Why so little actual teaching in lockdown (state secondary)?

[CatOnMyLap]

My DS (year 8, London state secondary) is getting almost no live teaching during lockdown. Lots of powerpoints, YouTube videos, worksheets set by teachers, but the kids are expected to work unsupervised at home, including tackling complex new topics. Also very little feedback/homework marking. Friends with children at other state secondary schools have the same experience. Yet I am told that private school teachers are doing daily live teaching via Zoom/Google hangouts etc.

I understand that it's unfamiliar, that some teachers may be ill or have small children at home, and that not all kids have sole access to a device. But after 10 weeks it is so clear that the kids need some actual teaching/discussion/group work, and this is doubly true for children whose families can't support with learning. I would love to know why teachers cannot be live say once a week per class per subject for half an hour minimum to explain a new topic or lead a discussion. Are there any teachers who can explain why this is?

@Mistressiggi nope, my entire OP is about live teaching. Maybe I should have called it that rather than 'actual teaching' to be clearer. Not quite sure I follow your analogy about the GP, as it sounds as if you did speak to them in person!

DSD's secondary have switched to teams now and are doing live lessons and it has had a big thumbs up from students and parents so I think the reluctant schools will be pushed there before long.

I don't why there's very little learning going on within my dd school either. The school don't have answers so we're just meant to get on with it.
Dd is in year 10 and they've just given our letter to the children who can start on the 15th, all the smart kids are first and dd who is struggling has to wait his turn and even then they've been told 2 hours a day and no math, English or science will be taught. No zoom lessons for others like the other schools in the area, no work on google classroom or no work sent home. I guess her GCSEs next year don't matter 🤷🏻‍♀️

As you say, at my son's school only the teacher is on video not the students and the teacher can control their microphones as well

DD is in year 8 in a grammar school and they wrote to us at the beginning and said they weren't doing Zoom lessons because they didn't feel they added value.

I certainly think DD is developing a lot of good independent study habits that will serve her very well for GCSE and A Level.

I see this as an opportunity for a different type of learning.

DD would hate to be chained to live lessons.

@NeverTwerkNaked Thank you!
I am genuinely flummoxed, because in many other jobs people are also being expected to organise themselves to attend online meetings at set times of set days.

@Phineyj (And I expect I will get flamed for this too but I'm just asking...) re keeping one's own kids out of the room, this surely also applies to everyone else working from home. Some teachers will have partners who should be able to take turns with childcare; and as key workers couldn't their children be attending school or nursery some of the time?

How bad does one’s online search skills have to be that you cannot find a single one of the other daily threads on this exact topic?

Nothing new to say (@PenorPencil has made excellent points) except I have never worked harder or worried more for my students then I have in these past months...nothing I want more than to be back in my classroom with my students but that isn't appropriate right now...believe me...I already realise how tough next year will be but we also have to accept the limitations of right now...

@grannynap that sounds tough.

@zoemum2006 it sounds like your daughter is very self-motivated and doing well. But not everyone can work without some daily teacher support!

If state schools didn't function in exactly the same way as private schools before the lockdown (hence parents paying large fees), why on earth do you expect them to suddenly start doing so now?

Firstly OP, do have a read of this very informative thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3894500-To-think-we-could-just-collate-all-the-teacher-teaching-related-information-here-and-have-done-with-it

Secondly, I will also reiterate what I have posted on the many live teaching threads although it largely gets ignored by those (including on this very thread who have the luxury of independent schools) who want a narrative it doesn’t fit with:

Three weeks ago now, my school sent a survey to all the parents of our Secondary school (1600+ pupils) asking for their views and the overwhelming majority were against live teaching for reasons that included not wanting to follow a live timetable because they needed their tech and bandwidth to WFH and liked the fact their children could work in the evenings and weekends around them. They also stated they were appreciative for the paper based work that was being sent too, so that pupils didn’t even need a device with a screen to work.

Do their views not count?

Thirdly, my DH is a teacher in a well known private school and they are not doing live lessons, so generalisations like those mentioned on this thread do not help.

In a meeting it is easier to deal with a child interrupting than in a lesson (having had experience of both).

@PenOrPencil any thoughts on teenager morale please? I'm increasingly concerned about that in terms of the absence of teacher/peer contact in their learning

I worry about our students, yes. I probably don’t worry about your child, as you clearly care and support learning at home. Your dc is not having a whale of a time, but they will be just fine.

I worry about the 14 year old who has to look after 3 younger siblings on their own. Mum is known to go awol and not leave money for food.

I worry about the 11 year old with a violent dad who is not working at the moment. They are cooped up together in a small flat.

I worry about the student currently living in a shelter with their mum. They share a room with a bunk bed. This student is one of the reasons why we can’t have online lessons as they need protection.

I worry about the families who come and pick up food parcels from school.

Do I worry about academic progress? Of course. But there is absolute no reason why we will not be able to compensate for time lost when we get back to “normal”. Teachers can deal with that, we do it all the time.

Now is a good time for all of us to show some grit and resilience and to think about others first.

There will be fewer not more live lessons as suggested further up the thread as time goes on. Teachers will be both teaching some pupils in the classroom and setting work for those at home making live lessons impossible!

Live lessons can be recorded and watched later, thereby suiting those who prefer either option.

@NeverTwerkNaked

Live lessons can be recorded and watched later, thereby suiting those who prefer either option.

And the difference between that and the video lessons on Oak National Academy is...?

@Chloe that those who want and would benefit from live lessons can participate in the live lessons

I am genuinely flummoxed, because in many other jobs people are also being expected to organise themselves to attend online meetings at set times of set days
Funny that, so are we. Meetings with staff. To deal with the mess left by no exams, to plan our approach to lockdown learning, to talk about assessment and feedback and forward planning.
Yet another parent who only sees the duck gliding on the water, with no awareness of the amount of paddling that needs to happen underneath. And why should you? It only becomes an issue when you decide to criticise what you don't understand.
(On the first thread on this topic I would have been more tolerant. What's this - the 27th?)

My children's teachers are barely present in their lives. Work is set, returned by child, and ignored. No corrections or feedback, no live lessons, not even live chat. The kids do not have emails for the teachers either.

It is a popular and allegedly outstanding school. If you ask why they're doing so little, you are told it's to stop the kids becoming stressed! Failing their state exams will be stressful, not this.

Mine are so bored but have become experts at computer gaming. Every cloud..

OP there are a lot of teachers on MN. Read the comments sections of the daily papers and you get a different impression of the provision across the country. There are some amazing schools and teachers no doubt, but many are not.

OP you're not allowed to question what teachers do dontcha know? They're all hard-working angels who do so much more for so much less than literally any other public sector worker.

I agree OP. I have a DD in year 10 and she is quiet, dyslexic and doesn’t talk about her feelings or her school work. She has no lessons on TEAMs or ZOOM or anything. The school really needs to get organised as even if they get back on the 15th it will be in a very part time basis.

I emailed school on Monday to see how she was doing and she is now behind on a lot of it. The teachers are issuing work through a year whole range of platforms and she is receiving so many emails from school that she almost needs a secretary. And they have been expecting the kids to take a photograph of their work and send each page to the teachers for feedback. She is very stressed, very behind and worried about her GCSE’s and her future and she feels her entire year group are getting a very raw deal. Apparently at least 50% of the year have a similarly low submission rate in probably what is one of the most important year groups.

My toddler is medically vulnerable to the virus and can’t go into childcare - this is on the advice of his surgeon. When my DH (also a teacher) is in work, I’m not willing to live teach. I couldn’t keep him out of the room and whilst I have no issue with him appearing in internal meetings with colleagues, I do not want the children I teach seeing my child. It’s a professional boundary I’m not willing to cross.

Happy to pre record videos when I can work, mark anything sent in and be available online to address queries etc.

I’ve asked at my kids state secondary (y7,9 and 12 - no interactive online provision at all, no responses to y7 who emailed for help a couple of times - so he’s stopped now). Aware of lack of VLE, union advice, and need to care for children - so no expectation of full days of lessons on and real time lessons.

The reply 9 weeks in, from a trained and experienced secondary school teacher was that they ‘weren’t trained for this’ - what not trained in diverse teaching methods? And that it was ‘not expected’ - we were 9 weeks in. We’ve now had an email that they are giving staff a cpd session on online training - part of which will be adding a voiceover to a PowerPoint. This is now nearer 10 weeks in.

One teacher did some YouTube and the Y9 has to video call for a topic. I admire the teachers who tried to engage a bit more. But it’s so late in the day, the Y9 is fairly mortified.

I'd love to see what my boss said if I said I "wasn't trained for" live online public meetings /wouldn't do them because I had a child in the house.