“Coronavirus in Scotland: Parents and children left to struggle after councils ban online teaching”, Helen Puttick of the Times reports.
It seems many private schools in Scotland are using video conferencing and other internet tools to continue to educate pupils while they are in quarantine. Some state schools are doing likewise. But fear not, Scotland’s ever-vigilant local councils have been alerted:
However, a number of councils in Scotland have banned state education via live video interaction. East Dunbartonshire council said: âStreaming live lessons is not recommended at this time due to safeguarding and possible equity issues.â East Renfrewshire said they were ânot advocatingâ the approach. East Lothian and Stirling also cited safeguarding issues. Midlothian council told headteachers: âNo platform is considered suitable for interactions involving young people at this time.â
You may send any enquiries as to what “Possible equity issues” might mean by letter or postcard* to:
East Dunbartonshire Council
12 Strathkelvin Place
Kirkintilloch
G66 1TJ
*Enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope if you wish to receive a reply. Please note that the council does not accept owl post as not everyone has owls.
East Dunbartonshire council thanks you for your ongoing understanding and co-operation as we put measures in place to support our children and their families during this difficult time.
“Possible equity issues”
Are they worried that Laurence Fox might be the presenter?
âPossible equity issuesâ
Somebody, maybe only one family, hasn’t got, chosen not to buy, or can’t afford broadband.
You know, Broadband poverty.
I think the issue is that if they recommend it officially, then parents who don’t have the internet might be able to sue the council for discrimination. All the other kids get an education, but their kid is left out sort of thing. And for the rest, parents may be able to sue the council if this sort of thing happens. Et tu, Singapore?
Of course “not recommended” is not quite the same thing as “banned”, is it? Nor does “live video interaction” cover all online education. Parents attention has been drawn to the existence of online teaching, they have been warned, so if parents use it and bad things happen, the council cannot be blamed. “But the council told us to do it, and we were studying Human Biology, and then there was this man appeared, and he got out his…”
Do not imagine that East Dumbartonshire council is not mightly exercised by educational equity issues other than broadband access. Educated Mum access is an even more virulent menace to equity.
Something has gone badly wrong with Scotland, but I suppose you could say that of any country with a national socialist government. They keep on voting for more of the same, so it must be what they want. I don’t know why, though. Can it just be to annoy the English?
JohnK–because of Scotland’s poisonous love of socialism the only anti-Labour protest vote is the SNP. I believe they are widely despised up there anyway but to keep voting for the bastards gives them power.
Glad to see they are down on state education though. Unusually intelligent of them.
The next time the Scotties have a referendum, London has to find a way to fix the vote so that independence wins.
Also, get rid of the Stone of Scone.
To be fair, most children are at serious risk of harm at some point, such as when quadratic equations are introduced into lessons; They might actually have to think for themselves, and that would be, well, counter-productive for the Council.
“To be fair, most children are at serious risk of harm at some point, such as when quadratic equations are introduced into lessons”
“Yeah, but *why* does the quadratic formula work, Dad? Why? You don’t know, do you Dad? Do you?” Smack!
đ
The reaction to home schooling alone should tell any thinking parent that “it’s a good thing”.
And some good may come out of it. You must remember that Isaac Newton thought of his most important creation while in quarantine from the plague.
Can you imagine how *bored* you have to be to invent calculus?
This is a classic example of preferring everyone be equally poor rather than have everyone rich even if some are richer than others.
It is also an example of protecting us to death.
Dyspeptic Curmudgeon: “Can you imagine how *bored* you have to be to invent calculus?”
Thank you for brightening up my Monday morning. đ
Perhaps there is some concern that online education might catch on.
Equality (“equity”) in action – if everyone can not have something then no one must have it.
If everyone can not be fit and healthy – then no one must be fit ad healthy.
If everyone can not be intelligent – then all people must be lobotomised.
If everyone can not be learned – then all people must be ignorant.
This is not just the dominant view in Scotland – it dominates the Western World.
Nullius in Verba (April 27, 2020 at 10:19 am), why on earth would the Scottish education department feel more concerned that their authorised teacher of human biology might suddenly become over-eager to offer a practical demonstration over the web (where they can if they wish monitor his broadcast and/or the lesson can be prerecorded and checked) than that the same teacher might suddenly become over-eager to offer a practical demonstration in a classroom where he’s alone with the kids? đ
Given whom the SNP have put in charge of such things in the past, I would not wish wholly to deride all concern, but surely the online situation is more pre-checkable, more monitorable, can have the feed more swiftly cut and above all contains far less actual possibility of danger to the kiddies.
Not managing to share your concern here đ – and therefore not managing to sympathise with the suggested excuse.
“why on earth would the Scottish education department feel more concerned that their authorised teacher of human biology”
Why on Earth would you think he was authorised?
“possible equity issues” may refer to the fact that children might be learning unapproved, outside-the-box stuff at home from parents who have finally realized that ‘schooling’ is not synonymous with ‘education’ – as an uncomfortably close-to-the-bone satirical piece from ‘The Babylon Bee’ suggests:
Teachers Urge Government To Reopen Schools Before Students Learn To Think For Themselves
After all, the State didn’t get involved in the provision of education to young minds because the State wished those young minds to grow up as independent, free-thinking individualists protective of their liberties, as the work of John Taylor Gatto and others have reminded us.
“âpossible equity issuesâ may refer to the fact that children might be learning unapproved, outside-the-box stuff at home from parents who have finally realized that âschoolingâ is not synonymous with âeducationâ”
But why, then, would they be ‘banning’ approved, inside-the-box teaching by their own teacher over video link?
The primary reason for this is events like the Singapore incident. There have been cases of ‘hackers’ breaking into classes and presenting material that even the parents, let alone the council, would not want them to see. None of the currently available free videoconferencing software is secure against this.
That doesn’t forbid all online teaching. You-tube videos, web pages, web forms, etc. are still allowed.
The “possible equity issues” is unclear, but is probably related to the legal duty of councils to provide an education equitably to all children who need it.
Section 19 – Education Act 1996.
The council are legally not allowed to exclude children from education. They’ve had legal proceedings taken against them in the past when they have done so, when kids with problems have been unable or deeply unwilling to attend, and the council have proved unsympathetic.
So it may be possible that if a teacher organises an online video conference class, and some students don’t have the bandwidth and can’t attend, and fell behind in classes as a result, and the teacher shrugged and said “Not my problem – the council recommended it”, their parents could (quite reasonably, I think) complain that the school wasn’t doing their job. Public bodies are under all sorts of statutory duties not to ‘discriminate’, especially against the poor and disabled. They could, at the least, expect a firestorm of bad publicity. So while it’s not clear to me if there is such a rule, or if it would be applied in these circumstances, or if parents would really complain, and it’s not even clear if that’s what they really meant, I think it possible that someone at the council thought it possible. And thought it would be a bad idea to open that can of worms, and could teachers therefore make sure to use online teaching methods that don’t exclude anyone.
And then the Times picked up on it, and figured they could write shit for clicks about it. The announcement doesn’t “ban” anything, and it’s not talking about “online teaching” generally, but live streaming video conferencing software specifically. So the council’s originally unclear communication has been further degraded by being passed through the digestive processes of the tabloid-style headline writers. Outrage sells papers.
This appears to be another inkblot test. We all look at an ambiguous picture with virtually no actual information in it, and see not what’s actually there, but images out of our own subconscious expectations. Fascinating.
NiV
Note that the act you are quoting does not apply in Scotland: that said, the equivalent Scottish legislation will probably say much the same.
The Scotsman also picked up on this, albeit they got in before The Times. https://www.scotsman.com/education/insight-why-digital-divide-dogs-schooling-home-across-scotland-2550049
Whilst some councils may have “banned” online learning, according to The Scotsman, others are throwing taxpayers’ money at the problem by handing out “free” Ipads.
Thank God we have good independent schools in Scotland. Not nearly enough of them, though.
âSomething has gone badly wrong with Scotland, but I suppose you could say that of any country with a national socialist government. They keep on voting for more of the same, so it must be what they want.â
The average turnout at Holyrood elections is 53% (so much for âourâ Parliament). More people in Scotland voted for Brexit than the SNP, which is running a minority administration. And the opposition is split between the Tories, Labour, and the LibDems to a much greater degree than happens at Westminster. Granted, more people should be voting against them, but they’re hardly persuading people to get up off their backsides and vote for them in droves, either.
âI donât know why, though. Can it just be to annoy the English?â
Far, far more than they’d like to admit.
âAlso, get rid of the Stone of Scone.â
Already done, by the nitwit Blair and his cronies. It’s in Edinburgh Castle. For some reason.
ââI can see the file you have uploaded but I canât access them on my mobile phoneââ
Given the previous statement about Microsoft Teams (why not a Council-hosted Jitsi instance?), I’d be willing to bet that’s because he’s sending them Microsoft Word documents instead of using open standards. My old phone from ten years ago could read PDFs. It could barely make calls, but it could read PDFs.
âGlasgow City Council has already begun the roll-out of 52,000 iPads to pupils between P6 and S6, which is due to be completed next year.â
iPads. Not cheap Android tablets, iPads. They haven’t been arsed to fix the streetlight across the road from me for over a year, but they’re happy to spunk ÂŁ23,000,000 on doling out overpriced gewgaws to spotty herberts (minimum; I’m going by the cheapest one here: ÂŁ445 on Amazon, which is more – way more – than I’ve ever paid for any individual electronic device in my life).
ÂŁ23m works out to almost ÂŁ80 for each of the 290,000 households in the city. The Amazon Fire 7 goes for fifty quid.