Secondary school closure not a disaster

[Rowenasemolina]

In among all the doom laden unhappy threads, I just want to put the other side.

Some children prefer home learning , and do better

No teacher time is being wasted on bad behaviour, so the whole lesson is about the lesson.

Given that 25-50% of learning time in schools is wasted For the average child for the average week, there are positives to the current set up

And the school meals sent home are no worse than the school meals served on site. Maybe now the electorate will wake up to the absolute con of s a school meal system which takes millions of pounds and spends almost all of it on wages rather than food. School meals should be got rid of altogether

As a tutor, I would say around a quarter of my students say they prefer being in school, a quarter day they prefer being at home, and half vary in their feelings from day to day.

They certainly have less interruptions to their learning from badly behaved students at home though.

Not surprising, it is the parents of the badly behaved students that are Complaining most in our schools, and pushing hardest to get them back In

I would have loved it as a teen. My niece is the same.

The secondary environment can be bloody awful. I only have to hear all the behaviour, bad language and bullying at lunch time on duty at work, and I thank god my school days are over.

It’s feeling like a disaster today in my house. I’ve just realised how badly by teen is feeling and that her moodiness and quietness which I was putting down to normal teen moods, is in fact more than that.

And at the root of it she is missing school, routine and her pals.

I think was must be really frustrating for teachers and other pupils are the pupils who join the meeting in drips and drabs so the input has to be explained multiple times. In one lesson the other week it happened five times

I wonder if this model could be Adapted and used in future for excluding pupils. It Might work. The problem with excluding pupils from a lesson is that it can be counter productive if they fall behind. If they are placed in the exclusion room with computer and headphones and I can just turn on live streaming, then they are no longer disrupting the class, but have no excuse to get behind either

I'd agree OP - if we were able to get out and about and have human interaction. If our teenagers could have some independence.

The learning for my teenager is better - no doubt about that.

But it's not good for a teenager's mental health to be locked in, unable to see other human beings. Adults can cope with that. I don't know why that it. Why is that?

As a teenager myself - looking back - being on my own with my parents for weeks and months ... it would have been awful too. Maybe even as awful as school can be for some.

Well my DS is impeccably behaved at school but does not do well at home, loses motivation and struggles. The provision from his school is amazing too and can't be faulted. He needs to be actually in school with his teachers to do well and make progress which he did last term.
The schools definitely need to be shut at the moment, no question but there are no positives for my lovely son to be at home. None at all.

Children who enjoy home learning have always had the ability to do that.

My DC are missing the social interaction of school and the ability to do things that are much harder in a home environment e.g. access to science labs, DT labs, specialist art and drama areas.

I have one child that is just not learning as effectively from reading/watching videos. I'm spending a considerable amount of time going over things he hasn't got. I want him to to go back to school so he can have effective teaching, not because he's badly behaved(he isn't).

Also, has it occurred to you that the children you see as a tutor are not representative of the whole school population by the very nature of how you know them?

Kimnitellen. If people join in dribs and drabs I don’t explain multiple times. It’s in the chat, or on the PowerPoint, and they need to work it out for themselves

It’s working for my DD, she’s year 12 and seems to be continuing to learn well.

It’s not working for year 8 DS. His EHCP isn’t being followed and he can’t access the lesson very well remotely. He can go into school but will still only get the same remote teaching as he would at home. It’s causing him to fall further behind, the time lost learning in year 7 and now year 8 are going to have a detrimental effect on his education for years to come.

In other words, it is not working for those who need it most

I also think that this is a fantastic opportunity to review how we assess- formally.
Having one big exam at the end has huge pitfalls, as we have discovered.

@Rowenasemolina

I wonder if this model could be Adapted and used in future for excluding pupils. It Might work. The problem with excluding pupils from a lesson is that it can be counter productive if they fall behind. If they are placed in the exclusion room with computer and headphones and I can just turn on live streaming, then they are no longer disrupting the class, but have no excuse to get behind either

That's a really interesting idea OP!

My dd is getting so much more learning in lockdown as she had to isolate four times last term.
But she is really missing her friends so the social aspect is still hard. But not as difficult as the constant isolating at least she can go for walks.

Both my kids are studying practical, performing arts subjects.

It’s incredibly difficult for them.

Redskybynight. It’s such a shame students can’t use labs, IT rooms, drama rooms, sports equipment etc. But they couldn’t use them in a pandemic anyway. No local school had those facilities in use this school year, except occasionally for sixth form, with the premises staff cleaning for an hour before and after.

Certainly an awful lot of the SEN children still in school are living the increased adult ratio, smaller class sizes, increase in routine and consistency in the day etc.

Loving, not living!

I'm sure it's preferable for some kids. DH teaches year 12 and 13. While it's probably not as effective as being in school, online lessons are working pretty well. It's certainly a better experience for him than it is for me trying to teach a KS1 class.

I think one positive of this would be if regional or local state-maintained online schools were established for pupils who actually prefer it and can learn better that way.

@Rowenasemolina

Redskybynight. It’s such a shame students can’t use labs, IT rooms, drama rooms, sports equipment etc. But they couldn’t use them in a pandemic anyway. No local school had those facilities in use this school year, except occasionally for sixth form, with the premises staff cleaning for an hour before and after.

Between September & December ds’s college were using music practice rooms & IT equipment and dds school were using dance and drama studios.

OP, I agree. As a teacher, it is lovely to be able to teach again. I have the unruly groups as I'm HOD and they are a completely different bunch of kids and we are getting so much done.

But. I don't know about you, but I am exhausted and I hate not physically seeing their responses when they either get something or are struggling. Lots are missing the social interaction and their mental health is struggling. I think we can do this for the rest of the term and all come out the other side with lots of gains. Any further and those pluses won't outweighs all the negatives of this.

I must admit, I thought something similar last week, while listening to my Y13 DS1 doing his online lessons from college. The calibre of the teaching is fantastic, the students all sound well-informed and engaged, the lessons are very focused and in-depth....I was really impressed. I wondered whether it might actually better provision than the usual in-person teaching with hit-and-miss attendance and kids donkeying about in class etc.

I haven't said as much to my DC though, because it would be incredibly tactless. They're missing their friends, their routines, the buzz of school and college life. Self-motivating is hard, getting yourself up in the morning to sit in the house all day is hard. I'm really proud of the way they're getting on with it, but I think while there are positives to home learning it's more complicated than your OP suggests.

@RedskyBynight

Children who enjoy home learning have always had the ability to do that.

My DC are missing the social interaction of school and the ability to do things that are much harder in a home environment e.g. access to science labs, DT labs, specialist art and drama areas.

I have one child that is just not learning as effectively from reading/watching videos. I'm spending a considerable amount of time going over things he hasn't got. I want him to to go back to school so he can have effective teaching, not because he's badly behaved(he isn't).

Also, has it occurred to you that the children you see as a tutor are not representative of the whole school population by the very nature of how you know them?

Agreed. This week my Year 7 did a science practical... by watching a YouTube video, drama by ....watching a YouTube video and PE by...well you can guess. I agree that bad behaviour is much reduced (although it does still occur). However the richness of the school experience is totally gone.

Tbf my dd (16, lower 6th) is coping really well and suspect she would have done at any age. Ds (7) is another story altogether.

But I do feel that she is becoming very isolated. I'm going to show her how to do googlemeets next week and suggest she tries to organise some study groups or something just so she can chat with other students, or even a 3.25 club where they can chat to each other after the last lesson.

Have suggested she meet up 1 to 1 for walks but by the time they've finished lessons it's too late really and weekends are busy where we live so they are worried about being stopped by the police etc.

It’s harder for some , And easier for others. It’s not a totally negative thing, is what I am saying.

Grafittiartist. I think the time has come to re-evaluate how we do many things in education