine! And I don’t have time to do actual school work with him really particularly as I need to find out what a frontal adverbial phrase is to teach him about them! and since I don’t know and am a functioning adult it sort of makes my point😂!

We had work to be submitted that day. I am a keyworker outside the home, DH wfh full time so it all fell on him but he managed to get 2 DC to do all of their work each day. We were told the children who had not completed it would be completing it in their break times on return to school as they have enough catching up to do.
Surely the parent at home just tries to get what they can done with the child? Other parent I know do the work in the evenings with their child.

There seems to be a perception that non-key workers aren't working. Your initial post doesn't cover the majority of the population. My husband and I are scientists and don't fall under key worker definition. Our jobs have continued throughout and we have struggled through with KS1 home-schooling. Of course there cannot be any consequences if school work is not completed. Parents have to work, whether 'key worker' or not.

Oh I think I misread so ignore my post. In any case, no nothing can be enforced. For working parents surviving this period and keeping children safe and loved is all that can be expected.

I think missing six months worth of breaks to complete a bunch of random worksheets aimed at not getting them behind is a bit of a empty threat on the part of any school😂😂😂!!

Seriously if parents working from home want to step in and teach their kids in addition to their own jobs great but no one can or will even try to enforce it!

It cannot be enforced, and some families can't or won't homeschool. Therefore the whole class will stay behind at the level that everybody has achieved. This is why HS is not a good solution.

Well behind based on what the government thinks that kids should learn which will change depending on how the education system changes. Is a kid in 2020 behind because they don’t know what a kid in 1977 was never asked to learn?

I honestly have totally changed my mind on this! Last time I thought shutting schools was a problem due to educational attainment but at primary I am not sure that is the case? I am sure my kid doesn’t know half of what he “should” know but is he behind, I wonder if we could compare him to 8 year old me? I think it would be similar given I went to school when curriculum requirements were so much less than now and as I said if you see something from your kids school and think “I need to find out what that is before I go and teach it to my kid” I do wonder how important it is to know it😂!”

Read to them and with them, check they are basically numerate and most importantly talk to them, exposing them to vocabulary and encourage them to use their brains to think and reason (the Netflix example above is excellent!). But no don’t get up at five before work to check they know what a subordinate clause is!!...that way madness lies!

Unless the school actually differentiates work other than by outcome and gives some helpful feedback (or any feedback) then my eldest wont be submitting written work again this time. I wont spend half my day and upset him to the point he self harms just so they can tick him off a list as having submitted something that they dont even bother to look at. I'm prepared to argue with then about it again if necessary. Other child is average or just above for everything so does fine just being given worksheets to complete.