Change the structure of the entire school year.

As a primary teacher, and the parent of a primary aged child (and one who should begin nursery in August), the biggest issue between my colleagues (removing issues of PPE in hubs, deep clean of schools and social distancing) would be the learning time that has been lost.

Current guidance states that no new learning should be introduced as we cannot ensure that all children have access to this, instead we are to revise topics already taught. This is working for the time being, as a way of managing the current remote learning situation but, when looking at transitions in to new stages (across the primary and secondary sector), is not a feasible long-term solution.

The proposed idea if one where the entire school year changes, as a result of this unprecedented situation. Instead of running August to June, the year will eventually run January to December. Holidays will remain as they are, perhaps taking a week off of summer and adding it to Christmas, but the physical structure of holiday dates would stay in-tact. Sports day would still happen before summer, nativity would still be in December etc.

This would allow children to return to school in August at their current stage. They would not move up. This would be a blanket rule across all nursery, primary and secondary stages (further education will be discussed later). Returning to the same stage will give teachers the chance to fill in the gaps caused by the school closures. We would be able to work with the social distancing set-ups proposed focusing on literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing and allow children have met the benchmarks and intended learning for their stage/level. This would run from August until December (making up for the 3.5/4 months of full-time class teaching lost, allowing for a rota of children to be in the building and receiving face to face teaching),
Once we reach the Christmas break in December the children would then begin their transition to their next stage, having had the gaps in the learning filled and allowing them to proceed at the point they would have been (or closer to it) should this situation never have occurred. In January 2021 all children would move on to their new stage/transition in to their new setting with the appropriate scaffolding.

For example, children in Primary 5 would return in August to their current Primary 5 teacher. If able groups would be capped at a maximum of say 10 (for the sake of the example). This would give roughly 3 groups of children at this stage. Each child would receive three blocks of 2.5 hours teaching time per week, with the rest done remotely.
Group 1 would attend Monday 9 - 12 (with a half an hour break) . Group 2 would attend Monday 12 - 3 (with another half an hour break). Group 3 would attend Tuesday 9-12 (with a half an hour break). It would then rotate back round to Group 1 Tuesday 12-3, Group 2 Wednesday 9-12, Group 3 Wednesday 12-3, Group 1 Thursday 9-12, Group 2 Thursday 12-3 and finally Group 3 Friday 9-12. This would then give full time teachers their 2.5 hours NCCT time on a Friday afternoon, from 12-3 (with a further half an hour break).
The focus of these lessons would be maths, literacy and health and wellbeing. Teachers would teach the same lesson for each 3 times, providing follow up activities to be completed at home, before moving on to the next lesson for the second rotation and so on.
This would run from August to December before children move to their next stage.

Now, there is no guarantee that social distancing will be a thing of the past come January 2021, however this method will allow teachers to fill in the gaps and prepare the children for the next stage. It will also allow teachers to become familiar with this way of working before receiving a new cohort of children and trying to manage getting to know the class/establishing where they are academically/dealing with the emotional fall out of the current situation. If this system needs to stay in place beyond January 2021 teachers, children and parents should be more familiar and comfortable with the 'new normal' way of working.

This system would work well for children already attending nursery, through to those in S5.

For those already in further education/moving on to further education the following could be implemented -
A block of distance learning either as an introduction to the course, for new joiners, or a block of revision, running from the August/September to December, at the establishments own discretion before everyone moves on to the next year of the course/begins their first year in January 2021. This would also allow those who need to resit modules/essays/exams the chance to do so before moving on. Those who have graduated will not be impacted.

The only group of children who will be impacted will be those waiting to start nursery in August, which my own child is a part of. Currently the government has postponed the legal requirement to meet the increase in funded nursery hours. Not having the children attend until January 2021 will allow local authorities the time to complete nursery building projects and give them time to put in the required staffing, structure and changes to make this a more viable option by the end of the year. My child, who isn't yet three, doesn't need to be placed in to a new environment having never attended formal childcare, in the midst of this pandemic. He needs access to the family support he is used to as a way of dealing with the emotional upset this situation has caused. His entrance to formal childcare and education isn't the top priority.
For children already in nursery they would follow the 'stay where you currently are' until January 2021.

Why the contribution is important

This change of structure seems to impact the fewest amount of people.
*It is still allowing parents to return to work (should other childcare arrangements be allowed);
* It allows children the chance to finish their year off properly, providing plenty of scope for transitions;
* It allows children the opportunity to explore this new normal with an adult they already have a relationship with;
*It allows education staff to get to grips with a new normal within the education setting.

We seem to be forgetting, as adults, that children are the ones who will be at the centre of any changes to education. Moving them on to a new stage without covering all of the required learning from the previous stage won't just affect them for one year, it will have a long-term impact on their education. If not given the chance to do so, children and adults will be playing catch up for a long time, trying to cover the ground lost over the past 6 weeks, and potentially more.
We are also minimising the emotional upheaval that moving on to a new stage will have on children, particularly those who already struggle with such changes and those who have been negatively impacted at home by the school closures.

by akrobertson on May 05, 2020 at 03:06PM

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Average rating: 4.4
Based on: 16 votes

Comments

  • Posted by Katie May 05, 2020 at 21:13

    Absolutely - we should delay the transition of p7 pupils to secondary and all children in primary and nursery at the very least should return after summer to the same class and teacher to all re-adjustment time and transition for p7. It will also let them end their primary years properly, hopefully with the joy that leaver assemblies and discos if social distancing allows at the time - we need to be bold in the steps we take to protect and nourish our children just now - tinkering at the edges is not enough.

  • Posted by Kirklistonjohn May 06, 2020 at 02:26

    Remote teaching should be increased but be more focused and teacher led - especially create the opportunity for one to one video links for tutorials between teacher and pupil.
    This would take the weight of parents especially key workers and those working at home and tap in to the vast teacher at home resource.

  • Posted by Julief May 06, 2020 at 08:49

    Thanks for such a well thought out solution. It’s good to hear from a teacher who understands the worries and concerns I have about my child’s education.

    The issue is not just about when children go back, which is being discussed a lot. We need a plan for how to help the children get back on track. Not just education wise, teachers will no doubt end up having to help the children adjust post lockdown the emotional fall out from it.

  • Posted by InglishTeecher May 06, 2020 at 11:10

    2.5 hours of NCCT is not enough time to plan and resource for the 2.5 hours of in-school learning you're proposing plus the extra 22.5 hours that pupils will theoretically do at home. As you must know, creating lessons and resources for use in a home environment is much more time-consuming and challenging than creating it to be delivered in a school with a teacher.

    Your proposed timetable would not work in secondary. You can't prioritise some subjects over others in the same way and, in the senior school, timetables are complex and involve unique groups of pupils.

    Additionally, teachers are in the process of creating the estimates that will be used to award SQA qualifications this year, so some schools have already moved all pupils up to the next year group already, brought forward from when we usually do this at the beginning of June. Not to do so would have trapped, for example, a N5 S4 class doing N5 level work when they could be getting on with Higher, with the associated drop in engagement this would bring.

  • Posted by Mysay7 May 06, 2020 at 13:12

    I fully support the idea of children returning to the same year group they were in pre-school closures, not just for the purpose of enabling teachers to identifying gaps and consolidating learning before moving up, but to take account of the trauma this disruption has caused and to allow the time and emotional support to help children transition back to school, their routines, new ‘norms’ around safe practices, etc. After-all, unless feeling safe, secure and emotionally ready, our children won’t be fully receptive to learning anyway.

    Where I differ in opinion is around the timing of introducing this unless we are confident of a vaccine or minimal risk by August as I have real concern about schools opening with ‘social distancing’ measures in place. Without this confidence, it would not be safe and a ‘safe enough’ arrangement that places responsibility on children (especially nursery and primary aged) and their teachers, is not ok. In those circumstances, I’d support the same concept proposed, but at a later, safer time.

    I think particular consideration needs to be given to children at key transition milestones (starting & leaving primary high school) and there needs to be an enhanced transition put in place to support them.

    No-one wants their children to be at risk or to pose transmission danger to their household upon return and defeat all the stringent measures you’ve taken as a household to prevent the infection. Realistically, each households capability and or commitment to be as stringent
    will vary and it just takes one weak link for the chain of prevention to break, making all the sacrifice of ‘lockdown’ to date completely worthless.

    Let’s instead, find ways to harness what’s working for children in many of their homes (nurture, informal learning, access to learning resources, online link to their teachers and an offering of ‘formal’ classwork). Let’s in the background, take the time to develop ways to facilitate virtual classroom lessons that can then be delivered until it’s safe to go back to school- perhaps just the teachers at school in the meantime (much more manageable in terms of infection control) so children can see and keep a sense of connection to both them and their physical class and school environment).

    Amidst all the pursuit to return to ‘normal’ let’s remember that for many, being at home instead of at school will be an enriching ‘wider- learning’ experience that will help consolidate and enhance their overall learning and life skills, which will contribute to their achievement when they return to school when it’s safe to. It also affords parents a greater opportunity for real and active participation in their child’s learning. Let’s not discard the value in all that.

    We do however need to remember that not all households will be safe, not all will have resources, will not all have equal capacity and without investment and appropriate support, children in these households will suffer during school closures. We need to find a resolve that meets their needs too.
    I personally don’t think that the resolve to that is to do as some have proposed and have vulnerable children go to school (and be exposed to the very risk I wouldn’t wish my own children to be exposed to)- that also exposes them as ‘vulnerable’ and imposes stigma. Instead, it would require ensuring access to technology, physical resources, discreet enhanced virtual (possibly multidisciplinary) contact that is really attuned, supportive and tailored to the needs of the children and other family members in that household. Supportive, but respectful safeguarding measures, etc.

    Let’s translate what works during this lockdown into creating our new ‘normal’ going forward and not rush to go back to the old ‘normal’.

    At the very least, let’s offer parents and teachers choice about returning to school before there’s a vaccine/ minimal risk rather than taking a decision which makes it compulsory.

  • Posted by Walmer3 May 06, 2020 at 14:17

    As a parent of a current p7 and a secondary schooled child with some additional needs, I had previously only thought of the option of repeating the entire current year. I think this is a really excellent and well evidenced alternative proposal and I’d be very supportive of this option, which may be more practical to implement than repetition of the entire school year, right across the system. Please do give it the thought and consideration it deserves.

  • Posted by akrobertson May 06, 2020 at 17:57

    To those that have commented thank you. It is good to see other opinions.

    Honestly, without any really expertise in Secondary education it was more a shot in the dark. If a government imposed such measure they would need to consult secondary teachers, professionals, parents, pupils and other stakeholders to find a manageable work around in terms of different schooling options. Perhaps a full day in, as opposed to a half day with literacy, maths and then cycle between the other subjects. Who knows.

    The timing I do agree with. If August isn't safe then by no means am I pushing for an August start. August was used as an example based on the phased exit proposed by the Republic of Ireland.

    For those advocating for online teaching to be delivered via live lessons, at home, that simply isn't feasible. Many teachers are parents - with children who are of all ages and partners who are working from home/key workers etc or single parents. I simply could not facilitate live teaching lessons, home educating my own school aged child and parenting my own toddler. When I am physically at work this isn't an issue as I don't have these problems to navigate.

    And for the 2.5 hours NCCT not being enough, no it isn't. However it never has been. That is our contract though and that's that.

  • Posted by MaryK May 11, 2020 at 16:49

    I like this idea as it allows children to catch up on their education and also allows the parents to return to work.
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