re DD's parents evening?

[WasIBeingUnreasonable]

At DD's parents evening we were speaking to the teachers that has her for one of her weaker subjects and, tbh, I thought what he said was a bit out of order. We sat down and the first thing he talked about was how DD isn't making as much progress as the others and it was unacceptable, even though she puts a lot of effort into homework and lessons (his words). I replied that surely it was his job to ensure that she makes progress, to which he replied that it is very hard to make sure everyone is making progress with a class of 25. Shouldn't he be making time to do that?

I was getting a bit narked by this point and went on to raise an issue to him that DD had mentioned to me about him taking a long time to come to her when she has her hand up. He then suggested that when she needs help she asks the girl next to her and not him. He then got very tetchy with me when I said I would rather he helped her than another 15 year old, he is the teacher after all!

Now AIBU or is this not the best attitude for the teacher to hold when teaching a year 11 GCSE class?

Lots of more forward thinking schools that are trying to develop well rounded adults do use peer support and peer education, but usually in a more structured way than ask the person next to you, who may or may not know more than you.

I'd worry the teacher isn't actually coping with the job, there are bad teachers out there just like any profession, or the alternative is your daughter is being overly demanding and putting up the hand instead of trying to work it out herself,

Either way, I'd be cutting back on something and going for the tutor option I'm afraid, along with a discussion with the head of year or guidance teacher.

Maths is one of those subjects where it makes a massive difference if your mind works in the same way as your teacher's. I never had much idea of what my maths teacher was on about, but if I wrote everything down and showed it to my brother he would just say "oh, look at it like this" and I'd know exactly how it all worked. It never occurred to me that I couldn't do maths, as a result, and I did the O level easily (and am now doing a maths degree).

I tell you that, as I really do believe that everyone can do maths if they have the right teacher (and that's not slagging off teachers at all). If you can stretch the budget just for a little while, you might find someone who can explain things in a different way which your dd clicks with.

fraggle500

"The teachers should be made to take responsibly for the child's progress."

No, pupils should be taking responibilty for their own progress, otherwise they and their parents will always just blame others for poor results.

Ds is in Year 11, top set, has maths tutor and does a lot of extra work at home. In a one hour lesson with 25 kids, that means average around two and a half minutes time could be spent workign with children individually.
I would be getting a tutor asap for youd daughter and getting her to do lots of extra work during the week rather than just the homework.
You dont have time to wait for the school to sort out her lack of progress.

BoneyBack

I strongly disagree, the teacher SHOULD take responsibly for the educational progress of the child ... It's their job, not just to impart knowledge, but to also identify any learning difficulties the child is experiencing, and alert them to the SENO . It's the difference between a good teacher and outstanding teacher. Trust me.

Fraggle- you are right to say an outstanding teacher knows the individual needs of her students and can help them to progress, BUT a yr 11 student needs to take some responsibility too- particularly at this stage. An outstanding teacher knows that her students cannot be completely reliant on her but should be able to progress independently. I think the OP wants her DD's maths teacher to take full and sole responsibility, which is NOT an attribute of an outstanding teacher.

Noone actually knows whether this teacher is any good or not or who is to blame. THe point is her dd hasnt got time whilst all that stuff gets sorted. Hence why I think they need a tutor and lots of extra work.

If she is in her GCSE year there is not a lot of time to get it right! Most schools subscribe to a website called mymaths and the school logon name and password are available to pupils. Try looking at this for help with topics she is struggling with and go through a few lessons with her. These are really good and much clearer than using a revision book.

There's also Khan Academy, which will probably put things differently to how they're presented at school, which may help. www.khanacademy.org/

Fraggle

As a teacher I cannot force a pupil to progress, I talk to the pupil (if they let me), I ring home, I talk to the head of year, head of house, form tutors, SENCO, anyone infact that will listen.

But if the pupil refuses to progress, or is unable to progress for whatever reason and I have done all I can, should I still beheld responsible?

the pupil in this case is not refusing to progress - the teacher has told the op that her dd puts a lot of effort into her work
If she is unable to progress then the teacher should part of the process of identifying the reason for that.

sorry - the teacher should be part of the process