The lottery of home schooling
WITH schools closed to most pupils until at least September, the spotlight is firmly on home schooling and how to stop children falling behind.
With a study finding that two million children have done virtually no work during lockdown, questions are being asked about why that is the case.
The digital divide is undoubtedly an issue, with some pupils having no access to the internet or technology, and the government has been under fire for failing to deliver enough laptops to the disadvantaged youngsters who need them most.
But even with the technology, many parents feel as though it’s not being used to its full potential – with some teachers stating safeguarding guidelines prevent them from offering classes from home.
Mum Rachel Nolan, from Rochdale, said she was starting to get angry over the lack of input from her children’s school.
She said: “Our school posts daily work but we’ve had no contact at all. My eldest daughter’s teacher hasn’t even bothered to comment on a single photo we have sent in, not even a well done or very good.
“I feel completely let down and very disappointed that the school simply don’t seem to care. I have been doing my own thing with my kids but I am very worried about sending my kids back to a school that just isn’t good enough.”
There are however numerous schools across Greater Manchester that are excelling with their online learning platforms – and parents have nothing but praise for how they have handled the transformation to home working.
Deborah Todd’s 12-year-old son Noah is a pupil at Manchester Academy in Greenheys, near Rusholme, and says what the school is doing under the leadership of head James Eldon is ‘absolutely amazing.’
She said: “Since well before lockdown they were organised, clear, planned and ready with a fantastic IT system and plan,” said the mum-oftwo. They have been extremely good at communications – emails, links, texts and constant good communications ensuring that as parents we know what’s going on.”
She added: “Noah has been having live lessons since about Easter, plus other work. From next week he will be getting three lessons a day online, plus additional work. It’s exceptional. He’s working hard and thriving.”
From a teachers’ perspective, they say the demands have never been so great and they were ‘dropped in it’ by the government’s sudden announcement to close.
Many are still in schools working with vulnerable and key worker children and having to set online work for their pupils at home.
And while some parents cry out for more work, one secondary school teacher told us that some families simply don’t want to engage with any home learning at all. She said: “Most households have some form of technology, these kids have all got phones – they’ve got X-Boxes and the internet, but they can’t be bothered to access the work.
“It comes back to the same problem of poor parenting. A large section of society places no value on education and the parents of these pupils are just not bothered at all.”
The teacher, who works at a high school in Wigan, added: “I set up a tutorial online and had one child turn up out of 17.”
Dad Mark Denison, from Bolton, told us his daughters were ‘desperate’ to return after months of ‘haphazard’ support. He said: “They really need to be setting work and having online classrooms like a Zoom call chasing up the work,” he said of his children’s school.
“That would also mean there would be more engagement.”
The issue was highlighted by MPs from the House of Commons’ Education Select Committee when they quizzed teaching union bosses over the impact of coronavirus on education and children’s services.
Chairman Robert Halfon MP said: “The evidence on the lockdown’s negative effect on disadvantaged pupils is getting more and more alarming.”
The government has announced a £1 billion ‘catch-up’ fund for schools over lost learning.
The Department for Education has also stressed that some leading state schools have collaborated to open The Oak National Academy – an initiative backed by £300,000 of funding – to deliver video lessons and resources for any teacher in the country to make use of across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10.