Planning for remote education

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve, schools need to make sure they still have a plan in place for remote education. Amy Cook from The Key takes a look at the benefits of getting a digital education platform set up and explains the ins and outs of the DfE funding scheme   

While the majority of pupils have returned to learning in school this September, potential local lockdowns or second waves of the virus mean that remote teaching and learning may well form part of the new academic year. In fact, the Department for Education (DfE) expects schools to have a contingency plan in place by the end of September so they can offer immediate remote education for all pupils at home, if they’re asked to close due to a local outbreak. As a result, the DfE is still offering funded support for schools to get set up on one of two free-to-use digital education platforms: G Suite for Education or Office 365 Education. Many schools have already successfully used such platforms, but for those that haven’t already got one set up, it’s worth exploring what the benefits could be and getting to grips with what’s on offer from the DfE.

So what is a digital education platform?

In the event of being unable to have pupils physically in school, it’s as close to a real classroom as you can get. It’s a place where your pupils’ learning experience at home can continue as close to normal as possible. The platforms are purpose-built for remote learning in a way that a school website isn’t. For instance, teachers can communicate directly with pupils, set individualised tasks, let pupils work together, and easily give personalised feedback. There’s no statutory requirement to have a platform or sign up to the DfE scheme, but there are plenty of benefits if you do.

Why get set up now?

Only you can decide on the approach to learning that’s right for your school community. However, having a digital education platform in place means you can be confident that any potential transitions back to remote learning will be as smooth and non-disruptive as possible. Here are a few of the reasons why schools have already adopted them:
    
Firstly, you can keep the special connection between your teachers and pupils. Many pupils will want to see their teachers and have that sense of normality. Digital education platforms allow pupils to video-call their teachers for remote lessons, and have supervised group calls to catch up and check in with each other socially. It’s easier for teachers to keep that personal touch when they give pupils feedback, too.
    
Using a digital platform means you don’t need to compromise on pupils’ learning.
Whether you want to drip-feed tasks to pupils, or are keen for pupils to log in for a full day of lessons and submit work, a digital education platform has you covered. Teachers can also easily give pupils personalised feedback. This means that pupils can keep learning new skills and concepts from home, rather than focus only on consolidating knowledge.
    
Digital education platforms also allow you to stimulate pupils with a wide range of activities. They allow teachers to provide a package of resources for their pupils, ranging from videos to interactive whiteboard drawings, all in one place.     
    
They give pupils a place to submit creative tasks of all levels of complexity, too. This might be a photo of their latest artwork, or a video of a Tudor house they’ve built in Minecraft. Pupils can also use shared documents and interactive whiteboards to work together on group projects. When it comes to classwork, the only limits are your teachers’ and pupils’ imaginations.

Safe and secure

You have full control over the features pupils can access on a digital platform. For example, if you don’t want pupils video-calling each other unsupervised, you can customise these tools to keep your pupils safe. If you’re worried about family members going rogue in the background on a call, you can set house rules, just as you have in place in school anyway, to set expectations about behaviour, dress and so on. You’ll also have an audit trail of chat logs and recordings, just in case there’s ever a problem.

You’ll still need to adopt sensible safeguarding precautions when using the platform, as you would in school. For more support, take a look at The Key’s free article on how to build safeguarding into your remote learning and the DfE’s guidance.
    
Digital platforms are also easy to set up and use. With someone with a bit of tech know-how on hand, you can set up either of these platforms to meet your needs in a matter of hours, and get staff and families using them effectively within days.

What’s on offer from the DfE?
 
Schools and trusts can apply for DfE-funded support to get set up on G Suite for Education or Office 365 Education. These are the two most-used platforms. They are free to use, but eligible schools/trusts can receive funded support from a Google or Microsoft-accredited partner to get set up and trained on their chosen platform. Schools/trusts will be assigned a partner once they register for this support.
    
Eligible primaries will receive £1,500 and secondaries £2,000. Funding for academies in trusts is capped at £1,000 per school. The DfE releases funds to the school/trust once completion of the work has been confirmed. The school/trust then pays the partner directly.

Who’s eligible?

This funded support is available to state-funded primary, secondary, special schools and pupil referral units in England that don’t currently have a digital education platform; or are already using Office 365 or G Suite, but are not yet set up to assign work and communicate with pupils.

Independent schools are not eligible for funding, but can still apply for support if they cover the costs themselves.
    
The eligibility criteria above also applies to trusts. There are benefits to all schools within a trust being on the same platform under one tenancy, such as instant communication between staff across schools. In this instance, trust leaders should apply directly for schools within their trust. Similarly, academy leaders should speak to their central team about applying on their behalf.
    
If there’s already a mix of usage between G Suite and Office 365 across a trust, then trust leaders have two options. You can instruct schools that need support to apply individually, or you can apply for support yourself and speak to a partner about the benefits of consolidating your schools across two separate tenancies, one for G Suite and one for Office 365.
    
It’s worth noting that the platforms will remain free (apart from premium Google Meet, at the time of writing), but the funded support on offer is for the initial set up. After that, the platform is yours to manage and any additional support you request from accredited partners will need to be paid for by your school/trust. Also, the DfE scheme only covers schools looking to use G Suite for Education or Office 365 Education, so don’t apply if you want to use a different platform.  

How do I apply?

You can apply directly via The Key’s digital education platform hub. It links to the forms you’ll need to use, and provides feature comparisons and best-practice case studies to help you choose the right platform for your school/trust. L

Amy Cook is director of content at The Key, a provider of up-to-the-minute sector intelligence and resources that empower education leaders with the knowledge to act. The advice in this article was taken from resources in The Key’s digital education platform hub.