To think change is desperately needed in schools?

I genuinely think some parents are surprised they have to 'do' anything. Some parents treat their children as an inconvenience. I've heard parents refer to their childen 'affectionately' as little shits and worse. A lot of parents are emotionally immature and disregulated themselves - when their child shouts at them, they just shout back; when their child calls them names, they call names back. The children learnt it from their parents and their parents are surprised that their child doesn't behave any better than they taught it to.

But, ultimately, the issue is multifaceted.

The introduction of Gove's new 2014 curriculum was when I first started to notice significant behavioural decline in schools. At this point, TAs became more involved in the academic progress of children and stepped away from a 'softer' more nurturing and supportive role, from which the children really benefitted to a more progress and attainment one. That's if you have a TA. I've not had one for 6 years now with no plans for one next year either

This meant that the children who were not being parented appropriately at home no longer received social and emotional support in the same way in schools.

So a lot of low level behavioural issues- eg turn taking, conflict resolution, emotional regulation (anger management) etc that wasn't being taught at home was no longer being addressed in schools either. I started seeing behaviours issues such as these that used to be mainly KS1 issues turn into KS2 issues. TAs previously would often take small groups in the afternoons to work on these skills. This has stopped.

It's easy to blame society and lack of grandparents and long working hours but it isn't that simple because I know and have taught many children whose parents work long hours who don't behave badly and it doesn't acount for the many childen whose parents don't work and still behave like this.

Three children in my class go to after school club. The rest are picked up by parents. I don't have any major behavioural issues but many significant low level issues. I teach UKS2. Some don't speak in full sentences, some are unable to express themselves and their needs appropriately. They are confrontational and aggressive in their verbal manner even when they are not angry regardless of who they are talking to. Their parents are the same towards them and to staff. Many of the others lack emotional resilience.

I've taught in Reception classes where the children don't know how to sit and listen to a story because no one has ever read to them.

The curriculum is over stuffed and the focus is on getting 'evidence' in books. The expectations of presentation etc is so high that I have children asking me to rip pages out for them so they can start again. And all the time I'm thinking, "I just need the evidence in your book."

And the expectation of 'coverage' means children are dealing with cognitive overload from new learning for hours every day with little time to just be. A lot of schools are adopting more 'efficient and effective' approaches to learning which means that children are just being stacked full of new information evert day. It's overwhelming for me as an adult. I can't imagine what it's like for a child.

Some parents are so concerned for their children's education that they are taking them for 2 hours of extra tuition every week with the associated homework from that.

I have children who are consistently 'working towards' in every area of the curriculum whose parents are taking them for 11+ tuition. Not to bridge gaps in their current learning but because of the lure of getting their child into grammar school. In some cases, these children are on the SEND register for cognition and learning. Which means they are working at below their year group. Some of them are still struggling to recognise where to put a full stop in a sentence and their parents are having them coached for the 11+.

There is a combination of huge pressure on these children with absolutely no understanding of the fact that children are still developing, aren't mini adults, can't just be filled with information and knowledge without addressing their holistic needs.

The hours we are required to spend on specific subjects and the time required to cover the sheer number of objectives we have to cover exceed the number of learning hours children have in school.

It's apparent that, in order to fit everything in, a lot of the children are spoon-fed the curriculum in the lower years so they lack independent learning skills they need by the time they get to UKS2 and beyond.

And this results in children who are overwhelmed, unable to self regulate, with poor interpersonal skills, who've not had 'learning behaviours' (eg the ability to follow instructions, communicate effectively, or listen) modelled and taught to them at home or school. Combined with parents who have unrealistic expectations for them but who also take no actual responsibility for their child's learning.

They're quite happy to tick the box of taking their child to a tutor for yet another person to teach them but woe betide you suggest they listen to their child read themselves.

I genuinely think some parents are surprised they have to 'do' anything. Some parents treat their children as an inconvenience. I've heard parents refer to their childen 'affectionately' as little shits and worse. A lot of parents are emotionally immature and disregulated themselves - when their child shouts at them, they just shout back; when their child calls them names, they call names back. The children learnt it from their parents and their parents are surprised that their child doesn't behave any better than they taught it to.

But, ultimately, the issue is multifaceted.

The introduction of Gove's new 2014 curriculum was when I first started to notice significant behavioural decline in schools. At this point, TAs became more involved in the academic progress of children and stepped away from a 'softer' more nurturing and supportive role, from which the children really benefitted to a more progress and attainment one. That's if you have a TA. I've not had one for 6 years now with no plans for one next year either

This meant that the children who were not being parented appropriately at home no longer received social and emotional support in the same way in schools.

So a lot of low level behavioural issues- eg turn taking, conflict resolution, emotional regulation (anger management) etc that wasn't being taught at home was no longer being addressed in schools either. I started seeing behaviours issues such as these that used to be mainly KS1 issues turn into KS2 issues. TAs previously would often take small groups in the afternoons to work on these skills. This has stopped.

It's easy to blame society and lack of grandparents and long working hours but it isn't that simple because I know and have taught many children whose parents work long hours who don't behave badly and it doesn't acount for the many childen whose parents don't work and still behave like this.

Three children in my class go to after school club. The rest are picked up by parents. I don't have any major behavioural issues but many significant low level issues. I teach UKS2. Some don't speak in full sentences, some are unable to express themselves and their needs appropriately. They are confrontational and aggressive in their verbal manner even when they are not angry regardless of who they are talking to. Their parents are the same towards them and to staff. Many of the others lack emotional resilience.

I've taught in Reception classes where the children don't know how to sit and listen to a story because no one has ever read to them.

The curriculum is over stuffed and the focus is on getting 'evidence' in books. The expectations of presentation etc is so high that I have children asking me to rip pages out for them so they can start again. And all the time I'm thinking, "I just need the evidence in your book."

And the expectation of 'coverage' means children are dealing with cognitive overload from new learning for hours every day with little time to just be. A lot of schools are adopting more 'efficient and effective' approaches to learning which means that children are just being stacked full of new information evert day. It's overwhelming for me as an adult. I can't imagine what it's like for a child.

Some parents are so concerned for their children's education that they are taking them for 2 hours of extra tuition every week with the associated homework from that.

I have children who are consistently 'working towards' in every area of the curriculum whose parents are taking them for 11+ tuition. Not to bridge gaps in their current learning but because of the lure of getting their child into grammar school. In some cases, these children are on the SEND register for cognition and learning. Which means they are working at below their year group. Some of them are still struggling to recognise where to put a full stop in a sentence and their parents are having them coached for the 11+.

There is a combination of huge pressure on these children with absolutely no understanding of the fact that children are still developing, aren't mini adults, can't just be filled with information and knowledge without addressing their holistic needs.

The hours we are required to spend on specific subjects and the time required to cover the sheer number of objectives we have to cover exceed the number of learning hours children have in school.

It's apparent that, in order to fit everything in, a lot of the children are spoon-fed the curriculum in the lower years so they lack independent learning skills they need by the time they get to UKS2 and beyond.

And this results in children who are overwhelmed, unable to self regulate, with poor interpersonal skills, who've not had 'learning behaviours' (eg the ability to follow instructions, communicate effectively, or listen) modelled and taught to them at home or school. Combined with parents who have unrealistic expectations for them but who also take no actual responsibility for their child's learning.

They're quite happy to tick the box of taking their child to a tutor for yet another person to teach them but woe betide you suggest they listen to their child read themselves.

The emergence of home learning and associated screens during covid was not the problem per se: The kids were on screens 24/7 anyway and just started using them educationally (which is what parents kidded themselves was the reason they gave their kid an ipad aged 2).

The problem was that they had zero time with their care givers, the ones who are there first thing in the morning, are interested in them, notice them, socialise them, model good behaviour, the person they want to impress and please.

Their teachers.

I think part of the problem is t he need for both parents to work.
If a preschool child is in childcare from 8 to 6 five days a week, who is bringing them up? Parenting is largely lear n ed at your mother's knee.We are witnessing the first generation of parents who were themselves raised by nurseries rather than parented, and so have no clue how to be parents themselves!

@Mumma2024

This is why I think schools need to change. For whatever reason, our cohort of children are changing. Especially in the younger years, where there is more demand/working families. It may well be that we need more schools to potty train, to teach language and communication, we need more space and simplicity, a big focus on teaching social skills and how to behave. I think a teacher needs to be seen as not just a facilitator but ALSO a teacher, and they need to feel valued and allowed to teach in their personal style and not : one size fits all. Displays in schools are often meaningless twinkl signs that the children can’t read. Widgits, now and next etc help the children understand language.

I feel like everything needs to be cleared out and we start again.

@WhenIsTheGeneralElection

Agreed - I don’t think a blame game is the answer because I do see a lot of teachers and parents doing their absolute best. I think it’s higher up that needs to change : training courses, government input, research, over reliance/trust in pseudoscience, more finance, more staff, better resources.

I’d join any group to express my views.

@Mumma2024

This is why I think schools need to change. For whatever reason, our cohort of children are changing. Especially in the younger years, where there is more demand/working families. It may well be that we need more schools to potty train, to teach language and communication, we need more space and simplicity, a big focus on teaching social skills and how to behave. I think a teacher needs to be seen as not just a facilitator but ALSO a teacher, and they need to feel valued and allowed to teach in their personal style and not : one size fits all. Displays in schools are often meaningless twinkl signs that the children can’t read. Widgits, now and next etc help the children understand language.

I feel like everything needs to be cleared out and we start again.

I agree. DD came home yesterday asking if she could have a pair of noise cancelling headphones to be like the other children at school. This seems very recent too - I don’t remember any children at school having sensory meltdowns or sitting with their hands over their ears. The profile of special needs has really changed from children with Downs or cerebral palsy (for example) to almost exclusively autism, ADHD or both. I’m always surprised to hear about a child with SEN where the diagnosis isn’t ASD/ADHD.

It's such a challenging situation. Both my children have SEN and EHCPs. My youngest has never had any behavioural incidents, at all, along any lines.

My biggest is more challenging, she's never harmed any children or adult but can't be quite vocal when cross. Has never sworm or been verbally abusive. Massively struggles with her anxiety and often overwhelmed by the classroom. We had specialist agreed when she was in year 1, but the options available to her involved her being in a class of 5 highly physically challenging boys, because she comes under the heading of SEMH. You can't put a highly anxious 5YO girl in a classroom with children who have committed SA, so I enforced her right to mainstream. Our ASD schools, only exist for those with learning disabilities and the settings she requires aren't available until secondary. She's in year 4 now and years 2 and 3 went surprisingly well. We've hit a wall this year but there is nowhere viable to move her to, so for her, she's still in mainstream, only in class 50% and still often overwhelmed.

There is a huge number of children like my DD, who are in the wrong environment because there is just no other option for them. It then means that the next tier of children who ordinarily would have been the higher needs children in mainstream, are left to fend for themselves.

Obviously there is lots of poor parenting too, but the SEN situation is unbelievably dire.

@Mumma2024

This is why I think schools need to change. For whatever reason, our cohort of children are changing. Especially in the younger years, where there is more demand/working families. It may well be that we need more schools to potty train, to teach language and communication, we need more space and simplicity, a big focus on teaching social skills and how to behave. I think a teacher needs to be seen as not just a facilitator but ALSO a teacher, and they need to feel valued and allowed to teach in their personal style and not : one size fits all. Displays in schools are often meaningless twinkl signs that the children can’t read. Widgits, now and next etc help the children understand language.

I feel like everything needs to be cleared out and we start again.

You miss my point.2 parents working IS old stuff and now we are seeing the first generation of 'nursery raised' children becoming parents themselves and having no clue how to parent.
To address your affordability point though, in the mid 90s, yes childcare was cheaper but there were no child tax credits to help with childcare