Coronavirus: Why school closures are worse for poorer pupils - BBC Newsnight

[@AG-ni8jm]

The poor are always hurt the worst from these things. And in the UK, following a decade of austerity, they're really unprepared

[@throwow1014]

A G I’m the poorest kid in my school but I’m doing fine.. bcuz we aren’t making trips to London or Birmingham we are just buying food

[@throwow1014]

Bcuz I go to a school with richer ppl, they always say oh look at him he lives in a bin, he gets his clothes from the slums, they all make a big deal about me having less money, and they wonder why poor ppl hate rich ppl

[@throwow1014]

all my subs are my trolling victims get a job at 15?... okay? Have u noticed something about Birmingham? There are no Job opportunities here

[@throwow1014]

all my subs are my trolling victims huh?

[@throwow1014]

all my subs are my trolling victims oh right ur a troll lol, friendless troll

[@vibezz294]

I’m year 10 and this corona pandemic has put a lot more stress on me considering that I have to cram half of year ten and the whole of year eleven in one year while studying for my exams

[@hey_ashy]

Families with two working parents have been overloaded by the lock down. We are expected to work all day, educate our children and maintain a household. The problems are compounded if there are more than one child in a house as constant supervision is required during learning time. Its a impossible situation to navigate.

[@kingarthur7250]

You had the kids so its your problem nobody elses. If l bought a dog l wouldnt expect you to train it ..walk it or feed it. I suggest in the future you use birth control

[@Ali-di6vp]

Electronic equipment!! Jesus how do you think the children from the third world countries learn?? Do I really need to remind you all its through text books and paper based assignments etc. It's good that they are getting the phone call instead of just relying on online learning! We have also had this social economic gap for years, main stream education is not for every child especially with learning disabilities.... So don't use this pandemic as skape goat for the core issues with education. Plus if electronic devices are not accessible for the underprivalged families who can't afford them then why don't they have grants for this?

[@Wonkywatkins]

Alisha Marguerie well said

[@dambrooks7578]

I whole heartedly concur with everything you said, except "...learning difficulties..." these days it is considered better not to use such disparaging language and, instead, describe it in terms of Special Educational Needs (SENS).

[@Wonkywatkins]

Dam Brooks there is nothing wrong with saying learning difficulties. Stop being petty

[@Ali-di6vp]

@@dambrooks7578 I apologise if I offended you or anyone else. Ironcialy I am dyslexic....

[@Ali-di6vp]

And just to add RLDN is a "registered learning disabilities nurse" and thats the word I used... So I am now confused as to what to use..

[@gaminggranny8905]

This news report really bothered me and I feel I have to speak out. How dare you just point to poorer parents and make it all about them and their loss of opportunity, its patronizing and ill informed. Why did schools support the bite size BBC, making so many lessons and work only available through the BBC? Many low income parents today do not have the BBC, they gave up paying for the overpriced TV licence and went over to free view and fire sticks. So why oh why make the BBC, a bunch of pedophiles and elitists responsible for the education of our children during a pandemic? Why not use a free station that everyone can access? How much school have our children actually missed? Why are these elitists maintaining that their education is ruined, especially if they are poor, and that teachers will have to come in on the weekends? Are you serious? What weird world do you live in? Obviously not the real one that we inhabit. How can you expect, even the most educated parent to be able to take over teaching their children when our teachers go through years of training to be able to become teachers to teach our children. You have placed a burden on parents that is wholly irresponsible and dangerous. How is a parent who barely manages to parent to then become a teacher overnight? Most parents will see this and feel their children are doomed, that they are failures if they can't get their kids to do the schoolwork. You are being unrealistic in stating that these few weeks of missing school has ruined their kids chances in life and that they will need so much to catch up in the future that they will indeed never make it up. So you have finally realized the gap between private education and state education, you patronizing idiots. You have surrounded teaching in red tape so teachers spend more time writing reports than teaching, you set up OFSTED to make underprivileged schools even more underprivileged, paying for OFSTED inspectors rather than putting money into the school system, then you wonder why some many schools are failing when they don't have budgets to provide even basic supplies like paint and paper to schools. You make me sick. You couldn't just give teachers, parents and kids a break, let them enjoy being together, let them deal with the fear and loss that this pandemic has caused and let teachers have well deserved time off. NO!!!! You had to pile on the pressure, make parents feel inadequate, make teachers deal with the difficulties of distanced teaching and pat yourself on the back for BBC Bite size. Disgusted with the lot of you.

[@mrgreen4257]

BBC: ouch that hurts

[@MrRockboy222]

BBC Bitesize is free without having to pay the license fee

[@louisecameron9951]

Gaming Granny well said all true

[@kimwarburton8490]

well said! As a homeschoooling supporter (in general n where there are resources to ensure social skills are still developed etc) I would also say ALOT of time at school 'learning' is wasted time for the individual student. What takes 6hrs at school can be done within 3 hrs at home typically from the DIY research iv done looking into homeschooling

[@kimwarburton8490]

@Woo Han thanks for that confirmation :)

[@JK_JK_JK_JK]

The UK should have closed schools and borders back in early march!!! 😡😤😠

[@taniadegen538]

What happens to the children who rely on school lunches for at least one cooked meal per day?

[@tweetiepie551]

In the 80s we had to stay off school because of teachers strikes which lasted for 2 years. We didn't have a single not of teacher input, or gadgets or the internet..yet we all passed our gcse exams without it.

[@stephen4716]

You think the government cares about the poor kids? Absolutely not they never have

[@buthlezi3405]

Katharine raised some good points - the gadgets are actually distracting the students; they spend much more time on useless apps and social media than on their schoolwork...

[@sidelvy-owen1116]

Talk Less about your children playing fortnight and candy crush and how it hurts that they ignore you and more about how this report is fear mongering. The real problem isn’t the already bad divide between rich and poor. The problem is everyone blames everyone yet no one actually cares they just want scape goats.

[@asifkamokaadvocate4154]

Good observation

[@loplopploplo8486]

Since when did everyone start saying normalcy instead of normality..... Bloody americanisms 😬

[@naeemmajid6908]

repeting a year would be ideal i recon because kids have missed way too much. by the time kids go back they probably have missed like 4/5 months. having school for longer hours for younger kids doesnt make sense because their are unabled to absorbe more information. plus once schools re open it will take some time to settle them back in. i believe that if schools do re open in june we should use that time to get kids going back and getting use to seeing their teachers and friends and try mentaly preparing them and then in september just make every child repeat a year. september october will be a setling in period and the winter months we may get covid 19 back. so more time will be needed off. even kids that go to nursery have missed out because mark making etc is a really big thing.

[@emilyb3257]

naeem majid Yes agree. Been pondering this myself as a parent of 6. If Reception, Year 7, sixth form and universities would have no intake for a year so there would be an impact there. It could also impact the grammar areas and eleven plus. Overall though, it seems the most equitable way to me.

[@harmeshkaur9545]

You can a really great point.

[@harmeshkaur9545]

You make a really great point. Am sorry I have really bad typing skills 😂

[@naeemmajid6908]

@@emilyb3257 mother of 6 good on ya

[@TheMatrixExodusNow]

When Toffs write the news you find the BBC.

[@smarmysirstarmeycorbynspup1765]

Social 3state I would say not so much Toffs but every much the middle classes for sure

[@nonstar321]

This generation is just going to have to take the l and move on

[@nonstar321]

@AncientAstronautTheorist I do agree but the students that what to do well will do

[@reneelafayette6263]

Seems to me that they need a rework of open university. I know that with the economic impact of the current situation it would appear that one thing that would benefit the expenditures of the school systems is to have an open university format. It would also be useful to get some of the adults of the country to attend some type of further education scheme whilst managing a home?

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

How is it that adults are no longer able to teach kids stuff? I think the kids might learn more now than before. What kind of fear-mongering is this crazy video?

[@peterjones7303]

So the last 10 years of austerity didn't have a detrimental affect on the poorer kids education make your minds up

[@tadhgbenson1081]

Peter Jones new labour policy’s carried education this decade in London allowing for London to close the gap but not the uk so the 10% is in the back of new labour policy’s directed at London

[@peterjones7303]

Well i guess they must have sneaked that in in between all the wars they got us into

[@tadhgbenson1081]

Peter Jones I mean I am not a fan of Tony Blair but the evidence shows he had extremely effective education policy

[@ArtSmart91]

The gap has far more to do with the difference in behaviour in schools in different parts of the country. Schools with better student behaviour get better results and close the gap with private and grammar school eg the michela school. This was issue long before covid 19

[@larstenfaelt1859]

You shouldn't had closed the schools. There were reports from China that kids were NOT driving the virus and actually kids hardly transmitting. This fact made us here in Sweden to keep schools and kindergarden open. Now other Scandinavian countries has or are opening up. Kids need to be on schools to have the same chance to learn.

[@instagramstar5928]

My schools are open for annuals my teachers are covid positive my school is still open they have taken it to their ego because they tried to threaten us earlier because of the retaliation

[@sidelvy-owen1116]

You’re not missing anything in nursery-year 3 or 4 in reality nothing that can’t just be taught the next year plenty of school life is just repetition. Yr 7 8 and 9 are the same you are only in school so your parents can work and you can gain social skill but in most cases all a school child develops is poor mental health. Making days and school weeks and terms longer will just make this worse.

[@rogermanvell4693]

Sorry but a month or two off school in the summer term won't make that much difference, a lot of kids in poor schools don't do much anyway and forget most of what they learn pretty soon afterwards. The bigger effect on poor kids will be the wider economic impact which will make worse already existing high rates of inequality.

[@tariqara1133]

Do they really care, still trying to sort out laptops for poor familis 6 weeks later. Who is going to pay for a child`s cost to the poor family for another year of schooling. Hasn`t the gap in schools been there for decades, they still expect us to trust them.

[@crown9413]

The last think the poor need is more schooling, I know so many uni graduates who are completely unemployable. The people who are getting rich now are the tech people, and the trades people school is a complete waste of time for these people.

[@HS-fm9kv]

Tech is driven by a STEM education..... University is highly valuable if you go to a decent university with decent alumni networking opportunities, and read something useful.... Sociology or media studies in a lower tiered institution is a waste of time.

[@crown9413]

@@HS-fm9kv For tech jobs everything you would ever need to learn is on the internet. Employers don't really care whether you have a uni degree for tech, they just want to know that you know the languages and have the experience. The Unis don't have a monopoly on networking, there's plenty of tech meet ups, which is how I got my own tech job. Maybe if you get into a place like Harvard, where the worlds elite are educated you might have a leg up there.

[@jasondevon481]

Just give them all A* grades for free, because they do that every year anyway.

[@emilyb3257]

It’s not to do with being financially poor. Let’s define the word poor anyway. It’s bandied about so much in a privileged place to live in the world. When poor is spoken from ivory towers we know it relates to a certain, ‘class’ It’s given as a misleading misnomer to those whose children have given them a passport to security and less responsibilities in the working world. This is in the form of tax credit, secure housing tenancies and ultimately a generous safety net. This type of poor where it pays not to work are no way in the same league as those living in a third world country with corrupt governments. There maybe some correlations between children doing poorly at school with persons in receipt of 100% benefits or a very low income not eligible for top ups who choose to live in an expensive area. However, it’s not the actual reasons for children’s educational outcomes. It’s a symptom. Parents on 100% benefits are not poor. They may be in the expectations of their children’s future prospects, and in turn, their education. It’s more about poverty of parenting skills, a lack of application of them. Children could be educationally poor and come from a relatively ‘rich’ household, but time poor. No time to invest in their children’s schooling. No time to help learn to tie a shoelace etc. Real poverty that matters for children in the UK, is not financial in nature but seems to be more about a parent being or being able to be engaged and interested in their child’s educational opportunities. Some parents lack the skills, time, mental capacity and various other reasons not to be supportive. Let’s please use the word, ‘poor’ in the correct context. The Joseph Rowntree foundation do some great research in such areas.

[@yvelaine]

Test the teachers and test the kids ,all postives stay home , all clear go to school .

[@jamiengo2343]

Well as a GCSE student, wooooo!

[@darshshah79]

Great Jamie as an a level student yr12 yaaaay no maths

[@halethewhale]

I have 5 children 1 of which is disabled the school want me to make a shop with the kids l do not have time for that shit

[@thecultofjohnnydelr.soulsw7010]

The Headmistress is hogging all the top professional positions and she's gassing on about poverty?👽 🙅

[@thecultofjohnnydelr.soulsw7010]

Empathy is feeling sorry for show🙅when you do not have to, before walking away.

[@asifkamokaadvocate4154]

Good research

[@andyq752]

Yeah like you lot care about poor people.

[@StewartStrachan]

Why in the interview do you not get a real headteacher from a normal state school to discuss the issues? Instead you seem to always choose that awful conservative puppet running a free school. Is that your idea on balance at the BBC?

[@ireneteare2365]

A wicked and ignorant man talking about increasing time in school

[@darshshah79]

Irene Teare I agree we should be decreasing time in this horrid place

[@kingarthur7250]

Its a good time for the parents to educate their kids to follow the law and not be selfish. Our nhs are dying saving ungrateful people who moan about lockdown. You should maybe move to somewhere like africa and tjen see what real struggle is. I went to a school in deprived area and it was so bad it gave me a terrible edication anyway...in uk if you compare schools of the south to the north..the northern ones are embarrassing...if parents are truly that worried about the kids education that they are responsible for in this time of crisis not the state..then shut the hell up be a role model to ur kids and start teaching them yourselves. As for the parents trying to sue the government for their kids missing education...the taxpayer should sue you for wasting governments time in a international emergency and fine you.

[@mendip4134]

Cut the poinltess shit out of lessons, teach the usefell stuff, and they would know what they need for life by the time they finish Reception.

[@rathnaitmullen8541]

Oh God, talk about staying the obvious!

[@throwow1014]

Rathnait Mullen they aren’t tho... I’m the poorest kid in my school and I’m fine lol

[@bushycrib8732]

Its non compulsory now good luck trying to school kids now lol cant stand these smug teachers. Life is more important than education cant they see that.

[@kaleblindsay9055]

Pedophilia and child sexual abuse is a big problem in the British education system the government needs to reform education and stop child abuse

[@MrElhabib123]

Social eneguality Getting worse

[@cameronbrown1964]

Listen to this patronising person lol. Try getting three kids with different needs and years with one spare laptop on task and completing all their work. And they are NOT "disadvantaged" children. Crawl back under your rock and get real.

[@clarebabydoll3689]

My daughter wants to do the online lessons but I only have my phone and it will cause massive arguments between my other children if I give her the phone, and my youngest is suppose to start speech therapy before she starts school in September 😔

[@SuperAAAR]

www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-with-technology-for-remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19#who-is-eligible-to-receive-digital-devices-and-internet-access

[@SuperAAAR]

Not if it applies to you but it may help

[@kimwarburton8490]

ONE possible solution from someone (me) who knows jack shit n isnt a parent XD ... have the students from years 9 n above (cos GCSE exams) in school, distribute the 2ndry school teachers so theres less students per teacher, so each child gets MORE teaching/learning time n can catch up. Ive looked into homeschooling n frankly, SOOOOOO much time is wasted in a school classroom while the teacher is distracted by the other 33+ kids. a homeschooler can do a typical 6hr school working day in less than 3 hours for instance. Have the kids for whom classroom supervision isnt yet essential do their work online, maybe a 1day a week program like many college courses do. ive learnt more since i left school than i did in school n i really did try hard at school, i really did my best bar handling money, reading n writing, nothing else i learnt was of use to me. Everything i needed to know i was taught via on the job training, on courses ive attended or through my intrests online. Everything i learnt at school was repeated in the 'adult' world anyways My time at school would have been better spent learning life skills such as financial literacy, weekly budgetting, meal planning n prep for a family of 4 or solo etc.

[@mrniceguy10023]

not more class warriors... not what we need in this society

[@kaleblindsay9055]

I hope the British education system collapses and kids stop going to school the system is broken child abuse is out of control teachers do a bad job at teaching and they treat kids poorly

[@asnekboi7232]

Please

[@kaleblindsay9055]

Michaela is a bad school

[@asnekboi7232]

English