MSE Poll: How do you rate the online education your kids are getting? 19 May 2020 at 6:54PM in Marriage, relationships & families 10 replies 972 views

MSE_Petar

Poll started 19 May 2020

School's out for millions of children and young people across the UK (though not all), with many parents relying on online teaching and resources to keep kids learning during lockdown. This week, we want to know how you're finding the remote education your kids are getting. PS: Thank you to all the teachers working hard for our kids throughout this period.

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Fireflyaway

I know that quality of the provision is not just down to the schools. The area where I previously worked had a high proportion of families who had no internet  or computers at home. It wasn't uncommon for families to have 5,6 or 7 kids so even if they had a pc it was unlikely all the kids would get long enough on it to complete any work. 
Personally I don't think we should get too concerned ( although I feel for those who should have had exams). There are other important life lessons kids can be learning. Cooking, housework, exercise, finding creative ways to pass time and learning to be grateful for what we do have. 

Argento123

Both children at Junior school in affluent St. Albans. Their school has refused to teach classes of children online, saying not all children have computers they can use at home. The few children that do need computers would be supplied with new ones from the PTA funds but still the Headmaster resisted teaching children online. Instead the children are sent sheets to work from and projects.
The children are sent  "cosy" video's from their teachers who are at home on Yoga mats etc telling the children to stay safe!! We are appalled by there PR attempts.
In an affluent town there is no reason not to teach junior school children if the Headmaster is prepared to arrange this. This particular school is open for the children of Key Workers and has not closed down during the pandemic. 
State Junior Schools cannot be compared to the efforts being made by Private Junior Schools who are teaching their classes online all day and marking each pupil's work as well.
The private school teachers have adapted to teaching children online and it's incredibly hard work.
Apparently the Government gave NO RULING to schools as to what or how to teach, they can teach or not, during the pandemic, it seems.
State school teachers have not stood up to scrutiny during this pandemic. The Government's promise to supply a computer to all children who need one, has not come to fruition but in affluent St Albans where those children who need a computer will happily be given one, there is no excuse not to teach junior school children online. 

Argento123

Fireflyaway I agree with what you have written. Of course having both sufficient computers and internet at home is part of the equation. The Government promised but did not deliver.
The point I wish to make is that in an affluent area where the school's PTA offered to buy the 3 or 4 children without a computer, a computer each, and fund any internet costs, the Headmaster remained firm. No online teaching.  The picture you paint of of happily creative children is hardly reality. Their parents are mostly trying to hold down their jobs working from home. Trying to earn money to support their children who could, if they went to private school, be attending a school day online with their teacher and class mates. 

Fireflyaway

There is definitely a divide. My child has a full schedule. Every lesson as well as assemblies, form time etc have just transferred online. As a fee paying school they probably feel some extra pressure to provide a good alternative. I know some parents would definitely complain if there wasn't an alternative because we are still paying fees. I maintain kids can still be learning alternative skills but if parents are trying to work at the same time that's really stressful and probably impossible to work and help with school work. I think parents should not feel bad or inadequate if they can't devote time to school work or don't have the equipment. The most important thing is to protect yours and your children's mental health. Kids are pretty resilient and will probably catch up just fine once they return to school. 

Spendless

If you've older children then it depends what course they're doing. My 17yo is on a musical theatre one, there's elements that they can't teach on-line. To get round this they've put all theoretical work that should have been spread over the 2 years into the rest of this year. With the result that it's very tough and they're trying to understand work that they wouldn't have touched on until a later stage.
Son at Uni on a forensic computer course says his on-line lessons aren't at the calibre they usually run at. You've also got the added complication of whether they will continue on-line for next year and the issue of whether they can share accommodation which makes us not to want to pay his rent for somewhere barely open and on-line classes. He can stay at home and do that!

TempUsername56758

It will completely depend on the time available from the parent. If the parent is also working from home, it is a lot harder to dedicate one-to-one teaching.

pollypenny

Argento123 said:

Fireflyaway I agree with what you have written. Of course having both sufficient computers and internet at home is part of the equation. The Government promised but did not deliver.
The point I wish to make is that in an affluent area where the school's PTA offered to buy the 3 or 4 children without a computer, a computer each, and fund any internet costs, the Headmaster remained firm. No online teaching.  The picture you paint of of happily creative children is hardly reality. Their parents are mostly trying to hold down their jobs working from home. Trying to earn money to support their children who could, if they went to private school, be attending a school day online with their teacher and class mates. 

Perhaps the headmaster is sensitive to the fact that those few parents who can't afford computers would be seen as charity cases. PTA parents would know the business of others and may well gossip. 

henry11vr

Sometimes it really depends on a specific discipline and specific resource, where they get such online lessons. There are plenty of nice web resources, but one of the most reliable one is called Preply. Our kid was making pretty nice results at their online English classes with real and verified tutor. I truly think that there are few subjects, which they still should be learning face to face with teachers in the classrooms.

Madmel

It's all very well moaning about the schools and Head but there are other factors to take into account.  I live in a rural hamlet with crap broadband.  I shared my connection with 2 university students.  I printed out timetables showing when each of us could do online teaching/learning or meetings and it was hard work trying to keep to it.  Our connection is poor at best. Add into that someone sitting final exams at Cambridge (who were brilliant about it) and first year lectures and exams elsewhere.  Whilst I wanted to teach in person, I couldn't.
Then there is the kid in my tutor group whose mother insists he grows up in a screen-free household.  He's a nice kid but hardly completely any set work because he had no way of accessing it.  
The government in its infinite wisdom, instead of providing laptops to the vulnerable, decided that we already had 280 of them (based on what?) so we didn't get any, even though their decision was completely flawed.  Actually we had 20 and all were lent to the pupil premium students.
BT put up notices, signs and banners in my hamlet proclaiming that fibre to the property was coming.  This was in April.  On 27th May a nice man knocked on the door to ask if we minded them moving a telegraph pole in our hedge.  Of course not, crack on with it was our response.  It was meant to happen on 28th May.  Nearly 5 months later, nothing has happened.  Our connection is still crap (but the DC are back at uni so at least I don't have to share).  BT won't tell us when this mythical upgrade will happen.  Yet people like the OP expect state school teachers to work online.  Sort out the infrastructure, get every kid a working device and we'll get on with it.  Until then, stop carping and have some sympathy for those of us trying to do our jobs under difficult circumstances.  If you could do better, get on with it and stop criticising me and my colleagues.

madurdar

I'll now speak from the point of view of a student who has a younger sister. I know that in many subjects, she was cheating during the tests. During the calculation of annual grades, teachers made mistakes a couple of times. This happened several times at her school. In addition, all the video conference platforms used by students and kids were too loaded, so everything was lagging. Many students still can't concentrate on video lessons. In my opinion, this is terribly inconvenient. Children couldn't focus before sitting in front of the teacher. What to say now, when they can open the second tab and play flash games? What to say about the university and student finance? Where does the money parents hand over for training go? Previously, we could pay for some activities for children, or we paid a contract, but what now? Can the owners or managers of schools and universities in Britain explain this point?