OffTheRock wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 4:15 pm
I don’t think there are any easy answers to that problem bagpuss. Live teaching seems to get as many complaints as not live teaching. Mostly because it lacks flexibility so parents can’t arrange homeschooling around work. I don’t know if there’s an answer that pleases the greatest number of parents or whether that might vary from school to school depending on need.
Yes, for FS up to Y2, definitely, live teaching is a problem for parents and probably Y3 as well, at least to start with. By Y4, most kids are well able to crack on with it by themselves with little to zero assistance from parents. The bagkitten is in Y5 and has been perfectly able to do zoom stuff by herself since lockdown v1 (when in Y4) - for a drama club she goes to. The only input I have to that is to get the link up for her because it comes to my email address. If a link was put in eschools, she'd be able to do it all entirely by herself. My Y3 nephew had video lessons before Christmas when their bubble had to self isolate and my sister in law said she did need to be close by and keep an eye as he would otherwise not pay attention. So yes, I totally agree that video lessons aren't always easy either, especially for younger ones. But for Y4 up, I think they're hugely valuable and very viable. Even for younger ones, they could record video lessons that the kids could then watch when it can be fitted in.
The bagkitten's school only did anything at all on video towards the end of lockdown 1 after pretty much every parent in the school had begged them to do something, anything, for the love of every deity, plllllleeeeeeaaaaase. And then it was just one recorded video each week with a bit of a chat and a brief intro to the week's work. Even that made a huge difference, though.
And now here we are again with zero video input, although we are being promised a once a week video chat with the teacher. No info yet on what that means exactly or how long it will be, whether it's 1-1, small group, whole class. For 5 mins to say hi or an hour to actually have some teaching.
I'm cutting the teachers a huge amount of slack - they're in a sh.tty position and I have massive empathy for them. I actually think they're doing a great job of what they're doing, and have said so. But I am furious at the inflexible, unhelpful, and unimaginative attitude of the head, as is every other parent I have spoken to about this (which is a fair few, and each has confirmed that everyone
they have spoken to feels the same). I meant to spend the weekend composing an email but I needed to switch off and did manage to do so. I'm now waiting to hear more about what this live chat with the teacher is actually going to be before I write and send it.