to be so fed up with school making this my problem every time?

[velvetspoon]

DS is in yr12. They completed AS exams last week and are now back to a normal timetable starting their A2 work.

DS was late in on Monday. The subject teacher of his first lesson is away this week, so DS decided it didn't matter if he was late in as would just be a cover teacher.

But of course the school then phone me. Again. Do I not appreciate DS needs to be at school at 0830 daily? Do I not know where he is? And then I explain that when I left the house to go to work, he was preparing to leave so no I didn't know he wasn't there. Etc.

I don't object to them letting me know he's not turned up. What I do object to is that the whole tone of the conversation, every time, is that it's my fault. My responsibility to make sure he's there. Even though he's 16, and I (unlike most mums in this area) do actually have a proper job to go to, so I don't have time to be ferrying him to school, or even dealing with their calls when I should be in meetings.

I already do my level best to get him to school including waking him up every morning - I only do that because otherwise he wouldn't get up in time for school and then I'd be the one getting yet another call from the school and yet again it would be my fault.

I'm trying my best to instil some kind of personal responsibility in my son, and get him to realise he can't just do what he wants but the fact the school only ever have a go at me really doesn't help!

He has a study period first lesson today so is refusing to go in at usual time so I expect another call from the school sometime this morning

That is a very good point. FWIW I would never use that word either.

What really annoys me about the secondary schools I know is the way they advertise themselves as being marvellous, brag about their results. I realise that schools are judged by their exam results and the success of extra-curricular activities but I still hate it. There seems to be a corporate ethos and some teachers do give the impression they don't care about my DC. It's easy to sell weed at my DCs' schools but woe betide you if you're late or not wearing your blazer! One of them was advised not to take an exam as she wasn't doing well in it. Fortunately she took it and got an A! It was a Scottish higher - these are the grades the uni look at.

I get the impression that they only do their best if your (teenage) DC never put a foot wrong. Em, they're teenagers! DC's schools are very good schools in middle class areas like OP's DS' school. I get multiple texts about PTA coffee mornings, but try talking to a teacher about DS choices in (Scottish equivalent) of sixth form!

I do remind DS when he complains that he's lucky to go to a good school and it's not easy being a teacher, but sometimes I'm guilty of criticising the school too. Would never say a teacher is useless though.

Camel I have QTS and a few years secondary teaching experience (a lot more subsequent experience in other forms of teaching) - do I get to comment? :o Some parents will have the qualifications and experience - though crucially they are not there in the "useless" lessons. When I was teaching one very unpleasant father of a child achieving below potential due to behavioural issues would go from teacher to teacher at parents evening (held in the hall so we had some awareness of what he was doing at other teachers' stations as he went around) telling most of us we were shit as his precious was believed of all other teachers and doing brilliantly in all other subjects, so the problem must lie with whoever he was talking to not liking her/ being a boring teacher/ not doing their job. Story falls down when it's being told about most of the teachers though!

Actually I don't think the parents should be so overly involved at 6th form - its time to back off a bit IMO and let post 16 students deal with their own studies... but I've said my piece on that 6th form parents evenings? Whatever next? We're treating you as an adult but we're going to tell your mum really doesn't hold water... In 5 years will parents be attending undergraduate parents' evenings?

• beloved not believed

Some times I'm tempted to not go to parents' evenings, but I feel the school would think I was negligent. DS normally gets 'not always engaged'. Well behaved. Doing quite well but probably could do better. What am I supposed to do? Even bribery didn't work with his sibling. Some people aren't driven. Some people are lazy. Some teenagers are immature.....

rogue, I never said there weren't poor teachers.

My beef was with posters who thought that staying in bed rather than going in was a good way to challenge perceived poor teaching.

CamelHump My sentence "it is hard to get rid of this teacher" was actually in response to teacher's comment:

"It isn't that hard to get rid of a shit teacher, if the school wants to go through the process. Maybe your school feel that he is worth keeping?"

Having said that I don't apologise for not "respecting" a teacher who can't do their job properly. I am not commenting on the teacher in RL. I am commenting on a anonymous internet forum.

The teacher bashing goes on all the time: "shit teacher" schools fault etc etc.

To the OP, the school make it your problem and keep telling you primarily because they can say they have informed you if results are not as expected.

You would like them to tell you if he is missing lessons, not coming in etc, as all of the data suggests that attendance is one of the most important factors contributing to good grades.

If grades aren't as expected, some parents do become very accusatory and aggressive, as a school we now have list of times when contact was made, why it was made and the impact of this contact. If your son is still not coming in when school have highlighted it , yes they are dammed sure they are going to make it your problem cause sure a shit if they didn't you would make it their problem when his results aren't what you wanted.

The "Cover lesson" argument is poor too, teachers set cover that is linked to the course content and in line with a series of lessons, missing a cover (especially in 6th form) can mean when the teacher comes back and moves on with the course as is needed people can be behind.

I love teacher threads, terms "shit teacher" and all sorts bandied about by people whose qualification to do so is information from children ( who often don't tell the whole truth) and their experience of school themselves. Your child will pick up on this and it will shape their attitude and behavior. In the end YOU are the biggest influence on your child, not their school.

I do understand where you're coming from velvet.
My son has also just taken his AS exams -he's just turned 17. Since last September, he's had all free periods on a Tuesday.It's not a day off though-he's expected to go in and revise/use the library etc.For the past few weeks, he hasn't been going in on a Tuesday;says there's no point.I've argued with him and told him it's still classed as a school day and he needs to go in as it will be classed as an unauthorised absence.But he knows better......
So what happens last week? He gets an email saying exactly what I've been saying to him;that he must be in registration on a tuesday as it's a school day etc etc......Not my fault-I've done my bit and if he chooses to ignore me that's his choice.At that age he needs to understand that,after 6 years at secondary school,he should know the rules and if he doesn't abide by them, then he has to take the flack for it-not me.It'll prepare him for the big bad world.He's looking for a part time job at the moment-if he's late one morning, am I expected to be responsible for it? I think not!!

*not a day off

*It'll prepare him
*He's looking

for god's sake!

Its the perpetration of the "its hard to get rid of teachers" myth because so few are sacked, every time I see this comment wheeled out it makes me laugh. Obviously people who believe this have no idea what goes in inside a school and their lack of understanding of the processes involved actually invalidates their opinion.

But, as I've said many times before, people like having their prejudices pandered to and are often steadfast in their beliefs so will never change minds no matter what facts are given.

From my teaching friends I rather get the impression that it is now ridiculously easy to get rid of teachers (including good ones) by making their lives sh*t until they leave or are signed off with stress. Of course this doesn't work for the really thick-skinned minority but I imagine they are few and far between.

Some teachers are really not very good - teenagers are perfectly capable of working this out on their own by they way, my daughter in Y10 has rather strong opinions on this issue! My attitude is that parents and students need to show respect for the role of teacher but they are entitled to an opinion on the competence or otherwise of an individual member of staff. (I should add that in my opinion the great majority of teachers are competent or better, but my kids have a couple of teachers who are objectively a bit crap at their jobs).

"signed off with stress" - yes. That does seem to be common with teachers who don't seem to be very capable.

Well put Mistigri

Some teachers are really not very good - teenagers are perfectly capable of working this out on their own by they way, my daughter in Y10 has rather strong opinions on this issue! My attitude is that parents and students need to show respect for the role of teacher but they are entitled to an opinion on the competence or otherwise of an individual member of staff. (I should add that in my opinion the great majority of teachers are competent or better, but my kids have a couple of teachers who are objectively a bit crap at their jobs).

I totally agree. DD (year 9) thinks that the majority of her teachers in both primary and secondary have been good/very good. She has only had a low opinion of the teaching abilities of one or two. The idea that she and other pupils can't judge who is and isn't good at teaching is ridiculous.

marynary maybe you were commenting but that phrase was not quoted, you adopted it and am not in the least surprised that you say you have no respect for a person who you feel is not good at their job.

The phrase wasn't quoted but I made it clear that I was speaking to the person (teacher) who used the phrase "shit teacher". ie.Ninkernonker.
I personally don't use that phrase but as I said, I see no problem with using it on an anonymous internet forum when talking about an anonymous incompetent teacher.

Ive read most of the thread and think you need to get the school to apply pressure directly in him. When they use their accusing tone put the responsibility back on them with 'DS was up when I left for work. Have you rung his mobile yet? Have you spoken to him directly about his lateness?'

Follow up with confiscating his screens on the days he is late.

If the school

Oh dear Marnary your continuous teacher bashing is really awful. Teachers are subjected to reviews of their teaching ( at least 3 times a year) review of results, reviews of levels of progress, book checks, termly data reviews etc. A "bad teacher" will not be able to jump through all of these hoops. "

In reality teachers are easy to remove, the industry is not forgiving, most leave before or during competency procedures which are instigated quite quickly when it appears that someone is not up to the job. The profession loses around 50% of new teachers within the first five years and about 25% of people who start training don't finish. But let all this data not matter, your judgement and that of your year 9 daughter is what matters.

In fact, if teachers were to make the judgment on parenting that parents do on teachers there would be an outcry on here.

t

The barely competent teachers I'm thinking off are not new or young. I don't know why they're still there adversely affecting the chances of getting good grades.

On what grounds are you judging their competency? Data assessed by professionals or hearsay?

Oh dear Marnary your continuous teacher bashing is really awful. Teachers are subjected to reviews of their teaching ( at least 3 times a year) review of results, reviews of levels of progress, book checks, termly data reviews etc. A "bad teacher" will not be able to jump through all of these hoops.

I have not been "continuously teacher bashing". I have only been referring to one teacher actually. Whether or not teachers are easy to remove in some schools, the teacher at DD's school is presumably noy easy to remove as he is still there despite numerous complaints. Considering that (according to you and other teachers on here) many good teachers get sacked in the new system, I'm not sure why you keep arguing that it is infallible as clearly it's not.
Bad teachers do not always get bad results as it is some extent dependent on the pupils. Academic ones can teach themselves and will often get good results despite poor teaching especially if the parents pay for extra tuition.

Bad teachers do not always get bad results as it is some extent dependent on the pupils. Academic ones can teach themselves and will often get good results despite poor teaching especially if the parents pay for extra tuition

So how do you tell who are the good ones?

Following your argument, pupils can also bad results in spite of good teaching.

As for academic pupils teaching themselves, could you point me in the direction of evidence for this. Any? Go on.

Can also "get" bad results.