There's a "culture of low expectation" in secondary schools. Do you agree?

I think parents do on the whole understand now hard we work and its amazes me that a lot think my job is far harder than it actually is. Day to day in my classroom I do not think about politicians or social work, they do have an influence over the bigger picture I guess

I set homework every lesson, it is always meaningful and it is mark properly. I don't hate setting homework and I can't begrudge marking homework as that is my job. I actually enjoy seeing wat they do when they work independently.

Add message | Report | Message poster Talkinpeace Wed 19-Jun-13 17:38:54
beatback
my childrens' school is non selective, but their sets are not
the whole of the top set is expected to get A/A*
The next set A/B
The next set B-D
The next set D downwards
and the bottom set are just pleased to be literate.

Defensive much Habba? The broccoli quip was merely making the point that I don't pretend my 6 yr old is up for things when she's clearly not. As her mother, though, I choose to enforce certain things. You made out that your DS was a willing participant in extra homework, having originally said that he moaned about it.

You're right, of course - your child, so you go about parenting the way you want. My children will
not be doing unnecessary exams though. I am not that kind of mother, you are. Swings and roundabouts.

aris
I don't glance, I sit and have coffee with the mums, who are my friends - and have been known to get roped into helping with maths homework, it being my thing
A good proportion of the work I see (from several private schools in the area) is padding.
That and kids who swap between the two sectors are at the same levels so it cannot be making that much of a difference (unless they were naturally not very bright and the private school has worked wonders).

Personally I do believe DH that teachers work a darned sight harder than the vast majority of parents give them credit for and that not all of the pushy mums' kids are as bright as one would think from these forums and that the hardest part of teaching is the social work and the politicians.

Is my understanding incorrect?

I find it funny how you get all judgy pants over stuff that you don't agree with and then go on about making your DD eat broccoli even though she didn't want to. No double standards there eh? I mean, parents shouldn't decide for their children what is good for them unless it is your child.

Yes you do. No surprises there.

My DCs each got their Grade 1 distinctions when they were 6 so I guess that I fall neatly into your stereotype.

Oh, and of course they whinge. DTD1 whinged all the way through dinner. I assumed therefore that she was an unwilling participant in the consumption of broccoli. Still made her eat it though.

They're 6. Why would they be taking exams?

Evil - I am assuming that your girls regular practice the piano without any prompting from you. I am also assuming that they never complain or whinge. And if they do badly in their music exams that you won't be telling them that they could do better.

Whether a piece of work is going to be marked or not?

Talkin your admiration for your husband is lovely but it seems to me that you believe wat your husband says about teachers over and above wat teacher say about teachers.

I set homework every week to each of my classes and each week it is marked and handed back. How do you know from glancing over a child's shoulder in the gym whether a piece if work is going to me marked or not?

Too mature to carry a grudge.

You are obviously no longer pissed with me for my drama teacher remarks

No, but it does mean he's an unwilling participant. If he was super enthusiastic about his mum-imposed homework, you'd have mentioned it. Let's face it, it was you, as the parent who decided that the extra work was necessary and you who arranged it, so that kind of proves the point being made up thread about this being more about parents than kids.

My girls learn the piano because they want to. They asked if I would teach them. That's different. What you describe is you deciding that your DC need extra because the school isn't providing it, rather than them being hungry for more.

He moans about having to take a bath. It doesn't mean that he wants to be smelly

YOU said that your DS moaned about it. That makes him an unwilling participant. Stick to your story, Habba.

... unwilling participants in all of this.

My DS feeling bored at school because he finished the maths in half the time as the others and was left to stare out of the windows. What has that got to do with him whinging about homework? He whinges about having a bath, having to go to bed, not being able to play PC games for hours at time etc etc.

A lot of people are obviously happy being 'average' and for their children to be 'average' which brings me back to my original point which is that a lot of people 'suffer' from average expectations.

And at the assumption that my DCs are unwull

*"What a shame your DC's school didn't cover the basics."

They did. My DCs just found the pace a bit slow.*

Habba you said in an earlier post that your children didn't want to do extra work that you gave them. It wasn't your DCs that 'found the pace slow' it was you.

Oh here it is- In primary school I would set homework for my DCs because their school wasn't particularly academic. DD was ok but DS would often have a moan about how no one else gets given homework by their parents.

And that nicely proves what countless teachers and 'average' people say - that this is all about what parents want, and very little to do with what their children or what is best for them.

pickled Too right : teachers store up ready for him to "nail their year 9's to the floor" And yes, its a shame that kids get left behind, but TBH that went on at my private school as well.

At DD's selective school homework is referred to as PSC (prepare, stretch, consolidate) and each piece is classified as either P, S or C. There is a strictly adhered to homework timetable and regular assessment grades that take homework marks into account. DD can see the point of it and has learnt a lot about managing her own time so as to fit it all in (3 x 20 mins per night in Y7) also, having a regular time slot dedicated to each subject served her well when it came to revising for her end of year exams. All in all it has been a positive experience this year for her due in no small point to excellent school to home communication and good organisation and planning on behalf of the school.

By comparision, at our local comp, the lower sets have their books collected at the end of every lesson (they are not allowed to take them home) and any homework set is on a worksheet (which invariably gets left behind by a good few students) or is a research type of homework to be done on the internet. Top sets do get more meaningful homework and are allowed to take their books home. I have said it before but our local comp is a school of two halves, the 'haves' and 'have-nots' (play on words there before the spelling and grammar police jump on me) i.e. those kids that have interested parents and cooperative peers and those kids that may or may not have interested parents but their peers are largely non-cooperative. Contrary to popular belief (i.e. that having interested parents is the key to 'success'), I think that having cooperative peers is a huge boon and shouldn't be underestimated. [Just as a side note, even the most uncooperative of peers will probably 'behave' when talkin's DH Ofsted come calling.]

"What a shame your DC's school didn't cover the basics."

They did. My DCs just found the pace a bit slow. I'm beginning to wonder if Wonder was our teacher ie be happy with being average. if you get ahead of the crowd you'll just end up coasting. Better to pace yourself so that you end up at the finishing line at the same time as the other kids.

"My dd did no extra work in primary school.... She's doing fine at GCSEs, with A* anticipated in most subjects"

That is a bit like Usain Bolt's mum going - well, we never took him to training sessions.

Not all DDs are like yours. There are kids who are destined for a handful of GCSE Cs Ds and maybe a B. Are you telling me that those kids should be content with being average and shouldn't try to push things along and go for Bs and Cs?

I'm not going to say what DH does because he is easily identifiable. He is a qualified teacher who is put in charge of groups of children from Year R to year 13 from 5 to 900 of them for up to a week at a time.
And because he's not an inspector, I'll believe his version of staff room chat over just about anybody's. As do other teachers, inspectors etc that he meets with.