Do you prefer online parents evening for secondary school or in person ?

[TeddyBearCottage]

I prefer online
because you get more privacy

it keeps the chat more focused

and it’s not carnage trying to get from one place to another and in person the timing always goes to pot with thi n a going over then the timing goes out of synch then your late to your next appointment because someone else started with you late
even though you were on time

it’s just so chaotic

Definitely online.
Im a single parents (so no divide and conquer) like some parents do. I also have twins so double appointments. The last in person one we did we were there the whole 3 hours (most parents got it done in an hour and a half). It didn't feel confidential, one of mine has sen and I could see that an issue in class was because of this I said to the teacher I'll email you, online i would have told her.
Online it runs to time because your cut off. I find most of the time (and I've had 3 dc go through secondary) parents evening tells me nothing new and some times the only thing I gain is putting a face to the name which could be done on line.
Selfishly I also like being able to have a cup of tea or pop the tea in the oven between calls when online.
Most of the teachers I've spoken too prefer online too.

Completely agree there is just zero privacy
it’s just so chaotic

and then if you have to email in about things you feel you can discuss due to zero privacy
it’s just time consuming all round

fair enough for primary children there’s one teacher
and it’s a different vibe
but secondary
let’s get down to business

It would be nice to have a face-to-face parents evening in year 10 and 11 as it feels more important and 5 minutes is not long enough.

We found the online parents evenings during lock down so much easier as parents of twins.

Our first high school parents night was unbelievably stressful, we had 20 individual appointments, nothing ran to time and we kept having to split up to stand in different over- running queues.

We were there for 3 hours and were exhausted. Another lady who has twins but whose DH couldnt make it to parents night looked like she was going to cry by the end of the evening.

By contrast online parents evenings always started on time and we got to speak to everyone. Much, much less stressful.

Online 100%. In person you end up dashing between appointments in far apart rooms and some teachers over-run and mess up the whole schedule meaning you miss out on speaking to some teachers whereas online it cuts you off automatically after your five mins or whatever so nobody can monopolise time.

Totally agree
surely it must be horrible for the teachers as well

it’s pretty much impossible for all them timings to run smoothly for that amount of people in one night and having to get to different locations as well

In person. Far better for understanding the teacher's real views. Also better for building a relationship that allows me to deal with any issues faster.

I think one of the worse things is how unproductive the whole thing feels

On line. Mine are now adults but when ds was going through GCSE's it was covid year, and online was way easier

For younger children yes, but do you really feel your going to build a relationship in that space of time and in that chaotic environment
likely that the teacher is just stressed and trying to get through it all as well

although i do think for kids doing gcse and a levels it could be worth doing in person and longer sessions

Online everytime.

We just wouldn't be able to attend in person. We have other dc who have clubs and activities and need feeding and minding. My dh works away and I work shifts. We are often both able to attend some with online appointments and cover them all between us.

I think we wouldn't go if it was in person.

I honestly wish all parent evenings, even primary, were online. I found it worked really well in lockdown. It’s much easier to manage, especially if you have multiple children and are doing it solo.

Why don’t you think you get their “real views” on an online call?

Definitely online, ours is just like a massive bun fight with rammed corridors and people jumping queues (huge school!)

I do like putting faces to names of other children that I hear about though!

I can see the argument for online wrt privacy and keeping to time, but I much prefer speaking to people in person if at all possible. I had parents' evening last night and it was really nice to meet the teachers and see their relationship with my child.

It would be great if parents' evening could be done online AND in person - just pick which one - but it might well be a logistical nightmare.

Dd doing A levels, online PE is fine, as by A level dd is pretty self motivated and any issues she speaks to her tutors. But for DS I much prefer in person. I found online it was a case of “he’s doing fine, no issues” in person we have had more advice eg “he’s doing fine, but if he wanted to extend himself, he could explore x,y and z” we have 8 mins in person which feels much a bit more relaxed, but enough time to discuss any issues. The 5 mins online just wasn’t long enough. I know parents evenings aren’t about ‘issues’, more checking in, but actually I don’t want to hassle teachers via emails / phone calls over non urgent but semi-important academic related matters, when it can wait until parents evening.