Time to think about closing the schools

[DolphinFC]

ONS survey finds that education staff are 37% more likely to catch Covid than other workers.

Previous data showed they were no more likely to catch covid than other workers and many people (especially MNetters) felt that this was all the proof needed to keep schools open.

Well, new data shows the reverse is now the case.

No. Some parents think that live lessons are close to the real thing because the teacher is there, but they're not, they're balls too, unless the kids are super-engaged and conscientious, which most aren't.

@Dghgcotcitc

Tu be fair most other professions sending a video of someone else doing your job isn’t the same thing as doing your job yourself and wouldn’t be allowed in my workplace! although be great if instead of presenting at the meeting g on Monday I could just send a YouTube video in abs put my feet up! It’s not surprising that those of us who had to do our work for Home for teachers involved such short cuts. And confusing why it took 40 hours a week for most teachers to do nothing more than upload some links on a website but we know teachers were working the whole time even if all material was provided by the bbc!!

What job do you do? I have thoughts about a number of professions at the moment and I am very willing to offer a critique? Do share!

@sausagepastapot

You're all going to get it. Stop running. Accept it. You'll most likely have a sore throat.

Probably three or four times to be honest. It’s pretty much a toss of a coin as to whether you get a sore throat or are off for weeks or even end up in hospital. Staff shortages=class closures=Home schooling. Accept it (if you can’t be arsed to make schools more Covid safe).

@noblegiraffe

But if the kids are going to get a recorded lesson anyway, then what is the benefit of me cobbling together a maths loom explanation using my limited equipment, compared to an Oak academy lesson on the same topic with their animations and time to put it together properly? Or even Corbettmaths?

Some parents seemed to be obsessed with the idea that it had to be the class teacher doing it. What is the point of teachers endlessly reinventing the wheel?

I admire your honesty and pragmatism @noblegiraffe.

My son is now in year 10. His teachers are absolutely brilliant- enthusiastic, engaging, caring and skilled. But their lockdown lessons were pretty poor. I wouldn't expect anything else- let's face it it's not easy and is very different to in person lessons. Anyone who can't see this hasn't given it much thought.

I feel sure that a more centralised approach to delivering core lessons would be incredibly helpful. Teachers could offer enhancements for pupils who need extra support, or more challenge. They might then also have more time to touch base with individual students too.

It's not a perfect solution- but there is no perfect solution because most young people don't learn well in isolation, on a screen, with little
Interaction.....

This is really really really not a criticism of teachers. Teachers are brilliant.

At the risk of digressing, a lot of English speaking countries (England, Wales, Scotland, Oz, NZ, United States) do seem to be oddly fixated by the idea of hand-crafted teacher-made resources rather than centralized programs and textbooks. The Republic of Ireland, of course, is a notable exception.

Countries which use stardardized resources not only tend to have better work-life balance for teachers, but in addition, teachers are able to spend much more time working with struggling students in small groups and individually, helping them fill in gaps and work on weak spots.

Reinventing the wheel seems so pointless and uses up time that would better be spent on other things.

@Kokeshi123

At the risk of digressing, a lot of English speaking countries (England, Wales, Scotland, Oz, NZ, United States) do seem to be oddly fixated by the idea of hand-crafted teacher-made resources rather than centralized programs and textbooks. The Republic of Ireland, of course, is a notable exception.

Countries which use stardardized resources not only tend to have better work-life balance for teachers, but in addition, teachers are able to spend much more time working with struggling students in small groups and individually, helping them fill in gaps and work on weak spots.

Reinventing the wheel seems so pointless and uses up time that would better be spent on other things.

You're not wrong. I remember when still teaching in the UK, the DFE put up loads of exemplar literacy lessons in the early days of the drive. The OFSTED inspectors got the arse when teachers used them.

I’m not sure if I posted this upthread but I’ll link it again.

My school taught live from Lockdown 1 Day 1. We dual teach too if pupils are isolating. I have decided if I’m required to live teach again I will protest myself as much as possible. Thai article shows how teacher’s lessons in lockdown were recorded and then used as a source of abuse on TikTok. I will not have my camera on. I won’t be speaking, just typing. I will not put myself at risk.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59264238

*protect

*This

(Apologies - in bed, in dark and no glasses!)

@Kokeshi123

At the risk of digressing, a lot of English speaking countries (England, Wales, Scotland, Oz, NZ, United States) do seem to be oddly fixated by the idea of hand-crafted teacher-made resources rather than centralized programs and textbooks. The Republic of Ireland, of course, is a notable exception.

Countries which use stardardized resources not only tend to have better work-life balance for teachers, but in addition, teachers are able to spend much more time working with struggling students in small groups and individually, helping them fill in gaps and work on weak spots.

Reinventing the wheel seems so pointless and uses up time that would better be spent on other things.

Agree. I taught English at a private company in the far East and the emphasis was absolutely on centralised programs and textbooks. This was in part because you don't need a teaching qualification to do it, so it widens their recruitment net and reduces the amount of training they have to give, but it was also very helpful in reducing the amount of time you'd have to spend creating materials rather than thinking about how to adapt the ones you had to your student's needs.

I think in this country there's a feeling that teaching to someone else's materials is lazy and that teachers already have it easy enough(!). It's a version of presenteeism.

During the two lockdowns, we found that we couldn't win. Some parents said there was too much work, some that there wasn't enough. Some said the work was too hard, some thought it was too easy.

It was left up to individual teachers if they wanted to do live lessons or not. I wasn't comfortable with that, so did some Oak Academy lessons with some of my own work and some from educational sources.

There was a fashion, a couple of years ago, that textbooks and worksheets were unsuitable and that we should be making up all our own resource - why??

I'm confused motherrunner, this can and does happen when it's in person teaching also and has become fairly commonplace in some schools unfortunately.

What is it you feel more at risk of doing live teaching?

Have you read the article?

@noblegiraffe

But if the kids are going to get a recorded lesson anyway, then what is the benefit of me cobbling together a maths loom explanation using my limited equipment, compared to an Oak academy lesson on the same topic with their animations and time to put it together properly? Or even Corbettmaths?

Some parents seemed to be obsessed with the idea that it had to be the class teacher doing it. What is the point of teachers endlessly reinventing the wheel?

I absolutely agree. It's really, really hard to make engaging video lessons with basic resources because it's much harder to engage children with video that it is face-to-face.

I make video lessons for a private company as one of my freelancing jobs. It takes a lot of resources and editing/effects to make a video that's actually enjoyable to watch. Why shouldn't teachers use the high-quality stuff that's already available and produced to make it engaging? And I don't agree with the PP who said a pre-prepared lesson can't meet the needs of a class. There are plenty of these resources out there, teachers are more than capable of assessing content and assigning the stuff that's most suitable for their learners.

There seems to be a prevailing attitude that good teaching is labour-intensive teaching. It's the same as the current vogue for hand-making every resource instead of using ready-made stuff, even if it's just as good. It's one of the many reasons I left the profession- it can take waaaay longer to plan, resource, and teach a lesson than it does to deliver it.

I have written textbooks. If I use them, does that make me lazy?

Have you read the article?

Yes. I'm still unclear how teaching online puts you at a higher risk of this type of shit than in person teaching. In my old school it's been much more prevalent during face to face teaching than online.

There was an absolute rash of it.

@WeeHaggisFace

Have you read the article?

Yes. I'm still unclear how teaching online puts you at a higher risk of this type of shit than in person teaching. In my old school it's been much more prevalent during face to face teaching than online.

Mobile phones are banned in my school. You'd be hard pressed to film anyone without us knowing. Online, I have no clue who might be recording me.

As we did both ‘live’ online learning and asynchronous videos, all anyone has to do to capture lots of video of me is to download the videos. Luckily, the TikTok craze didn’t catch on much here - but I know of schools where it has resulted in significant police involvement for defamation.

[quote motherrunner]I’m not sure if I posted this upthread but I’ll link it again.

My school taught live from Lockdown 1 Day 1. We dual teach too if pupils are isolating. I have decided if I’m required to live teach again I will protest myself as much as possible. Thai article shows how teacher’s lessons in lockdown were recorded and then used as a source of abuse on TikTok. I will not have my camera on. I won’t be speaking, just typing. I will not put myself at risk.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59264238[/quote]
I can appreciate your concern and your right not to be on camera or speak for the purposes of online lessons.

However, unless you use prerecorded material your online lessons will fall way short of your usual standards. Isn't this another argument for using prerecorded material?