School not using Video Conferencing but lashing out the homework

HerrKuehn · 22-04-2020 01:08PM

beggars_bush wrote: »

I hope children don't carry the same level of vitriol into school everyday that many parents and posters here seem to harbour towards teachers and schools

or indeed that some teachers have towards parents.

ZV Yoda · 22-04-2020 01:27PM

Not sure if it's been mentioned here, but there is a Zoom feature called "Virtual background". It allows you you to create a virtual background (e.g. a landscape, a bookcase, a photo of your classroom... or whatever picture you choose) behind you. If you enable this feature, your students won't have to see your dirty clothes hanging off the back of the chair in your bedroom, or your semi-naked partner walking to the fridge. Instead, they'll see whatever background you choose. It works really well.

See instructions here:
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/204674889-Zoom-Rooms-Customized-Background.

I know of one person who works for a number of different institutions. He's now working online. He switches his virtual background to a picture of whatever institution he happens to be working on behalf of at any given time.

CageWager · 22-04-2020 08:02PM

Its unfair to lay blame on teachers for the current lack of a coordinated approach to education - that has to come from the top. You can’t take a large cohort of workers who (in the normal course of events) are not expected to innovate and then all of a sudden expect them to create new ways of learning under such extreme circumstances.

Also surely all teachers in the state should be issued with a laptop. How can anyone be expected to teach effectively in this day and age working off paper printouts?

maninasia · 23-04-2020 07:22AM

CageWager wrote: »

Its unfair to lay blame on teachers for the current lack of a coordinated approach to education - that has to come from the top. You can’t take a large cohort of workers who (in the normal course of events) are not expected to innovate and then all of a sudden expect them to create new ways of learning under such extreme circumstances.

Also surely all teachers in the state should be issued with a laptop. How can anyone be expected to teach effectively in this day and age working off paper printouts?

Agreed. Other countries already have approved online platforms for sharing materials and also online teaching, some provide laptops and tablets.

Irish department of education failing badly in this aspect . Get your act together...Fast !

In the meantime teachers can buy a laptop and be proactive. You have a smartphone, you can buy a laptop.

airy fairy · 23-04-2020 07:34AM

Here's a novel idea.
Teachers go to the workplace, all perfectly social distant from each other, one per classroom, and use the schools internet!
Pupils without tablets etc can most probably borrow the schools one, especially now seeing as €10m has been allocated for schools to purchase same.
I've primary and secondary kids.
Support all round has been poor.

khalessi · 23-04-2020 07:59AM

airy fairy wrote: »

Here's a novel idea.
Teachers go to the workplace, all perfectly social distant from each other, one per classroom, and use the schools internet!
Pupils without tablets etc can most probably borrow the schools one, especially now seeing as €10m has been allocated for schools to purchase same.
I've primary and secondary kids.
Support all round has been poor.

Airy Fairy, have you emailed the school re support via the general email address or to the teachers school email? A general email will get to the teacher.
Most teachers are working very hard but parents need to contact the teacher, to tell them if there is enough work or too much.

wirelessdude01 · 23-04-2020 08:06AM

airy fairy wrote: »

Here's a novel idea.
Teachers go to the workplace, all perfectly social distant from each other, one per classroom, and use the schools internet!
Pupils without tablets etc can most probably borrow the schools one, especially now seeing as €10m been allocated for schools to purchase same.
I've primary and secondary kids.
Support all round has been poor.

Incase you missed the announcement but we aren't allowed inside the doors by order of the government. As for children borrowing school iPads, do you actually think schools have 'one for everyone in the audience'?

How much equipment do you think €10m actually buys? Also do you actually think parents would pay for the school equipment that would inevitably be damaged and/or broken at home? As it is we can't get parents to pay for the replacement of book rental books that their children lose.

airy fairy · 23-04-2020 09:15AM

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Incase you missed the announcement but we aren't allowed inside the doors by order of the government. As for children borrowing school iPads, do you actually think schools have 'one for everyone in the audience'?

How much equipment do you think €10m actually buys? Also do you actually think parents would pay for the school equipment that would inevitably be damaged and/or broken at home? As it is we can't get parents to pay for the replacement of book rental books that their children lose.

I'm sure that teachers getting to work can be classified as essential, that's not a hard one to overcome!

Most kids will have access to a laptop, PC or otherwise for an hour or two a day.
It's not a huge expense in the grand scheme of things, the dept has made it clear more minutes will be provided if necessary.

I could easily put the weeks work for my kids together in 10 minutes for the coming week. During the start of schools closing is parents just continued with the next chapters in books etc.

wirelessdude01 · 23-04-2020 09:28AM

airy fairy wrote: »

I'm sure that teachers getting to work can be classified as essential, that's not a hard one to overcome!
.

Actually it isn't classified as essential for travel purposes. Friend of mine has really bad broadband. They cannot access the books online due to this. They asked the principal could they access the school and the principal directed them to the circular from the government stating that no access allowed. They also went to the local Garda station who also confirmed that it isn't allowed under the current circumstances.

airy fairy · 23-04-2020 09:41AM

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Actually it isn't classified as essential for travel purposes. Friend of mine has really bad broadband. They cannot access the books online due to this. They asked the principal could they access the school and the principal directed them to the circular from the government stating that no access allowed. They also went to the local Garda station who also confirmed that it isn't allowed under the current circumstances.

Not that hard to overcome is what my post said, ie can be overcome with talks to the dept of, in the event, teachers started working alone from their classrooms. The obstacle of unions would have to sort this I'm sure. But in the grand scheme of things, not a huge obstacle.

teachinggal123 · 23-04-2020 10:23AM

khalessi wrote: »

Most teachers are working very hard but parents need to contact the teacher, to tell them if there is enough work or too much.

Teachers are claiming “most” of them are working very hard. From my experience this is simply not true. Parents experience on this thread also not supporting this.

SOME teachers are working hard. A very large majority are not, and a significant minority are doing nothing at all.

jazz_jazz · 23-04-2020 11:02AM

I'm a primary school teacher in a country school.

The day of the closure we sent home work for 2 weeks. Our parents were all contacted a week after the school closures and asked how they would like to receive school work. Some wanted work emailed out to them daily. The vast majority said they'd like an email with the following week's work.

We send out an email every Friday with the following week's work. There are also extra options, links to games and videos etc for those that want them. The parents have been told that they can send screenshots of their children's work for us to correct, but as of yet I haven't received anything. I've sent letters as email attachments to all of my class to say hello and see how they are getting on and I've received a few lovely replies back.

The children in 5th and 6th are using a program where the teacher can upload activities/tasks etc and then the children can upload screenshots of their work and get some feedback. They're using this program because they were familiar with it anyway before the closures so it wasn't anything new for them.

We use our school email so each parent can contact their child's teacher and we are contactable during school hours each day.

We check in with our parents a couple of times a week to see if they are getting on OK. The principal contacted all the parents over the last few weeks to check in with them, and they were all happy with the current setup. Some of the parents are following the plan of work to the letter, others are choosing bits and pieces to do.

We have a Zoom meeting every Monday morning to make sure that all the teachers are on the same page and that there is consistency throughout the school.

At the moment this setup seems to be working OK for everyone. I'm sure we will make changes to it as time goes on though.

JizzBeans · 23-04-2020 11:06AM

airy fairy wrote: »

I'm sure that teachers getting to work can be classified as essential, that's not a hard one to overcome!

Most kids will have access to a laptop, PC or otherwise for an hour or two a day.
It's not a huge expense in the grand scheme of things, the dept has made it clear more minutes will be provided if necessary.

I could easily put the weeks work for my kids together in 10 minutes for the coming week. During the start of schools closing is parents just continued with the next chapters in books etc.

Looks like you cracked it...

Why don't you get in contact with Dept. of Education & NPHET and explain what they obviously missed.

Then, you can go online and show teachers how to put lessons together in ten mins.

Then I'm sure you will figure out a solution for the kids that don't have access to computers for an hour or two.

CinemaGuy45 · 23-04-2020 02:14PM

teachinggal123 wrote: »

Teachers are claiming “most” of them are working very hard. From my experience this is simply not true. Parents experience on this thread also not supporting this.

SOME teachers are working hard. A very large majority are not, and a significant minority are doing nothing at all.

How dare you this post in very insulting and I am sure many teachers will be very upset reading this and I am sure most will totally disagree with your post.

On the other hand I think your post it bang on the money.:D

pwurple · 23-04-2020 02:27PM

heldel00 wrote: »

That is a very unfortunate circumstance that those parents are in, and I'm sure it's the same in many houses up and down the country. I really do feel sorry for families like that.
You ask for flexibility from the teachers? Just curious as to what you mean by this?
Is it just their particular teachers/ school?

Flexibility is finding some method of communicating.

My daughters teacher says the terms of her contract means she works in the classroom only. As a result of that, it's radio silence for the past 43 days on schooling for my eldest.

I don't operate in a vacuum, I've contacted my friends and pulled some worksheets from other schools etc. but that's what I mean by a lack of flexibility. Circumstances are hard all round, a gesture towards making an effort would be appreciated.

History Queen · 23-04-2020 02:33PM

teachinggal123 wrote: »

Teachers are claiming “most” of them are working very hard. From my experience this is simply not true. Parents experience on this thread also not supporting this.

SOME teachers are working hard. A very large majority are not, and a significant minority are doing nothing at all.

As I'm sure you are aware posting your opinion as if it were fact does not make it so. Some teachers are working, some are not, that is indisputable. The amount in either group is currently completely unverifiable.

Boards is not a good representation of either group, I know more people who do not use Boards than use it. We can all agree both working and non-working groups exist. I hope we can all agree that teachers are in an unprecedented situation and that any teacher not making their best efforts, given their own personal context and that of their school and students, is deserving of criticism.

Teachers making a genuine effort are not deserving of criticism/teacher bashing /goading etc. Those of us making an effort find it increasingly disheartening to be referred to as lazy, 'on holiday' and unwilling to change. Particularly when some of those levelling these criticisms are teachers themselves either unaware of or just uncaring of the impact their bile has on their colleagues.

History Queen · 23-04-2020 02:36PM

pwurple wrote: »

Flexibility is finding some method of communicating.

My daughters teacher says the terms of her contract means she works in the classroom only. As a result of that, it's radio silence for the past 43 days on schooling for my eldest.

I don't operate in a vacuum, I've contacted my friends and pulled some worksheets from other schools etc. but that's what I mean by a lack of flexibility. Circumstances are hard all round, a gesture towards making an effort would be appreciated.

That teacher displays an abhorrent attitude. And is incorrect about her contract. (Unless older contracts specify the ckassroom? Mine doesn't. ) What about her duty of care to her students? You need to contact the school principal.

teachinggal123 · 23-04-2020 02:55PM

I suggest that all parents (also students) keep a detailed record of the exact level of contact they have from each teacher. This should include material sent out, meetings held, homework corrected, emails responded to, etc. Keep a similar record of contact from the school principal.

Parents can then contact a variety of people/bodies if they feel the teacher has underperformed, and will have proof to back up their claims. They can contact the following to complain about underperformance:

The school principal
The school board of management
The ETB
The Teaching Council
The Dept. of Education
Local politicians and the media (Joe Duffy anyone?) if all else fails

Teachers might be enjoying the sun and "on holidays" now, but I think there will be consequences when things get back to normal. There is already a huge amount of public opinion against the way some teachers are not performing. Maybe there will be no consequences (my own colleagues think this) but I think there will have to be.

political analyst · 23-04-2020 02:56PM

There would definitely be a logistical issue (to put it mildly!) with administering punishment for failing to do homework in the current situation.

teachinggal123 · 23-04-2020 02:57PM

pwurple wrote: »

My daughters teacher says the terms of her contract means she works in the classroom only. As a result of that, it's radio silence for the past 43 days on schooling for my eldest.

I know a lot of teachers who have the exact same attitude. Radio silence for the last 40+ days and no intention of doing anything.

Also, lots of other excuses like no laptop, poor broadband, no place to work from home, minding children etc etc etc. You can see some teachers making these excuses on this thread.

jlm29 · 23-04-2020 03:06PM

teachinggal123 wrote: »

I know a lot of teachers who have the exact same attitude. Radio silence for the last 40+ days and no intention of doing anything.

Also, lots of other excuses like no laptop, poor broadband, no place to work from home, minding children etc etc etc. You can see some teachers making these excuses on this thread.

Those teachers should be redeployed to somewhere where they could earn their money. A covid test centre or something lovely. But obv I know that that couldn’t happen.

runawaybishop · 23-04-2020 03:09PM

History Queen wrote: »

As I'm sure you are aware posting your opinion as if it were fact does not make it so. Some teachers are working, some are not, that is indisputable. The amount in either group is currently completely unverifiable.

Both groups are being paid though. A friend of mine is working flat out, doing both her school work and minding her own kids. Another teacher i know has no barriers to her working and is feet up all day.

heldel00 · 23-04-2020 03:13PM

teachinggal123 wrote: »

I suggest that all parents (also students) keep a detailed record of the exact level of contact they have from each teacher. This should include material sent out, meetings held, homework corrected, emails responded to, etc. Keep a similar record of contact from the school principal.

Parents can then contact a variety of people/bodies if they feel the teacher has underperformed, and will have proof to back up their claims. They can contact the following to complain about underperformance:
The school principal

The school board of management

The ETB

The Teaching Council

The Dept. of Education

Local politicians and the media (Joe Duffy anyone?) if all else fails

Teachers might be enjoying the sun and "on holidays" now, but I think there will be consequences when things get back to normal. There is already a huge amount of public opinion against the way some teachers are not performing. Maybe there will be no consequences (my own colleagues think this) but I think there will have to be.

There's a cigire in you just bursting to get out.

Geuze · 23-04-2020 03:26PM

pwurple wrote: »

My daughters teacher says the terms of her contract means she works in the classroom only. As a result of that, it's radio silence for the past 43 days on schooling for my eldest.

Is this true? If so, that's very bad.

Geuze · 23-04-2020 03:30PM

teachinggal123 wrote: »

I know a lot of teachers who have the exact same attitude. Radio silence for the last 40+ days and no intention of doing anything.

Also, lots of other excuses like no laptop, poor broadband, no place to work from home, minding children etc etc etc. You can see some teachers making these excuses on this thread.

I have often thought there should be two grades.

Grade 1 = starting wage

Grade 2 = senior teacher, or some term like that, 50k upwards

With a progression or merit bar to cross.

So those who put in effort are progressed across to the higher scale.

How they don't own a computer is beyond me, sure 20 year old students often own notebook computers.

Geuze · 23-04-2020 03:32PM

teachinggal123 wrote: »

I know a lot of teachers who have the exact same attitude. Radio silence for the last 40+ days and no intention of doing anything.

Also, lots of other excuses like no laptop, poor broadband, no place to work from home, minding children etc etc etc. You can see some teachers making these excuses on this thread.

Poor broadband is a reasonable excuse in rural Ireland, although note that Eircom run rural FTTH past 320,000 houses.

Geuze · 23-04-2020 03:34PM

runawaybishop wrote: »

Both groups are being paid though. A friend of mine is working flat out, doing both her school work and minding her own kids. Another teacher i know has no barriers to her working and is feet up all day.

This has always been an issue.

The good teacher is not rewarded, other than A and B posts.

At least in universities there are four grades, and you shouldn't be promoted up unless you are good.

Dravokivich · 23-04-2020 03:55PM

Caledonia wrote: »

As the teacher said in Irish Times re colleagues ‘if you don’t have a laptop can I suggest you buy one’

You expect people to be able to afford to just go and buy a laptop? If my job told me to do.that, I'd have to explain I didn't have the money to.

HerrKuehn · 23-04-2020 04:04PM

Dravokivich wrote: »

You expect people to be able to afford to just go and buy a laptop? If my job told me to do.that, I'd have to explain I didn't have the money to.

well i suppose they could say that you are unable to work from home then.

CinemaGuy45 · 23-04-2020 04:11PM

Geuze wrote: »

Poor broadband is a reasonable excuse in rural Ireland, although note that Eircom run rural FTTH past 320,000 houses.

They are good at excuses I will give them that.

School not using Video Conferencing but lashing out the homework

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