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Original poster

School only providing 1 hour of live interaction a day!

584 replies

NotLookingTooGood · 07/01/2021 10:25

What is everyone's school experience? I am going a little crazy. We have live online learning of 2 increments of 30mns (maths & english) a day + homework that we have to supervise.

What is everybody else's experience?
The school is relying entirely on us to do the work.

OP posts:
YouBoughtMeAWall · 07/01/2021 13:26

Firstly, there's the whole any adult that lives with the teacher could walk in and see names etc.

That would surely be covered by the teachers working in a private room, telling every adult they live with that they are working and not to enter the room.
Secondly, any adult helping their DC can see the names on the screen. I can see all the names of DC in my child’s class on google classroom.

ginnybag · 07/01/2021 13:27

DD's primary is doing Teams.

The teacher sets assignements in the morning, and the hand them in and have them marked in real time, with the teacher available through the messaging section.

They've grouped the year, so its not always DD's teacher marking and answering each day, but it is a year group teacher, and there always is one.

Lots of links to things included and all the work is done on the platform.

It's working really quite well, and give that I'm currently trying to work, I don't want 'live' sessions that aren't on my timetable.

Xerochrysum · 07/01/2021 13:28

@Deliaskis, if teacher is not marking with no ways to ask question by children, then of course it's not good enough.
Luckily, at my dc's school, it's not the case. Teachers are on stand by to answer questions and getting responce straight away.

MarshaBradyo · 07/01/2021 13:28

Did it used to be a safeguarding issue? Not sure what has changed.

YouBoughtMeAWall · 07/01/2021 13:29

Oh and we’ve discovered today that some of DSs google classroom classes have no comment box to allow him to submit work or ask for help. We have no email addresses for teachers. Just the @info box for the school. Yesterday when I had to ask for clarification on information given out I was replied to at 9:40pm last night. Which, while it sucks for the staff having to answer emails at that time, of course is no use for a Dc during class time.

SpringTime2020 · 07/01/2021 13:31

My DD is Y4. Nothing live, thank goodness. We have 4 lessons per day - either Oak Academy, a video made by one of her teachers or an online platform like TT rockstars, My maths, Bug club. Then they suggest reading for pleasure every day. Work can be uploaded onto Google classroom and the teachers give feedback. My DD needs support with this and I don't have the time to do it all on top of supporting her older brother. She also gets tired looking at the screen. She has also been doing some arts and crafts, playing her keyboard and coming for a walk.So far we have completed Monday and Tuesday's work.

zaphodbeeble · 07/01/2021 13:32

Google meet has a chat function on the right hand side

Workyticket · 07/01/2021 13:33

@YouBoughtMeAWall

Firstly, there's the whole any adult that lives with the teacher could walk in and see names etc.

That would surely be covered by the teachers working in a private room, telling every adult they live with that they are working and not to enter the room.
Secondly, any adult helping their DC can see the names on the screen. I can see all the names of DC in my child’s class on google classroom.

Haha, what about us teachers who ALSO have small children at home?

And no - I'm not sending mine into school. My local hospital are re-directing covid patients at the minute.

GlitterSandcastle · 07/01/2021 13:34

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the request of the OP.

TheBuffster · 07/01/2021 13:35

Those schools may be doing that, but it doesn't stop it being a safeguarding risk. It just means they've 'assessed risk' and decided it is low.
Mark my words, they'll be a grooming incident before long.

The new guidelines will be much in line with traditional teacher standards. They cannot deviate from this because everyone with Qts needs to meet those standards consistently. There's no 'minimum teacher talk time' and pace (is don't talk too long or you'll lose them) is a big thing.
Oftsed incidentally are much more interested in child led learning. Their emphasis in the past few years has been on self assessment too. They really don't want excessive teacher marking.

All this moaning you really do just sound like you're ignorant, bitter and lacking compassion.

And just so you know, most teachers I know we're horrified on Monday. Because they know online learning is time-consuming and ineffective. They just want to get back to normal, but of course have to suck it up like the rest of us.

Oh and please feel free to start teacher training. I'm sure you can do better.

Buttercream22 · 07/01/2021 13:36

DD is reception. We had no live sessions, but the teacher still has 12 kids in class to teach.
We've had some work set for the week, with maths and phonics challenges as well as arty stuff. I think it's just the right amount for reception. We received daily feedback from the teacher, which has been great.

Personally would like a live session or two a week...even if it's just to say hello. But completely understand that the teacher can't do everything, I imagine her work load has doubled now!

MarshaBradyo · 07/01/2021 13:37

@TheBuffster

Those schools may be doing that, but it doesn't stop it being a safeguarding risk. It just means they've 'assessed risk' and decided it is low. Mark my words, they'll be a grooming incident before long.

The new guidelines will be much in line with traditional teacher standards. They cannot deviate from this because everyone with Qts needs to meet those standards consistently. There's no 'minimum teacher talk time' and pace (is don't talk too long or you'll lose them) is a big thing.
Oftsed incidentally are much more interested in child led learning. Their emphasis in the past few years has been on self assessment too. They really don't want excessive teacher marking.

All this moaning you really do just sound like you're ignorant, bitter and lacking compassion.

And just so you know, most teachers I know we're horrified on Monday. Because they know online learning is time-consuming and ineffective. They just want to get back to normal, but of course have to suck it up like the rest of us.

Oh and please feel free to start teacher training. I'm sure you can do better.

I don’t know who you are addressing but you sound like you’re moaning more than most so I’ll leave you to it.

I’m happy with school provision so maybe you’re addressing another poster.

YouBoughtMeAWall · 07/01/2021 13:37

Haha, what about us teachers who ALSO have small children at home?

I don’t think the PPs concern was about small children seeing the names on the screen.

Themostwonderfultimeoftheyear · 07/01/2021 13:37

A 20 min live lesson every morning followed by a related task. On most days there is also another live stream of a health related activity which is for the whole school rather than class specific. We are given lots of links to useful resources too such as Cosmic Yoga, phonics videos, songs etc. Lots of worksheets provided too. DS is reception so this is plenty supplemented with some home activities such as baking and gardening. Have purchased the Galt science lab and a mud and bloom box.

Very very fortunate that I am not working so can focus entirely on home learning and also can afford to buy resources.

TheBuffster · 07/01/2021 13:39

Secondly, any adult helping their DC can see the names on the screen. I can see all the names of DC in my child’s class on google classroom

Which is a safeguarding risk in itself.
Think about it. Every parent in that group can access a child name, appearance and school just by glancing at a screen.
That's not the kind of thing schools are allowed to bandy about. No longer even allowed to hand out classlists for birthday parties.

YouBoughtMeAWall · 07/01/2021 13:39

Which is a safeguarding risk in itself.

So you want to get rid of live teaching and google classroom? What’s left?

TheBuffster · 07/01/2021 13:40

It was just a general comment because the comments on here are mostly ridiculous.

I apologize if I lumped you in with the whiners.

OverTheRainbow88 · 07/01/2021 13:41

@TheBuffster

Seeing a child’s name on a screen is Not a safeguarding risk.

WhatWillSantaBring · 07/01/2021 13:42

Re safeguarding - surely, there is MORE risk to children through not getting any live teacher interaction for the next three months than the risks posed by using Zoom.

So the risks of using Zoom can all be mitigated (no risk can ever be eliminated entirely) - a teacher has to be responsible for ensuring their housemates can't or don't look at the screen when they're live. Teachers / the SCHOOL can instruct parents that they should change their zoom name to something that doesn't identify surnames (mine is automatically set to "Whatwill Santabring", but I changed it today "Whatwill S" - if you can work Zoom (which is challenging at the best of times) you can manage this. And finally, the Zoom host (or Teams host) can, I think, make sure that the call ends automatically if/when they drop off. It's not like the kids are going to be left "unsupervised" - they'll be in their home with adults supervising them, so the school has to just make it clear that the adults are as responsible for the child on a zoom call as they are for the other 23 hours a day.

Not disputing their are huge tech issues with zoom calls, but with a bit of thought AND some guidance from gov't to allow usual measures to be relaxed, safeguarding should not be such an issue that it prevents education entirely.

(Caveat: obviously, I'm not a safeguarding expert. However, I am a lawyer/ Data Protection expert and I can assure you that schools are far too cautious on DP issues. I'm glad of it, personally, but it does mean there is more flexibility from a legal perspective than teachers realise. The problem is with the leadership from the DfE/LEAs (or lack thereof).).

TheBuffster · 07/01/2021 13:43

Recorded videos are safer.
Introduction
Video
Task
Plenary/misconception video

Child can pause and replay at own pace.
Google classroom is pants in my opinion. Many other learning platforms that are secure. I honestly don't know enough about GC to make that judgement. I don't know if it's secure or not.
Live lessons are an inconvenience anyway because allow no leeway for when children do the work.

catfeets · 07/01/2021 13:44

From these comments, it's easy to see why my neighbours are pumping dance music all day and the kids are doing nothing but run around like lunatics. The parents don't give a shit about education so if there's just a couple of half hour things to do a day, they can just do what they want. The impact this will have on all kids, especially the more disadvantages ones is awful.

TheBuffster · 07/01/2021 13:45

It is. It sounds ridiculous but all schools had to change their practices to be inline with the new changes.

donewithitalltodayandxmas · 07/01/2021 13:46

My ds can't join in with live lessons as apparently needs. Webcam and he can't seem to get link yo on his phone , also have 2 dc now trying to share one pc and my elder ds just been given a ton of assignments so have had to order a cheap netbook on my catalogue so have one each for now. Tbf we were asked if we had devices and because they have phones As well as pc thought we would be ok.
I have emailed school as ds2 is supposed to get work in by 3pm and ds1 also has deadlines to explain he may occasionally be late.
Which they have said is fine and ao far he actually seems to if done all his work by about 12:30
But its first week and ds is yr 11 so school did have revision planned for mocks then obviously changed at the last hr.

AaahWoof · 07/01/2021 13:47

10 mins a day to basically check the children are still alive. Threat to pull any support via email if we're stuck or anything if any more parents request keyworker places sent out to us all last night.
The 10 mins a day is the children on mute so no chance to share news or interact with their peers.

ivfbeenbusy · 07/01/2021 13:47

[quote poshme]@ivfbeenbusy there are lots of kids at school- who do you suppose is teaching them?
[/quote]

They aren't being "taught" they are basically doing the same worksheets as the kids at hone. It's effectively childcare only