To want to give ds's PE teacher

[meowli]

a piece of my mind? Ds came home with a lovely report (yr 7), apart from PE, where he got a C - fine, and this comment - not fine imo.

"Ds is a pleasant student." "He is well motivated, keen to learn but lacking in confidence. He is not blessed with a huge amount of physical prowess (my bold), but he always gives his best effort. A productive year in which he has established a good platform. Target: To keep working hard, and with greater belief in your capabilities"

After reading the report, I knew ds would be upset, as he loves sport, and would love to do well, be picked for teams at school, events on sports day etc. but it never happens. He plays for a fairly successful junior football team outside school, and is regularly picked for the team, so is not by any means hopeless, but will realistically never get anywhere near school 'A' teams (or any teams) I don't suppose.

Of course, I didn't voice any of this to ds, just said well done for such a great report, at which point he grimaced and said had I read the PE comment, which said he didn't have any physical prowess.

I feel like emailing the teacher to say that if he wants to encourage ds's confidence and a greater belief in his capabilities, telling him that he is not blessed with a huge amount of physical prowess is not the best way of going about it.

AIBU and WWYD?

I used to get stuff like that on my PE school report. The thing was, outside of school I was a county level swimmer, mountain biker and had a belt in judo, so I was pretty fucking sporty! The teachers had no idea because they focused on a small, select group of kids.

It's similar to the star runner in our year- he trained at a national level, but was thoroughly ignored by the teachers until the first cross country run in year 10 when his talent suddenly showed through. Before that his face just did not fit.

Why do PE teachers have to be such sarky bastards, do they get special training in it. My DD has had a problem with her back, she's had an x ray and she's got some fused discs so finds running a long distance difficult, she'll happily run a sprint but her PE teacher has been vile to her

I coach a sport and see so many written off children whose natural ability changes in both directions as they grow and develop

YABVVVU

I used to get stuff like that on my PE school report. The thing was, outside of school I was a county level swimmer, mountain biker and had a belt in judo, so I was pretty fucking sporty! The teachers had no idea because they focused on a small, select group of kids.

My Dh used to too. What it actually meant was "he is not physically agressive enough for rugby and that is the only sport this school bothers to do with boys." He was actually a junior international at a sport at the time.

Yeah my two older boys played in school team. Change of PE teacher younger boy not even looked at because new PE teacher also Maths teacher only liked rugby sized boys and my third son was small and weedy. Old PE teacher told me after he retired that he couldn't understand why he wouldn't consider him at yr 7 Because he was the most skilled player he had seen at that age. He had scored 26 goals for local team and a First Division footballer had been coaching him since he was five( just friendly over the garden wall stuff) and said the party piece he used to do took six months to perfect and took son aged 6 only six weeks to learn.
Son was so upset he gave up his dreams and wouldn't play. And don't say he wouldn't have made it because brother played in schoolboys and nephew is semi professional just waiting age wise to go from youth team.

It is surprising what they don't know about kids achievements outside of school too. Where I was at school the PE teachers took an interest in what you were doing locally. I suppose it was a small school 400 and pics used to be in Saturday paper of anything sporty because there wasn't a lot of news in that town:)

Totally agree, mousethew! A growth mindset is much better than a fixed mindset, and physical prowess is something that can change over time.

Op, the most important thing is that your Ds has a great attitude. I would say something about this comment in his report.

You appear to be doing him down in your post, he's in year 7, if he actually cares about doing well in sport, he certainly can train and do something about it. Whilst you need huge natural ability to be elite at a sport, to be simply good enough to get on a school team just takes practice, effort, training and confidence.

If he doesn't truly care, then he'll just carry on hoping to be picked.

Agree that school should know about outside school interests too - our lower school asks kids each year what they do outside school.

Blimey, good job you weren't at school in the 70's. Teachers really could say it as it was!

It's clumsy and thoughtless, and I think the teacher should've chosen a different way to express what they meant. Would a maths teacher use the same language about academic ability? I don't think so.

It's the kind of statement that can stay with someone and put them off trying in the future.

I think the effort your DC shows in a subject that they're not necessarily the strongest at is admirable and shows a great strength of character, which is a brilliant asset to have.

My child who is the same age had a very similar PE report. It said things like "faces significant challenges when catching/throwing" and "struggles immensely with the team playing dynamic" which is all completely true.

I'd rather a teacher told the truth than lied and said a kid was great at something when they weren't.

YABU. It isn't helpful to pretend that everybody is great at everything, and the slightly negative comment is balanced by plenty of positive, constructive comments.

The report could have said what it needed to perfectly well without the 'not being blessed..' comment which I agree is an unnecessary dig.

With dd1, frankly her experience of PE at school was as unpleasant as mine in the 1970s. I don't tend to set a lot of store in what PE teachers come out with.

Some surely must be ok, but lots do more damage than good in representing and promoting their subject.

He didn't say he hasn't got any physical prowess like your son has interpreted it. He said he doesn't have a huge amount of it ie. He isn't extremely talented at it. A bit different. It's only the same as saying eg. So and so find maths challenging but tries very hard etc. I don't see the problem. Other than that it was very positive. Why were you annoyed at him writing. "Ds is a pleasant student."? You did a after it but that's a very positive thing to say surely.

The statement itself sounds really wanky if I'm honest. Physical prowess sounds like something you'd read in a novel. I've never seen it on a child's school report that's for sure. It would have sounded far better to say 'sporting ability' or 'physical strength' but 'prowess' is a peculiar terminology in respect to a 7 y/o.

I agree that teachers shouldn't lie to placate kids and honesty is the best policy but 'prowess' sounds really really clunky and unnecessary.

I also don't think it reinforces the comment about working on confidence - the teacher has said your DS is motivated and keen to learn but they haven't actually given a positive PE related skill - e.g; "DS is good at xxx but needs to work a bit on maintaining and asserting physical strength" - nowhere in the report has your DS been told he's good at a skill, rather he's been told what he's NOT good at and been told to work on confidence without actually highlighting what he is OK at. You can't really build confidence at that age without having a particular skill to hone in on. If your DS is shit around the board with sports (something I doubt considering your OP as he is picked for team sports outside of school) then surely this would be a time for a teacher to say "DS struggles, but has shown a keen ability to xxxxxx".

I wouldn't take it overly personally unless you've seen the other reports written by this teacher - it could be that they simply don't write particularly constructive reports, or that they were tired/overworked. I doubt it would be personal.

pleasant student.
well motivated
keen to learn
gives his best effort.
A productive year in which he has established a good platform

Perhaps you could point out to your DS that it was actually a very positive report and the teacher is impressed with what he has achieved and his attitude despite his lack of a natural ability that makes sport easy.

I think the issue is that it's a poor assumption to make that Sports ability - but not Maths, Science etc - is something you're born (or blessed) with and can't change. As a7mints writes children's abilities change in both directions. From Venus Williams to Eddie the Eagle, there is plenty of evidence that your (or your parents') drive, determination, hard-work etc define your abilities not genes. I don't read the teacher's comments as a put-down on the child - in fact, I read them as a fairly warm, "is a nice kid, who puts in the effort but isn't a sports-star despite his efforts and I am looking for a nice, easy reason for this... I know it's innate". It's not terrible, but it does add to the drip-feed message that people have 'natural' sports abilities. I'll put my soapbox away now.

There are some unnecessarily snidey comments and sweeping generalisations about PE teachers on this thread.

I think you're being incredibly over sensitive.

I think there is a difference between being gifted at something (a natural ability plus working at it) and merely good (not a it of natural ability but a lot of hard work and practise). It's like David Beckam compared to Darren Smith from Smalltown United.

TBH, working hard despite a lack of natural ability is more admirable.

It isn't a very good comment. Commenting on someone's innate ability like this implies his ability is fixed and cannot change, rather than something that can improve with effort and practice. It's discouraging.

Having said that, don't know if I'd find it bad enough to complain about. The teacher in question sounds quite "traditional" in outlook, going from what they have written, so may be unlikely to accept a new way of thinking about ability, just because you ask them to. For what it's worth, they probably did think they were being nice - it just reflects a certain fixed way of thinking. Depends how seriously bothered your son is, I suppose.

I just think it's a badly-written report full stop and wouldn't pass muster in our school. Where does it say whay he HAS done and CAN do (apart from 'tries hard')? Every child is capable of something in every subject, nobody is a complete failure.

I have a couple of pupils who have severe mobility issues. They are perfectly capable of doing things and achieving in my (practical) subject. They won't be as high a level as others, naturally, but they ARE capable.

To set a target of 'keep trying' is lazy shit reporting. What strategies does this teacher have for building confidence? What do they get the kids to do to build resilience? Do they break tasks down into smaller chunks to create smaller successes on the way? Do they get them to repeat difficult moves to learn muscle memory? Do they get pupils to help each other? etc. Bet not.

In the 70's they did write it as it was! Maths, Science, English whatever. Mine were ok but I remember some of the boys were really to the bone. They laughed about it and compared as a competition of who had the worst. I wish I could remember some. I think a couple even made it to the school magazine. No names. Some pretty near the mark comments about teachers too. The kids were made of strong stuff no little snowflakes there. It was a lovely area not a tough area at all.
It is just poor wording. Physical prowess. The rest is good.
OP I would point out to DS that not all PE teachers have a good command of English and it is nothing to worry about.

Reports are always written from a comment bank. At my school the choice of comments is limited and there is no free typing at all. You simply click on the comments that fit the child best, and there is always the child who does not fit any of the available comments. We do not like this and have complained multiple times but it falls on deaf ears with SLT at my school (who rarely teach so rarely write reports). Just bear this in mind before slagging off the teacher.