RAG Rate your school’s Remote Learning – free document

REMOTE EDUCATION – OFSTED October 2020

 DfE published temporary continuity direction under Coronavirus Act 2020.

Paragraph 5 – schools must provide remote education when children cannot attend school when attendance would contravene restrictions.

• Ofsted has no preferred style or methodology for remote education.
• Reference document ‘Guidance for full opening: schools’ 1^st October 2020 for expectations

Key Points:

• Expectation to ensure that the (remote) curriculum is linked to the school’s curriculum expectations
• Remote education uses and gives access to high quality on line and offline resources
• Schools should select the online tools that will be consistently used across the school and train staff in their use
• Provide printed resources for pupils who don’t have suitable online access
• Recognise that some pupils with SEND, or who are younger, may not be able to access remote education without adult support – and take account of this
• Set assignments that are meaningful and ambitious in a number of different subjects each day
• Teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally
• Produce frequent, clear explanations of content, delivered by a teacher in the school, or through high quality curriculum resources or videos
• Gauge how well pupils are progressing and set a clear expectation of how regularly teachers will check work
• Enable teachers to adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught in response to their assessments
• Plan a programme that is equivalent to the core teaching pupils would receive in school, ideally including daily contact with teachers

Licensing

• Check school has appropriate licenses to allow staff and pupils to access the chosen learning platforms and software

Software Settings

• Check the settings for software intended to be used. Eg some platforms are by default fully open and allow users unfiltered access to site such as You-Tube

Protecting Access to Learning

How do you:-

• Share access passwords/links
• Avoid using the same password for all sites and users
• Avoid publishing passwords in public spaces
• Communicate the importance of keeping passwords secure
• Remember that your connections are filtered but home connections are not (check links you send, avoid advert-heavy websites to limit distraction)

Safeguarding

• Update procedures for reporting safeguarding concerns
• Clearly communicate staff responsibilities relating to safeguarding
• Ensure all staff understand how to report and seek help (including support staff)

Training

• Provide staff with training and opportunities to practise using software/systems school intends to use during remote education
• Consider additional training for staff on effective pedagogies they can use in an online environment
• Consider training for parents in school methodology using eg podcasts or videos

Suitability of Staff

• You may chose to use additional tutors, including online tutors to help deliver on-line learning
• Remember to conduct appropriate pre-employment checks on all staff who are new to school

Monitoring & Assessment

Define how leaders will monitor remote learning:

• Joint access to learning
• Sharing of passwords for sessions with designated teachers
• Learning logs of online lessons (who, what, when)

Communication

• Clearly communicate what you will provide and what you expect back from pupils and home
• Update all policies that may be affected by remote learning
• Leaders share their intentions so that they are clearly understood by staff, pupils and parents

Cyber Security

• National Cyber Security Centre issued national alert on 18^th September 2020 – increased number of ransomware attacks affecting education establishments (including schools)
• Take this seriously – it could be you!
• Keep back-ups up to date
• Ensure appropriate virus protection is in place for your infrastructure
• Are endpoint users fully protected (ie staff laptops and pupil BYOD (bring your own device)

     *Endpoints: are any devices that are physically an end point on a network. Laptops, desktops, mobile              phones, tablets, servers, and virtual environments can all be considered endpoints.

• Educate staff and pupils about scams, protecting passwords and local policies relating to infrastructure (eg USB sticks etc)
• Manage user population (e.g. who is no longer on staff but still on the system?  Missing door fobs?)