Teachers...are kids actually expected to properly remote learn this time?

[WallopDollop]

Genuine question... Is this going to be different to the last lockdown in terms of remote learning?

I know things were different at different schools but last time it very much felt like if they do the work they do it, if they don't they don't 🤷 and to be quite honest, a lot of the time ours didn't do any school work except a few online maths /English games for an hour or so.

Will this time be different in that will they be expected to actually complete proper work, will they be marked as absent if they don't etc...?

Kids can and will log on and avoid doing work.

But then kids can and did go to school and avoid doing work, too.

Some will do more work at home, because they have less distractions. Some will do less work, because they're not being constantly nagged.

We can't really do much about any of that. Usually, when teachers get observed, we're judged on the learning taking place in the students, not the teaching going on at the front of the class. Now, all we can control is the teaching going on at the front.

@ivfbeenbusy

How exactly am i Supposed to home school a 4 year old?! 🤷‍♀️

I wouldn’t bother too much. Reading with them, playing, doing crafts and counting will be more than sufficient.

My child's primary school also lock down teams now at 4pm but I find this so restrictive.

My dd Y12 has been told she can't be in pyjamas - she's furious! How dare they

For reception kids honestly just don’t worry. I got a couple of CPG work books and did some homemade phonics sheets - that was plenty. We did honestly max 45 mins between 8 and 9 am from March til June - I was working otherwise and had no brain capacity to force anything more with a VERY stubborn august born DS. The rest of the time just playing or watching Tv (we did have outside space which helped).

June and July we got some extra reading books (just Julia Donaldson songbird ones) and did maybe 1-1.5hours a day (again 45 mins first thing and then a tiny bit more squeezed in later). No proper writing although lots of colouring in for pen control.

Truly, I did not want this to become a bashing of anyone. I am interested in what various teachers are doing this time round just to get an idea. Unfortunately it seems you absolutely cannot have a discussion about this subject on here.

It’s a shame because I also wanted to know this. I have no issues with what the school did last time, I am not grumbling or bashing, but I would like to know if in general there will be more expectation for children to do all the work set this time because I just can’t see how we’ll be able to manage that.

(Yes of course it depends on the school, I’m still waiting to hear from my DC’s school, imagine they’re a bit busy at present!)

@GoldenOmber

Truly, I did not want this to become a bashing of anyone. I am interested in what various teachers are doing this time round just to get an idea. Unfortunately it seems you absolutely cannot have a discussion about this subject on here.

It’s a shame because I also wanted to know this. I have no issues with what the school did last time, I am not grumbling or bashing, but I would like to know if in general there will be more expectation for children to do all the work set this time because I just can’t see how we’ll be able to manage that.

(Yes of course it depends on the school, I’m still waiting to hear from my DC’s school, imagine they’re a bit busy at present!)

This is exactly why I posted. Do people think there will generally be more expectation that children will complete all the work set.

My son is 8 and today they emailed out a full 9-330 timetable including PE (!). The poor teachers will be doing full days of lessons via zoom. No idea what to expect, but another single parent here who needs to work, so am pleased I don’t need to teach.

My daughters secondary started live teams lessons today of her normal timetabled lessons and her school have just emailed to say that will now continue until at least half term. My daughter says the lessons were just like the lessons in school without kids messing about so she loved it. All seemed to go smoothly and homework set so fingers crossed it continues to go as well. Lesson work was submitted in teams or by email, same with homework. It’ll be marked and feedback given. My daughter said she thinks she’ll learn more than being in school with kids messing about.
My sons college lessons will also be online, he’s done that before and it works well for him.

@PollyIndia

My son is 8 and today they emailed out a full 9-330 timetable including PE (!). The poor teachers will be doing full days of lessons via zoom. No idea what to expect, but another single parent here who needs to work, so am pleased I don’t need to teach.

I honestly don't think I could trust our youngest to do this without supervision throughout the day 😖

Do people think there will generally be more expectation that children will complete all the work set.
I only teach y10-13 and I expected them to do all the work last time. Overall, schools will be expecting more because the curriculum hasn't been suspended this time.
The guidance I posted up thread tells you what the DFE expect from schools.

Our secondary is promising whole timetable live lessons for the most part. I really really hope they stick to this, as my dc need structure desperately. Its a lot less isolating logging into google meet and seeing that all your classmates are there, and seeing your teacher talking to you live, than trying to work through a set of tasks alone.
Also, last time there was no feedback WHATSOEVER, no work marked, no comment if work was not handed in. I work full time and the stress nearly broke me.
As for a teacher saying this I and many other teachers are in the fortunate position to own a laptop and not have school aged kids reliant on it. However, many teachers aren't in this situation. So unless they work in school they must have their own technology
Are you fucking joking? You can borrow a laptop from school, or yanno, buy one for £200. Teachers earn a pretty good wage, that's just finding excuses, sorry. And before I get the horror about having to buy your own equipment, three of my friends who have lost their livelihoods due to lockdowns and bought cheap cars to run into the ground doing takeaway deliveries, because in the real world you sometimes have to do shit like that.
It takes me back to the "oh but we're not trained on Teams" excuse. yeah, no one is are they? You just figure it out! I have seen mine and every other industry step up and problem solve all this shit within weeks, and heard all my teacher friends whining endlessly about how they don't have the training, or the guidance, or the equipment. It does grate on me now tbh.

I'll be in school tomorrow awaiting keyworker/vulnerable children.
My daughter will be at keyworker hub when her school opens the following day.
People saying 'teachers have had a year to prepare'...that is nonsense. Being prepared in terms of having Teams/Google classroom set up, fine. But we have just spent the holidays planning our in-class teaching for the start of term, as we always do. In class teaching being far better than the best online provision at primary age. The catchment where I teach has very poor engagement with remote learning. My daughter goes to a village school where their offer last time would have been panned on here. I was delighted. I don't want her sitting on a bloody screen all day. Reading, crafts and drawing is far more valuable than substandard (by its very nature) online teaching. 9am in uniform in their own home! What a joke. I would play the 'I have a masters in education and 12 years teaching experience' card if her school tried that shite. Fortunately they are smart enough to know what real learning is and not be pressured by a load of parents thinking you can measure meaningful learning by the number of hours a child is parked on their arse.

This is what I'm really really struggling with. I have a 6 yo who's supposed to be at morning registration via zoom in uniform for lessons. I work from home on said frigging laptop?! Just what am I supposed to do?

I get paper copies for DS (y6). We will have to sit down at the weekend and do some work... Better than nothing, but still not a proper education. Dh and I work pretty much 8-5 Monday - Friday...

@GoldenOmber

Truly, I did not want this to become a bashing of anyone. I am interested in what various teachers are doing this time round just to get an idea. Unfortunately it seems you absolutely cannot have a discussion about this subject on here.

It’s a shame because I also wanted to know this. I have no issues with what the school did last time, I am not grumbling or bashing, but I would like to know if in general there will be more expectation for children to do all the work set this time because I just can’t see how we’ll be able to manage that.

(Yes of course it depends on the school, I’m still waiting to hear from my DC’s school, imagine they’re a bit busy at present!)

Effectively the situation this time is that there's a higher expectation on the schools. Exactly how each school is meeting this will, like you say, vary massively. Some schools already had good provision and will keep it, but the "worksheet and no marking" schools are likely to step it up a bit.

This shouldn't lead to a higher expectation on parents, but sadly I imagine it will in quite a lot of cases.

Please let your child's teacher know if you or they are struggling with what's expected. It's hard to imagine what's going on in each house without parents letting us know.

Secondary teacher. We are doing a mixture of live lessons and uploaded narrated powerpoints.

I will be sharing my laptop with my primary aged daughter. So who gets it when we both need it for live lessons will be interesting. I had to buy it to work from home in March but she didn't have live lessons during the first lockdown.

Please let your child's teacher know if you or they are struggling with what's expected. It's hard to imagine what's going on in each house without parents letting us know.

Thank you.

@TheGreatWave that's a good point. During the many weeks where I had a sporadic 20% of my Y11s in for lessons (others out isolating etc.) we would tell students at home no cameras and they had to type yes in chat when I called register and I would ask students to respond to questions individually or an open call and they would type in chat- so that felt as though those at home had to engage and also that it was really them... not sure how many parents/siblings would have been desperate to join in with my lesson on Shakespeare.
This time round though with all being at home( bar key worker and vuln) I think it's a good idea to ask for cameras on initially so we can see the students (could flag any concerns around appearance etc.) but then I would want cameras off for rest of lesson and I'll just keep them on their toes by chucking questions at them when I can.
Ultimately you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink- it's the same in school too. Some students are very adept at work avoidance despite staff's best efforts...

@newyeary thanks for replying. I understand now why the remote provision wasn't very full. I thought that in LEA SEN schools the management had to try and create almost like a list of level of need and only top 50% of students on list maximum would be allowed to come in. I didn't realise the school could fully, fully shut. I can't even imagine how tough that is for parents and the children too- I'm sure the word tough is an understatement to be honest.

This is exactly why I posted. Do people think there will generally be more expectation that children will complete all the work set.

But what do you think schools can actually do about it if kids don't do the work? Absolutely nothing, presumably.

@lazylinguist

This is exactly why I posted. Do people think there will generally be more expectation that children will complete all the work set.

But what do you think schools can actually do about it if kids don't do the work? Absolutely nothing, presumably.

I've not suggested they should do anything? I've not made a single implication as to what I think schools should be doing more or less of or whatever. I'm simply asking a question, I'm asking teachers what they are planning to do this time and if they think it will be different/stricter or whatever, so I have an idea as to what the general consensus is this time round I haven't said anything about what I think they should or shouldn't be doing.

@SoDiorDarling

This is what I'm really really struggling with. I have a 6 yo who's supposed to be at morning registration via zoom in uniform for lessons. I work from home on said frigging laptop?! Just what am I supposed to do?

Does anyone know?

Contact the school and ask for a device for your child to use. There have been some supplied to schools to loan out to help with this issue

@lazylinguist other than contact home, nothing.

@WallopDollop I think myself and my colleagues have a realistic expectation of work completed.
I expect all of my exam classes to attend lessons and complete work- some may need deadline extensions if sharing devices etc and that is reasonable and understandable.

For lower years like 7-9 I think it's going to be hit and miss. Some will find the work hard even with narrated powerpoints/live lessons/parent help- I always advise parents, so long as they've had a good crack it, say 20 minutes or so then that's fine, move on, don't have your child in tears and spiralling into a meltdown of 'I can't do it, I'm so stupid' etc. Parents can sign the bottom of page of work to say how long was spent on it or email the teacher when work is submitted to explain. I would absolutely accept that. Some students will do it all, regardless of barriers and potentially run themselves into ground by doing so e.g. working til late in evening when mum's laptop is free- parents need to monitor this and let school know if this is happening and agree what subjects student should focus on.
Every child and family are different. I just think communication is key with school- make them aware of what circumstances your DC will be working in and agree the best approach for them. Best of luck with it all.

The biggest problem with Teams is that often the connectivity is poor, picture freezes and so on, ideally you need an ethernet cable permanently connected, good broadband. It's ok if you turn the video off but obviously the teachers can't do that. Zoom is much better, although there's always a few students in my uni classes who can't connect well. Pre-recorded or live lessons where the students don't need to interact are better for this reason.

Both mine have full taught timetables starting from the middle of the week, however sometimes the work is either pre-recorded or prepared if they can't do a live lesson which I think is more than fine.

It's an experiment!

@justanotherneighinparadise Well my son won't be! He's top 1% of his year group of approx 300 (Year 9, selective secondary, August born) but we live in a very small rented which he shares with his 10 year-old brother and 7 month-old half sister! Total mayhem!!

But what do you think schools can actually do about it if kids don't do the work? Absolutely nothing, presumably.

One of the teachers in our family said last time they phoned the kids parents who were not engaging in work more to see what the issue was. Some of the kids were offered school places, some were given printed copies of work, others were issued with laptops as the parents hadn’t said they didn’t have the necessary equipment. I suppose if none of this works the kids would get flagged up as potentially being at risk, that’s just a guess but I would hope that would be the case. All the schools where I know teachers really did do a lot to get all children engaged in learning.