Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Detournement]

As I understand it special needs are fairly common these days and a lot of classes have teaching assistants.

I don't think I need to present evidence to state that cutting direct teacher time by half will have a negative impact.

We are going to have shite restrictions until the spring whatever the schools do. I'm lost as to what people think the prize is from closing schools.

[vikingTON]

10 minutes ago, Detournement said:

As I understand it special needs are fairly common these days and a lot of classes have teaching assistants.

So I guess we'll just run the risk of the teaching assistants getting Covid by keeping patently unsafe working environments in mainstream schools on the go then!

Quote

I don't think I need to present evidence to state that cutting direct teacher time by half will have a negative impact.

Well you will actually to show that direct teaching time in a class of 30 or more provides a better outcome than having less time but instructing in smaller and more focused groups. That's the trade-off that education leaders ought to have been considering before the pandemic anyway - the logic of public health restrictions simply means that they have a chance and an obligation to try it out in practice. 

Quote

We are going to have shite restrictions until the spring whatever the schools do. I'm lost as to what people think the prize is from closing schools.

Last time I checked the 'prize' was successfully controlling a pandemic disease outbreak, which is why governments who actually prioritise this instead of constantly trying to triangulate snippy interest groups have gone as far as closing their public schools entirely to manage their worse outbreak right now. Simply applying the same principles that govern every other sector of society right now in the UK is not in fact 'closing schools' at all.

But with the UK's stunning record from the first wave who can possibly object to the government having another shot at getting it right.  

Edited October 13, 2020 by vikingTON

[DeeTillEhDeh]

There's absolutely no reason other than "because that's the way it's always been done" for schooling to take the form it currently does. 
In an ideal world this would have been the catalyst for an exploration of other, potentially better, ways of delivering education,at least at secondary level where play isn't such an integral part of the experience. 
Sadly it became quickly politicised when Jack McConnell and that bonkers group of lockdown-sceptic parents whose name I forget flooded social media with their pish, and it stopped being about giving the best possible experience and became this is the way we've always done it and therefore always must do it. 

Blended learning, although preferable to remote learning, is no substitute for having a specialist teaching 100% of the time.

That being said, if we did have to resort to blended learning, then we are in a better place than we were in March.

My biggest concern would still be the significant number of pupils with limited IT access - I know schools have been given extra resources - but it is not anywhere near the level that is required.

Even before this pandemic I felt that more needed to be done to provide those without regular IT access better provision. This pandemic has really highlighted the gap between the haves and have nots.

Improving IT access is not a magic bullet either - how we support and motivate children during home learning is crucial as well.

[Juanhourjoe]

2 hours ago, Detournement said:

No one is saying that the current system is perfect but you would have to be a bitter misanthrope to want to replace it with something much worse.

Everyone who is saying do remote learning is saying just abandon every kid in the country with special educational needs. 

Well. Schools could assess for special needs, and those who would need support with technology, to keep in full time. And send everyone else home.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Blended learning, although preferable to remote learning, is no substitute for having a specialist teaching 100% of the time.

That being said, if we did have to resort to blended learning, then we are in a better place than we were in March.

My biggest concern would still be the significant number of pupils with limited IT access - I know schools have been given extra resources - but it is not anywhere near the level that is required.

Even before this pandemic I felt that more needed to be done to provide those without regular IT access better provision. This pandemic has really highlighted the gap between the haves and have nots.

Improving IT access is not a magic bullet either - how we support and motivate children during home learning is crucial as well.

This is a good point and I'm probably guilty of assuming that everyone has access to both a laptop / chromebook and a decent quality broadband connection when of course they don't.

There's also bound to be lots of home environments which are just not conducive for a child's education and again this has to be taken in to account.

[welshbairn]

38 minutes ago, Juanhourjoe said:

Well. Schools could assess for special needs, and those who would need support with technology, to keep in full time. And send everyone else home.

Assuming they all have supportive homes to go to. I still don't get how having half empty classrooms and supergluing masks to their faces is going to stop transmission when they're alone together, no more than fresher students. 

[GordonS]

2 hours ago, Detournement said:

No one is saying that the current system is perfect but you would have to be a bitter misanthrope to want to replace it with something much worse.

Everyone who is saying do remote learning is saying just abandon every kid in the country with special educational needs. 

Special needs didn't close down during lockdown. Schools stayed open throughout for those who needed them.

[GordonS]

One thing I'd add to the schools debate is this stat from New York. I don't think anyone has done any work to establish the equivalent figure here, but it would be ugly.

In New York City, population 8.3 million, with about double the UK's coronavirus death rate, 4,200 children have lost at least one parent to coronavirus.

If that's not an incentive to stamp this fkn virus on the head, I don't know what is.

 

[GordonS]

Seems to be a perception on social media that restrictions are very unpopular and the government is scared to introduce them. But consistent and regular polling shows that's not true. 67% would support the government quarantining someone who has been in contact with an infected person. 66% support the government cancelling large sporting events, concerts and other large events. And of the most recent restrictions, only 15% say they go too far while 40% say they don't go far enough.

[Gaz]

3 hours ago, Detournement said:

As I understand it special needs are fairly common these days and a lot of classes have teaching assistants.

I don't think I need to present evidence to state that cutting direct teacher time by half will have a negative impact.

We are going to have shite restrictions until the spring whatever the schools do. I'm lost as to what people think the prize is from closing schools.

There's a solid argument that special needs aren't any more common than they were 50 years ago, but obviously are much more understood now and pupils theoretically able to get much more support rather than just being chucked in the dunce classes for 12 years.

Just out of interest, how many classes do you think have teaching assistants?

My school has just over 1000 pupils. Fancy taking a stab at how many teaching assistants we have across the whole school?

[DeeTillEhDeh]

There's a solid argument that special needs aren't any more common than they were 50 years ago, but obviously are much more understood now and pupils theoretically able to get much more support rather than just being chucked in the dunce classes for 12 years.
Just out of interest, how many classes do you think have teaching assistants?
My school has just over 1000 pupils. Fancy taking a stab at how many teaching assistants we have across the whole school?

3

[Gaz]

Just now, DeeTillEhDeh said:

7 minutes ago, Gaz said:

There's a solid argument that special needs aren't any more common than they were 50 years ago, but obviously are much more understood now and pupils theoretically able to get much more support rather than just being chucked in the dunce classes for 12 years.
Just out of interest, how many classes do you think have teaching assistants?
My school has just over 1000 pupils. Fancy taking a stab at how many teaching assistants we have across the whole school?

3

Not as few as that, thankfully.

[FemdomFilmFan]

On 22/01/2020 at 06:03, G_Man1985 said:

No
No
No
No

First no hasn't aged well.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Not as few as that, thankfully.

But it won't be far off - if you are like our school the number of ASNAs is around half the level it was 10 years ago.

[Gaz]

Just now, DeeTillEhDeh said:

3 minutes ago, Gaz said:

Not as few as that, thankfully.

But it won't be far off - if you are like our school the number of classroom assistants is around half the level it was 10 years ago.

Yes, it's in single figures.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Yes, it's in single figures.

Some huge schools in some LAs operate with an SfL compliment of two staff - they literally don't support classes but provide support and good practice to teachers to deal with SfL issues.

All part of the austerity cuts.

[ICTChris]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/sports/soccer/britain-coronavirus-rules-soccer-fans.html#click=https://t.co/pV2rLH3nwO

[ICTChris]

Reports that Boris Johnson is moving towards a circuit breaker. What banter.

[bendan]

13 hours ago, Detournement said:

No one is saying that the current system is perfect but you would have to be a bitter misanthrope to want to replace it with something much worse.

Everyone who is saying do remote learning is saying just abandon every kid in the country with special educational needs. 

I could be wrong, but are kids with special needs getting support right now? As far as I know, most support has been suspended due to distancing rules etc.

Edited to add: If schools weren't so crowded, we'd probably be able to provide this support, so you could argue kids with special needs are being abandoned because of the stubborn refusal to reduce regular class time.

Edited October 14, 2020 by bendan

[super_carson]

True to form, reports in the papers that Scotland will have a 4 tier lockdown.  The fascination with being seen to one-up England is truly breathtaking, and I say that as someone who believes in independence.  

 

Also I see Northern Ireland are doing a circuit breaker similar to our restrictions in the  central belt - but with added restriction that schools will close.  There's a definite feeling amongst teachers I know that this perhaps the way to go, as difficult as it could be for us.  

Edited October 14, 2020 by super_carson