Silly things teachers think will work

So - hello? saying parents know nothing and have no contribution to make is as damaging as saying teachers should do every damn thing I say because I pay tax.

Brycie - why WOULD the OP know whether things were silly and whether they worked? It's not her job to know such things. It's the language I object to. Plenty of people would think that some of the stuff I do every day is silly. Doesn't mean they don't work. People who do not know the ins and outs of someone else's job (whatever that job is) shouldn't slag them off.

I am exactly suggesting that because we pay teachers salaries they should listen to us. I didn't say they had to agree with us or do what we say but they should listen, consider and respond politely to our opinions. Just like half the world in the private sector has to do.

Brycie, really you can't extrapolate that teachers simply ignore the views of parents from the response to the OP on this particular thread.

Stupid views from the ill-informed we might well ignore.

When you have a Grammar school, by the very nature of it, you are going to have a selective school. So, the 'bad eggs' or 'bad seeds', for want of a better phrase, are often excluded from these institutions and standards tend to be high because of this reason.

Additionally a private school, lets say Eton, will charge you a fee of 20 to 30 thousand a year. So what you tend to get are kids who will behave and are successful because mother of father are making a huge investment in them. They can also hire 'super tutors' who will help them pass exams.

Unfortunately, in a comprehensive school a lot of the children do not want to be there. Some parents do not support their children and in some cases tell my husband to 'talk' to their child because he/she will not listen to them. The teachers in private schools do not have to deal with the same difficulties that comprehensive teachers face on a daily basis.

You talk about not being given an explanation of how teachers give you 'value for money', but the concept of Ofsted is to do just that. You are offered a full break down of teaching and learning quality as well as a detailed review of the examination results. The system is very transparent, the same can not be said for other public services.

Is your desire for teachers to have the power to exclude students who fail to behave in the appropriate fashion? It is a lot harder for schools to exclude pupils then you think, and in some cases parents have overturned permanent exclusions.

It seems to me that the original point of discussion, which was the methods of discipline employed my teachers, has been deviated from by parents such as chloe still trying to find blame in teachers, for issues of concern in classroom settings, that ultimately stem from the home environment.

chloe I would really like if you could explain exactly where teachers have failed to be transparent and fobbed off parents or even sworn at them over this issue? Where and when did you experience this?

all they do is swear

This thread would be much shorter if that were the case.

For those of us who work for a living in the private sector

Why not become a teacher then? If it's such a comparative doss and paid better? Sounds like a no-brainer in your situation.

It's lucky my ivory tower in the firing line is flack-proof, Chloe74.

I don't mind the odd mixed metaphor, but all attempt at coherence appears to have left the building.

"The OP is not a teacher, and therefore has no idea whether such things are "silly" or whether they "will work". "

I rest my case.

In fact wasn't I on a thread with you where the same thing happened? I'm sure you didn't do it and I know we've been on a few of the same threads so I don't know when or which one, but I've definitely been on them and had this happen.

I am not going to accept that noblegiraffe.

Whilst the common throw away comment is 'gold plated', the sentiments are justified. For those of us who work for a living in the private sector: I have more qualifications than most teachers, work longer hours, have to justify every penny of my wage, don't have a job for life, yet get paid less than teachers and get a worse pension than teachers and for some weird reason I have to take some of my hard earned money and contribute to teachers pensions. And what really hurts is when teachers strike demanding more of my money for no extra benefit to us, its me who loses a days wages.

So the conclusion I come to on here is that when teachers are asked to account for themselves all they do is swear and say I don't have time to explain myself to ill-informed parents.

tichy, I am buying a product and just like electricity (for all intents and purpose) its compulsory. On the surface you can shop around but its essentially a state monopoly and just like the energy companies open to abuse. Its a rip off.

Seriously there is! The op just read like a parent, no indication of being a teacher at all. Then "I take it you are a qualified teacher?" is definitely missing the words .."as you feel able to make this assessment?" For sure!

Maybe they'll come back and say they just got, like, a spooky feeling that it might be a teacher. Anyway I've seen it myself and experienced it. Any time you say anything about education it's implied you haven't an opinion to be valued because you're not a teacher. Sometimes people outright say it.

The thread title - "silly things teachers think will work" was foolish, IMO. The OP is not a teacher, and therefore has no idea whether such things are "silly" or whether they "will work". She clearly wanted other people to pile in with other examples of "silly" things, which is both patronising and openly inviting negativity.

No. There is no suggestion that the person asking if the OP was a qualified teacher disregards anything any parent might say because parents know nothing. There is a suggestion that they might disregard anything that the OP says on this particular matter, because the OP sounds like they don't know what they're talking about.

But when it's like this:

"I take it you are a qualified teacher?"

there's a jolly strong whiff of it.

Brycie As a response to the OP, asking if they are a qualified teacher when they describe a teacher's methods as 'silly' is not the same as saying 'you know nothing because you're only a parent so I don't have to listen to you at all'.

Chloe 74 The only answer is selection but seeing as we are not going to get that, parents have no choice but to try and push teachers to spend as much time on the bright kids as they do on the grade boundary kids who make them look good

As a teacher on the higher payscale part of my pay depends on results. I am judged against each individual target, therefore it makes no sense to ignore my brightest students. That is if my only motivater was my wage, as you seem to think.

Ok fair enough noble, am guilty of being a thread dilettante tonight. I disagree with Chole then. Oh hang on I must say - one of the first five posts was something like "so you're a qualified teacher are you" as if you don't have anything useful to say otherwise.

Brycie

I paid for this so do as I say This is pretty much what Chloe is demanding

you know nothing because you're only a parent so I don't have to listen to you at all No one has said this, or anything close to this.

Chloe most teachers posting on here are parents, it would be rather daft for us to look down on parents.

Noble it's not really a case of people getting their money's worth, if people have suggested that, it's ludicrous. Education has a purpose and if it's not fulfilling the purpose there's an issue. Teachers don't always know better than parents just as doctors don't always know better than patients.

I don't know where the money thing came in but "I paid for this so do as I say" is ludicrous but so is "you know nothing because you're only a parent so I don't have to listen to you at all".

Out of interest, does anyone know exactly what percentage of a person's taxes goes towards paying teachers' wages?

I mean, if parents are paying £100 a year (plucked out of thin air) out of their taxes and receiving a full time education for their kids, then that's a pretty good deal, isn't it?

Except you're not buying a product for your child( unless you educate privately) by virtue of the fact that you're a tax payer. Unless of course you feel tht paying taxes means you should also have a say in how fire fighters, doctors, the army, bin men etc do their job (oh and paying taxes just like you!)

they just swear at you for daring to put an informed opinion to them

I didn't just swear at you, I did actually comment as to why what you said was bollocks too.

And let's face it, if you're going to trot out the 'gold plated pensions' line, you should expect a bit of swearing.

Firstly I wasn't teacher bashing, I was talking about the system and what some parents have to do to get a fair deal from it. Teachers are in the firing line, it is not their fault but because of the system they have to deal with the flack.

As for my views being ill informed I will dispute that and suggest its teachers that live in an ivory tower. Newspapers represent the view of millions of parents, and whilst I hate the Sun (never buy it) their views are representative, like it or not you have to deal with them and dismissing them is just snobbery. My information comes from real life and many other parents, again to dismiss opinions just because you don't like them is arrogant and exacerbates the problem. So we are left with the internet, where information is spun, stretched and transformed into lies. Recent events have proved that.

The only place where you could get the truth from is teachers and they just swear at you for daring to put an informed opinion to them. That informed opinion might not be factual but then how does any parent know that because teachers wont explain what they are doing and why.

When I buy a product for my child I expect to be shown/told how it works, if I was abused and told I am not telling you what you are buying then I wouldn't buy it. But that's exactly what teachers do, we pay them to provide a service for our children and they wont justify its relevance and explain what they are doing to give us value for money. All I hear is give us the money and get lost, we know best.

No wonder parents are setting up free schools, want Grammar schools, go private. Whether or not a parent is pontificating they deserve to be heard and their views should be taken into account because they are the people paying for it. The more teachers comment in here the more I feel justified in my view that teachers look down on parents and don't feel any accountability to them.

argument!