Safe Remote Learning

Whether your school is closed or not, schools may be considering moving learning online. Here's the lowdown on organising classes online so that safeguards are adequately considered and are trouble-free

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Safeguarding and Planning for School Closure

There are a number of online options that may help. This may range from merely setting homework or providing access to online resources, through video tutorials, to interactive video conferencing. The capability of your staff, together with the age of your children is going to determine your approach.

Whilst there are no expectations for you to do so, if you do decide to use audio and video for real-time online teaching, here are some things you might want to consider to help safeguard staff and children:

Policy

Familiarisation with the school policy and that this allows for teaching classes online

Remind staff and students of Acceptable Use - this will still apply.

Avoid one to one online tution to help safeguard children and staff.

Resources

SWGfL Online Safety Policy Templates

Systems

There are a wealth of online services and systems that enable online video and audio communication.

It’s important to consider the features you need based on the group and objectives you have.

Students:

Passive or Interactive = teacher posts activities and student posts responses. E.g: Online tutorials via YouTube on GSuite or learning portal.

Setting up work on Learning Platform, GSuite, Edmodo, Seesaw, Classcharts, or other app/platform.

You may also consider Podcast/voice tutorials.

Interactive, live or Synchronous = student and staff connected in the same service at the same time - ie live video and audio. Caution - without expertise and experience this may not be the most appropriate approach for students. Best used for staff/SLT/Governor meetings.

Age

Its important to consider the age of your children, both in terms of the age requirements of the service you are using, together with their ability to participate.

Size of Group

Larger groups of children may be more challenging to manage during an interactive online class and so more passive or broadcast approaches may be more suitable.

Live Video

Some may consider using Livestreaming services but would exercise caution here given requirements for accounts, personal data and privacy questions. Equally messaging services may be considered, but equal.

Do consider the terms of service together with privacy policies and in particular if there are any minimum age requirements of the chosen service.

Consider if the system includes online chat feature, and if this can be moderated.

Consider Privacy settings before posting – (e.g. YouTube has a variety of settings (Public, Unlisted, Private, Comments Allowed/Not Allowed) that will determine who can see and comment on the video).

If messaging services are used by staff, e.g. WhatsApp, be mindful of professional standards.

	Group size	Teaching Mode	Potential Technology
Tutoring	Tutor or small groups	Interactive	Communication
Classes	Class groups	Interactive/Broadcast	Video conference Video sharing
Lectures	Large groups	Broadcast	Video Sharing

Resources

Audio conference call
- Powownow
- Gotomeeting
Broadcast
- Youtube
- Facebook Live
One to many Conferencing
- Microsoft teams
- Skype
- Webex
- Adobe Connect
- Zoom
- Google Hangout
- Other VLE provided conferencing tools

Technology

What technology and Internet connection speed will be required for everyone to participate (e.g. devices). Not all students will have access to technologies that will enable them to participate in online classes. What solutions can you provide to enable them to continue learning? Loan device? Posted assignments? Phone calls with staff?

Consider activities carefully when planning – online access within school will have internet content filtering systems in place that are unlikely to be replicated in the home environment.

Be careful that staff and children don’t incur surprising costs, eg mobile data access charges - (video utilises significant amounts of data).

Ideally the school technical teams will be on hand to provide advice and answer queries as often technical glitches can distract from the smooth running of a call.

If interactive conference is being used, it may benefit from logistical support to help participants overcome access queries or glitches and to allow the teacher to concentrate on the objective of the online class.

Also consider the security of devices, in particular cameras and microphones.

We would strongly recommend that staff avoid using personal devices and should only use school provided equipment

Resources

Refer to the minimum requirements of the selected conferencing technology.

Location/Environment

If live video and audio is being used, there should be careful consideration of the location that everyone uses. It is possible that children may be in their bedrooms and this may not be appropriate. You may choose to use a conferencing service that the teacher can disable users microphone and video cameras.

Education

Plan your staffing changes.

Who will lead on planning, supporting and managing distance learning?

How will timetables alter and is there an expectation of conducting these ‘out of hours’?

Identify support and training opportunities early to help staff manage these environments.

How will you engage parents to advise of the changes?

How will children be supervised during the conference calls?

Plan for a lower volume of work from students or allow for extended timescales.

Plan screen-based and non-screen based activities to achieve a healthy screentime balance.

Provide for reasonable deadlines.

Set marking expectations and standards, which will be different from normal.

Behaviour

Be clear about the expectations of both student and staff behaviour (e.g. a ‘classroom standard’ of behaviour is expected from all participants).

It is worth considering some ground rules; creating safe spaces and explaining these as the introduction to each session. Examples may be who can speak. If this is the first time that classes are delivered online, it may take some time in becoming familiar with the new environment.

Recording

Always follow local guidelines for recording video conferences.

Always make a note of the conference timing and who participated, including those that arrived/departed early or late. Be clear about whether it is acceptable for students to record events and expectations/restrictions about onward sharing

If the service you use records the conference, make sure that everyone is aware of this. It’s important to know how long any recordings are kept for and how to access them.

Personal Data

The conference service may require the sharing of personal data, eg usernames to invite in. It is always best practice to use school-provided email addresses as Data protection laws still apply.

Consider how to provide access to schools data systems.

Safeguarding

Online or offline, effective Safeguarding requires a whole-school approach. Planning for online or distance learning activities should include the school’s safeguarding team as part of the planning process.

Ensure online tuition follows best practice (e.g. 2 members of staff involved) and is in-line with the School’s Safeguarding Policy.

Remind staff of safeguarding obligations. Report any safeguarding incidents or potential concerns according to your school policy.

Remind students of who they can contact within the school for help or support.

UK Safer Internet Helpline is a source of support.