To be tired of teachers exaggerating

[onarailwaytrain]

Dd and DS (twins) in year 11 at the moment and all we have heard is how they have to get their GCSEs, their lives will be ruined if they don't, they will never get to college and never get a good job. Etc.

Dd in particular is unlikely to get many cs or above. AIBU in thinking the teachers should back off a bit?

It isn't very pleasant dealing with suicidal 16 year olds either. DS has said before he feels he's got no future. Horrible. So I'm sorry but someone's mortgage falls into insignificance compared to that. I'm sure chile didn't mean it to sound callous but to me it did.

Flowers, they will do what they want to do. DS - something to do with cars. Dd wants to work with the elderly.

They aren't me. I'm not particularly numerate by the way, but I have brought them up to have respect for their teachers and to be kind, polite children. Unfortunately the people they've been told to respect are now telling them indirectly they're worthless, their lives are over etc.

They aren't academic, but they are not stupid.

Well if your 16 year old doesn't want to work in KFC for the rest of her life, then she needs to buckle down and do some hard work to get the grades that give her the options to do something else.

Some kids need a good dose of reality once in a while. And they certainly aren't getting it from mummy and daddy who think their precious is the next Richard Branson.

I'm torn on this one.

I may be wrong (I only teach to age 13) but, looking at our weak to averagely academic children, I honestly think that the vast majority of children (barring those with certain SENs) can achieve 5 Cs at GCSE given the right guidance in choosing subjects, good and encouraging teaching and a determined attitude. Are you sure that you aren't underestimating your children. They sound like great kids, their teachers may well genuinely feel that they have it in them.

However, if you are right and they are trying but really can't then YANBU. There are options open to everyone, regardless of their attainment, if they have the right attitude.

GCSEs will make most things a lot easier though.

Do they have an alternative direction to go in? - artsy? outdoorsy? caring?

Performance related pay Bake off. Our annual cost of living pay rise is linked to results.
This is one of the things we are taking strike action over.
Because it's wrong.

She's buckled down all her life.

She still probably won't get the grades, which really isn't her fault and isn't through lack of trying.

I think it's a good thing that teachers are interested in your children (if that's what it is and not just focusing on targets). However the focus on academic achievement and progress on to uni in this country is bordering on the insane now.

Not everyone is cut out for uni, not everyone wants to go and not everyone should. Ridiculous education policy making it so that every man and his dog needs to have one is ruining the workforce in this country.

I hope your kids do what they want after school and I am totally sure that as long as they work hard they won't regret not going on to more academic qualifications - it hasn't hurt me or my husband (both late 20s - we don't have degrees) and it has worked out very well for us. We work hard and people appreciate that coupled with life experience can do more than a degree can in some situations.

I'm not saying that degrees are worthless - just that they aren't for everyone.

Yes Bakeoff you have. Are you not aware that teachers' pay is linked to performance?

I'm watching my local news, they are reporting on 9 sets of twins starting at a secondary school. The ht was interviewed. She said how unusual it was to have that many sets of twins. She then said "They've settled in really well and we hope they will produce some good results for us in 5 years time". Is that really all she's worried about. She talking about them as if they some sort of commodity.

I'm a teacher OP and I agree with you. I think we sometimes focus too much on C grades and not enough on individual success.

I taught a bottom set last year and was delighted with their English language results in January. Most of them were gutted though because they didn't get Cs. We agreed there sand then to ban 'the C word' as we worked towards their literature exams. We even had a 'swear box' in the class and aded 50p if we made the mistake of mentioning "C or above". They responded much better when I used phrases like 'as well as you can', 'reach your potential' rather than banging on about over ambitious grades.

My 16 year old could have worked 24 hours a day and still not got C grades, he just couldn't do it and he especially couldn't do exams. So I sympathise OP

No I'm not. I thought there was just a pay scale. How does it work?

Welcome to Planet Education Bake Off.

Dd struggles a lot with retaining information. She will understand a concept when it's taught to her, but she then can't seem to remember it from one day to the next. She still can't do long division for example or work out a percentage - this is despite it being taught to her every year since about year 5.

DS is severely dyslexic and although he is literate in the sense that he can read, he can't really do much with what he has read beyond a very basic understanding.

They aren't the worst in the world. They'll get Es, DS even - but pushing it for Cs.

I feel sorry for the kids and the teachers. The school need the results, as do the teachers for their pay but the DC don't need the stress. IMO there is too much emphasis on getting children into college to do A levels and then university.

DS1 is very bright, he did incredibly well at both GCSE and A level, but he didn't want to go to university. His sixth form were horrified by this and put the pressure on him to apply, so he said he would. That wasn't good enough, they wanted Russel Group. When we went to open days he wasn't comfortable, but accepted a place, got the loan etc. to please his teachers. All he wanted to do was join the Army. 2 days before results day last year, he decided he wasn't going to uni and deferred. The school were really upset and tried their best to talk him out of it.

He's in the Army now, but he could have gone a year earlier. Sometimes the schools need to accept that college and uni isn't right for every young person.

There is a pay scale, but progress up the scale depends on the results of the kids. Put crudely, it is a bullies' charter.

The skills I use for my job I did not learn from school. I'm a kenetic learner so sitting at a table copying from a blackboard wasnt me, I'm also dyslexic so struggled.

Getting good grades at school isnt the be all and end all. I left with nothing. I actually didn't even sit my GCSEs.

I coach and teach sports now and I'm about to train to be a tutor trainer. I love my job and the pay is ok.

I wish both of your dc success in what ever they choose to do.

It is hard to get the balance right.
Schools set targets very high and this is all linked to Ofsted and their expectations. So much of a school's survival depends on GCSE and A level results that schools really have no choice but to push students hard.
What are your children's target grades, op? Are they working below their targets? Schools can't allow students to fall below and really, they are trying to do right by your children, although it sounds like the message isn't perhaps being communicated effectively.

I'm not unsympathetic at all to the stress teachers are under which is one reason I have drummed it into all mine to be polite and respectful and above all helpful.

Ultimately though, repeatedly talking nonsense about 'if you don't get a C in your GCSE then you can't do X' is just counter productive as mist of the children have parents who don't have Cs in GCSEs but are quite happy! It annoys the badly behaved children and upsets the ones who do want to work hard. I've had to say to mine the teacher is wrong and I've never done that before!

I love the banning of the C word.

Not all teachers do this. DDs English teacher told her with an attitude like hers she could do anything which gave her a massive lift.

This is Govt policy. We are not making it up. Cool as explained it much better than me.

Do your children have special needs, OP? What are they planning to do next year, given that they have to stay in education until they're 18?

Thanks for explaining that Coolas, must be horrible to work like that. No wonder that HT I just saw on TV, said what she did. It's all wrong!

You know they have to continue with maths and english retaking if they dont get the grades?
I would be using every resource I could get my hands on to ensure they know the curriculum and encouraging them to ask the teachers things they dont understand.

I havent got there yet, ds1 is yr10 but you need to get them proactive in their learning.