Do you have anything to actually contribute to this discussion

To a thread moaning about teachers from a bunch of people who have no idea what tgey are talking about? Not really no. I answered the op’s valid original question, other than that I’m quite happy to laugh at the ignorance and entitlement  displayed!!

To a thread moaning about teachers from a bunch of people who have no idea what tgey are talking about? Not really no. I answered the op’s valid original question, other than that I’m quite happy to laugh at the ignorance and entitlement  displayed!!

I hope you’re not including me in that sweeping statement!

I made it clear that my general point of view is to support the teaching staff, even when I disagree with them because that’s my job as a parent. I’m not a teacher (although if they ever have a crashed 50TB database cluster, I’m their man!) so I know to keep my nose largely out of their job. That doesn’t mean I can’t discuss their work with my kids or agree certain approaches for them in class, but I’m not going to start stirring up trouble unless it’s really needed – one written comment and one incorrectly marked question certainly do not justify this IMHO.

I hope you’re not including me in that sweeping statement!

Nope, teacher made an error I expect under the stress of 30 year 7’s asking to go to the toilet, where their PE kits gone, can I borrow a ruler, I lost my lunch money etc etc. Talk to kid move on as you said. It was the poster who said they’d be contacting the school that made me giggle.

Heres a thought

A Teacher Makes 1500 Educational Decisions A Day

By the same token, you’re qualified to advise surgeons how to do their jobs because you had your tonsils out when you were younger

I still have my tonsils 😀 but I’m going to take your advice at face value and set up my own surgery.

great idea. Just don’t allow anyone to set up a Facebook ‘Patients of Funkmasterp’ page because that way lies frustration 😉

To a thread moaning about teachers from a bunch of people who have no idea what tgey are talking about?

I’m very supportive of teachers. Many of my mates, and some of my family are teachers. They mostly agree with me. They’d rather be teaching than enforcing stupid rules and then receiving the blowback from disgruntled parents. This seems to be a Secondary school problem. Both my kids loved school at primary, they’d complain if they had to miss a day due to illness or other reasons. Now they’ve both moved up to secondary and they’re completely bored and resentful of it, and that’s mostly a result of the authoritarian discipline culture which just didn’t exist in primary. The end result of this is they put less effort into their work than they did previously, and are less interested in learning. That’s not the fault of the teachers, but the culture that exists.

And don’t get me started on the sexist PE policy! Bollywood dancing is not a sport.

Shikhar Dhawan begs to differ….

Bollywood dancing is not a sport.

No, but it is Physical, and you need Educating in how to do it…

Fitness training isn’t a sport, but it’s usually a module in core PE classes.

I think that highlights the issues. No Bollywood is not a sport. But someone has looked at the issues with teenage girls and difficulty in getting them to do exercise and seen that an initiative was shown to work and so has employed that method to engage a section of the school population with exercise.

Initiatives like this are rife and the issues they try to tackle multifaceted and need to take in a wide cross section of a school population. So saying it doesn’t work for my son may be true but it might be working for 30girls for whom no other pe activity works.

Please note I’m latching onto this as a possible example, that from the outside seems daft but is a reasoned approach for the school.

Now they’ve both moved up to secondary and they’re completely bored and resentful of it, and that’s mostly a result of the authoritarian discipline culture which just didn’t exist in primary.

Or is it due to the narrow, time pressured curriculum which has no space for deeper investigation or thought?

Most public school or state grammars seem to have very strict rigid authoritarian rules but the kids seem keener to learn, wonder why?

Most public school or state grammars seem to have very strict rigid authoritarian rules but the kids seem keener to learn, wonder why?

Correlation does not imply causation.    I suspect keener to learn has at least as much to do with demographic differences in this particular case.  (Though I broadly agree with most of what you say otherwise)

Better teachers

Thanks to Daern’s daughter’s Woodwork teacher neither I, nor Daern’s Daughter not half the people reading this thread will *ever* forget that metric measurements should not be denoted in fractions.

If that’s not good teaching I don’t know what is.

Better teachers

which in itself (rightly or wrongly) is also self fulfilling; according to A_A’s link a teacher spends 15% of their time on behaviour and discipline, which will clearly be worse in some schools than in others. Yes, there will always be those that great teachers that will go to the most challenging schools because of a ‘calling’ but I understand completely why most want to go to a school where behaviour and discipline is good and as a result they can spend their time teaching and achieving good results for them and their pupils. And if as in the rest of life the ‘best’ get first pick of where to work, there will be a skewing of good teachers going to work in good schools and as a result those schools getting better, and v/v

Correlation does not imply causation.    I suspect keener to learn has at least as much to do with demographic differences in this particular case

That was my point

Better teachers

Maybe although seeing many who cannot hack behaviour in the state sector leave and be successful I’m not sure how you can define better to cover both situations. Mote settled is certainley the case from what I’ve seen

Or is it due to the narrow, time pressured curriculum which has no space for deeper investigation or thought?

That too probably, but from talking to my daughters it’s mostly the culture. As for Bollywood dancing, I’m not against that per se, what I am livid about though is that the boys play football and cricket and don’t have to do Bollywood dancing, and the girls aren’t allowed to play football and cricket. My oldest was a very keen cricketer and footballer, and was the captain of the team in primary (she’s a sporty type), but now she’s not allowed and has to do bloody bollywood dancing which she despises (too girly apparently!). The end result being that she now hates PE.

My oldest was a very keen cricketer and footballer

No extra curricular clubs available?

Dazh that is ridiculous to you and I but the points I made still stand. Unfortunately in mainstream education it’s the mainstream not the outliers that inevitably dictate policy.

Unfortunately in mainstream education it’s the mainstream not the outliers that inevitably dictate policy.

Its a sad day when sporty kids are considered to be outliers.

No extra curricular clubs available?

Not for girls as far as I’m aware. It’s ok, outside of school I take her climbing and mountain biking, and she does lots of running on her own so she’s still very sporty, it’s just a shame that she can’t do it in school. It also doesn’t exactly help in breaking down gender stereotypes. That may be a pinko liberal viewpoint but really in this day and age is it too much to ask that girls be allowed to play football with the boys?

To a thread moaning about teachers from a bunch of people who have no idea what tgey are talking about? Not really no. I answered the op’s valid original question, other than that I’m quite happy to laugh at the ignorance and entitlement displayed!!

Good for you.

Could you explain exactly why I’m getting it in the neck then? If anyone is acting with ignorance and entitlement it’s yourself, I simply suggested a reasonable approach that may be applicable in later life to the problem being discussed. And your response was what again? Disagree by all means but sniping from the sidelines just makes you look like a ****.

 That may be a pinko liberal viewpoint but really in this day and age is it too much to ask that girls be allowed to play football with the boys?

FA rules are mixed teams until age 12 wherever practical. It might just be that the PE teachers are offering a limited experience, or it might be that your daughter is getting the wrong end of the stick. Worth a quick call / email to clarify.

FWIW, at Mrs Dubs school, at least 10% of the kids don’t specify an activity/sport preference for their core PE at the beginning of term, so those kids get put in whatever group makes the classes fit.

Most PE teachers love their sport and want kids to be the same…

Could you explain exactly why I’m getting it in the neck then?

Because you suggested that contacting the school about an incorrect cross in  a book was a worthwhile use of time after having explained why the cross was correct..I thought that was quite funny.

As is this

Disagree by all means but sniping from the sidelines just makes you look like a ****.

the girls aren’t allowed to play football and cricket. My oldest was a very keen cricketer and footballer, and was the captain of the team in primary (she’s a sporty type), but now she’s not allowed and has to do bloody bollywood dancing which she despises

I’d be very surprised if the school didnt have a girls football team in each year or didnt do football in PE. It maybe the case that they’ll rotate round to other sports in time. Worth asking the school. Cricket always seems to be a tough one with girls its not an easy sport to learn from scratch. My school is always trying to get girls rugby off the ground but struggles to get enough numbers.

I’d be very surprised if the school didnt have a girls football team in each year or didnt do football in PE.

Well then you should be surprised because I’m telling you they don’t*. We’ve asked. The response back from the school was that they don’t have the resources to support girls doing the same sports as the boys, so they’re stuck with rounders, netball, gymnastics, and bollywood dancing (FFS, every time I think about this it annoys me!). The only sport they do for both is athletics in the summer.

*Interesting you think you know more about my kids school than me when I’ve never mentioned which school it is but I’ll ignore that.

Interesting you think you know more about my kids school than me when I’ve never mentioned which school it is but I’ll ignore that.

What makes you say that?

I am surprised, sounds like a shit PE department, from your post I thought it sounded like a new year 7 who had just started off with Dance lessons and who might go onto something else later.

As an aside I had a group of year 10  today all the girls and most of the boys thought any girl who rode a bike was weird….where do they get these ideas??!!!?? Last 10 mins of the lesson (on redox reactions and extracting iron from its ore) was spent watch Rachel Atherton videos on youtube!

Dazh, yes a sad indictment of society as a wholebut sporty girls are outliers. The school obviously has limited resources and so, possibly in a drive to hit an engagement target, Bollywood dancing has been seen as a way to engage more girls than cricket. Is it fair 1 suffers for the many or the many suffer for 1? In an ideal world everyone would be catered for equally but austerity.

a_a concerned about classes now. My S3 class (year10?) Has had a great chat about mountain biking helped by having a 14yo U19 Scottish DH champion in it. That lass can really ride a bike.

Sorry that should have been to Richie b but yes for girls

Squirrelking – from where I sit ( teachers in the family) AA is not the arrogant tosspot here.

Try not being an arrogant tosspot, listen to what people are telling you and you might find them more receptive to you.

Advice I know Mrs Pondo would love to give to a number of parents of her students. I know times change and all that, but when I was at school, I’d be quaking if I got a detention – no doubt many still are, but there are also a growing number whose parents will try and get them out of it. The kid done wrong and there are consequences – teachers don’t cough up their time for fun, take the punishment and move on.

perhaps that YOU are the problem rather than the parents.

I dont have a problem with parents thanks.

Okay.

So can any of you explain why what I said was wrong, arrogant, entitled or whatever? Because I’m struggling to understand how giving feedback to a teacher is any of those things. I’m finding it hard to understand why anyone would think AAs response was in any way counter indicative of any of those traits as well.

You talk a good game about respect and arrogance but don’t seem to be practicing what you preach. I’ve already asked for clarification once and got nothing in return.

You talk a good game about respect and arrogance but don’t seem to be practicing what you preach.

You are welcome to come and observe a lesson if you like. Luckily for me I can differentiate between my professional self and whilst talking to “tosspots” on a chat bored!!

So you’re not going to answer the question then? Thought as much, about right for this place.

Says a lot about you that you are quite happy to speak to people like that in the safety of an anonymous chat “bored” but not in real life. At least you can admit it though.

So you’re not going to answer the question then?

I did a page ago you got all upity about it!

Says a lot about you that you are quite happy to speak to people like that in the safety of an anonymous chat “bored” but not in real life.

I’d be happy to laugh at you in real life anytime you want!

Squirrelking

Its the way you seem to say you know better than education professionals what is happening and what is best.

You see it from a laypersons perspective and disregard the professionals views.  Thats very arrogant in my book.

Amen TJ.

So can any of you explain why what I said was wrong, arrogant, entitled or whatever? Because I’m struggling to understand how giving feedback to a teacher is any of those things.

Things like this, for me –

Proper teaching isn’t just telling someone they are wrong with absolutely no context as to why, furthermore if the fact the previous example was stated as a fraction was pointed out the teacher could then correct the question so as to avoid further confusion.

I think there’s truth in what you say but it shows a massive lack of understanding and is pretty arrogant. Of course, it would be great if the teacher could make notes on each answer to explain why, but maybe they didn’t have time, maybe they went through the answers in class, maybe… who knows, lots of things. But one thing that seems to be becoming increasingly prevelant is the man in the street having what they think is an informed opinion on so many things – I’m not a teacher, I wouldn’t presume to know better than them how to do their job any more than I would a pilot, or a barrister, a welder or whoever. To state that you can correct a teacher on their work seems pretty entitled to me (husband to a teaching wife who occasionally comes home in tears because of the crap entitled parents sling at her, who’s head of the department that gets the best results in the school, who’s too worried to apply for a promotion because she’s concerned that it will impact said department, who regularly gets kids pulled from detention at the parents’ request, totally undermining the school’s ability to actually maintain any semblance of discipline. So yeah – entitled parents, not a fan).

Okay thank you. If that’s how it came across then I apologise as that was never the way it was intended. As I said in the first instance there is a way to raise issues like these and it’s certainly not going in all guns blazing and telling the teacher how to do their job. Or anyone for that matter.

My point, lost though that cause would seem to be, was that children should be taught to challenge where they see something wrong, how to challenge effectively and how to accept that same challenge themselves. It’s not about telling anyone how to do their job or thinking you know better, it’s about having the confidence to question something and not just blindly following someone with authority.

This is something that gets drilled into you when you enter industry and it is a hard slog trying to undo years of conditioning that you just do what you are told without question. If more people were used to that sort of mentality then maybe we wouldn’t have as many issues in our society.

And that’s why the country is become a s£)(t hole with useless parents who did bugger all with their lives and hate schools. They then let their kids screw up their lives.

Do us a favour, keep your poor behaved kids at home and let the rest of the kids learn and do well with their lives.

Kids should not have mobiles in schools.

Schools should have more power to expel unruly kids permanently. Let the parents deal with them.