To think if only 10% of parents have paid for a workshop

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It would be safe to say at least 90% think it's a total waste of time?

Aibu also to think it might be nice if schools consulted parents before booking non curriculum workshops and see if people are happy to pay rather than waste money like this?

At least?! I mean a large number!!

Waste money? I imagine that in school workshops work out far, far cheaper than anything similar that parents might be able to book out of school time. For example, a few years ago we had a special day for the children that consisted of 2 workshops- one art based and one with visiting animals- plus other activities. Cost to the parents? £1 per child. The children loved it, they talked about the animals particularly for weeks after, and had an art project that they took home. I wouldn't call that a waste of time!

Unfortunately, consulting parents never really works. Have you ever tried to organise a get together of more than around 20 people? I have and it's a nightmare organising dates that suit, and venues, and arranging the activities. In a school there are more like 200 people to please- some of whom think any non curriculum activity is a waste of time, others want their child to do more sport, yet others want art/music/drama.

Not to mention, when our school at least have consulted parents (eg by offering them 2 choices and going ahead with the most popular) you run into problems because the ones who didn't vote for that one feel disgruntled and therefore don't want to pay!

Ultimately, the school must do what they think is in the best interests of the children as a group,and if they think an activity will benefit them, go ahead and book it. Of course, with a take up as low as 10%, the activity should be cancelled and a note made that either the cost was too high, or the activity not appealing enough.

What are paid workshops in school???

We have free information sessions on curriculum subjects, nothing you have to pay for.

What am I missing?

I wouldn't say it's a waste of time. The children in the school I work in love it when they have extra curricular workshops run by outside companies, and I know my dc have always enjoyed them as well.

The conclusion I would come to is that the parents are tight arsed bastards, with the exception of the very few that genuinely can't afford it. Most of them probably don't pay because they think that because the donation is voluntary, the school doesn't really need them to pay, and their children will still get the experience because enough others pay or the school or PTA will cover it.

YANBU in theory. My children would think that eating a box of Maltesers in under a minute was fun. Doesn't mean it's educational, or that I should be paying for them to do it at school.

Education is supposed to be free anyway.

Depends on what it is, what it is for, cost, how it affects those not paying/participating, etc?

For example, there are often, esp at secondary, school trips where maybe only 10% go - but it doesn't mean the trip is a wate of money or not beneficial to those who do want to go.

Or there might be a workshop run where only those who want to go/pay have to - again take up may be ow, but so long as those paying/taking part benefit from it, it isn't a waste.

And no - consulting parents before booking school based activities and sessions really isn't going to work. You cannot please every parent every time.

My dd has a workshop this week run by our LA, although she doesn't attend school.
She gets to sing with a leading orchestra and perform live on Radio 3.
I think it depends on the workshop tbh. You couldn't have bribed, begged or otherwise my dd not to sign up for this.

WooWooOwl- I agree about some parents being tight arsed! With the example I gave above- £1 per child- some parents were refusing to pay, with reasons such as 'it's not a school trip so I'm not paying' 'you can't stop my child from attending even if I don't pay' 'I didn't ask for the workshop' 'It's a voluntary donation so you don't have to pay'. We had to send out a letter explaining that we hadn't collected enough money to pay the workshop people and so we would have to cancel and refund the money of those who had paid. Luckily we then had enough parents pay to go ahead.

I think we need more information.