School displaying DD's attainment levels on the wall

[Erinsboroughrocks]

DD is in y6 and working towards her SATs. The teacher has a chart on the wall with each child's name listed. Next to each name is a colour for each subject. Green is working above, orange is working at and red is working below. All the children know what the colours mean. DD doesn't like having this up and I feel a bit uneasy about it. WIBU to ask them to take it down (or instead put up a board of colour coded teacher observations in the staffroom 😉)?

it's about balance though isn't it?

An 11yo doesn't need to have the fact they are struggling posted up in black and white for everyone to read.

But by the time that same 11yo is 16 (assuming they haven't jumped in attainment), no one should be telling them they can become a doctor either.

My 13yo is only just becoming aware of what she will/won't likely be capable of wrt academics in later life. But that's OK. She's only 13. We praise her for effort and for improving.

I think those supporting the idea are totally missing the difference between telling a child that they’re not Einstein, and telling a whole class that a child is behind.

@youarenotkiddingme I just wanted to say having read your post that to me your son sounds amazing. I hope he is able to find some form of qualification/training in future that recognises his abilities in areas where he is clearly talented (his understanding of science for e.g.) and that he goes on to flourish in that area. Good luck to you both

@TabbyTigger - agree completely!

Surely it's not beyond the wit of mankind to find a system that rewards success without highlighting the shortcomings of those who are struggling? That way, you still incentivise attainment and hard work to achieve it without throwing the strugglers under a bus. Why not just have a "Star pupils" board where you congratulate those who've either got the highest marks or who've made the most progress. That way, kids that respond well to that kind of motivation still have the benefit, but you don't completely destroy the confidence of the hard working struggler by announcing to everyone that they are not doing well. Personally I'd be totally fine with that....

Thanks voice he's a complete computer whizz and will do extremely well in that field - he wants and is fabulous at doing technical theatre - mostly lighting. He can programme computers to work light programmes etc.
It all goes completely over my head
He just needs people to see what he can do and not write him off at the first hurdle.

the education system is then turning out young people who are woefully unprepared for the realities of life and the competitive workplace

That's a massive generalisation that doesn't accord with reality. You seem completely unaware of the pressures put on children by virtue of schools' having to be seen to be performing well in SATs, GCSEs and A Levels.

He just needs people to see what he can do and not write him off at the first hurdle

It's interesting that every school sets the achievement bar as maths English and science.

What if schools stopped trying to squeeze kids into on box and actually looked at the different skills needed to function on the world?

For example - schools that were into drama or science or sports - why not engineering or trade schools

Ones where the children who are 'hands on learner' could learn hands on?

I mean we know kids learn in different ways, not every child will be a 'he's a sheet full it in and prove you know it' type child

Until we can hit every child with a tailored learning path, then something needs to change

It's easy to see from this thread how narrow, instrumental approaches to education throw bright children who don't fit into an academic box under a bus. In my academic career I saw so many adults full of intelligence and potential who'd been written off as 'lazy' or stupid by school, returning to tertiary education and shining. Luckily, in higher education there are far fewer blinkered barriers put up to achievement. And amazingly, people are able to shine even without weekly star charts and the public humiliation of those not ticking arbitrary achievement boxes. A lot of those now getting A*s at A-level are not actually the brightest, but those most able to box-tick and toe the line. Mark schemes are abominably narrow.

The star pupils at primary are rarely the star pupils at GCSEs anyway.

Primary is full of busy body parents and in my view nothing like this should be published. It has nothing to do with resilience and competition in the work place.

I am not surprised some people on this thread think its fine, but I am surprised teachers don't know better.

“It's easy to see from this thread how narrow, instrumental approaches to education throw bright children who don't fit into an academic box under a bus”

Much worse for the not bright children. But then, so is everything. And they are never much of a concern to Mumsnet.

Indeed Bertrand. But I think every child is bright though - not in a 'everyone should get prizes' way, but that every single individual has somewhere that they shine, and it's a shame that the education system is so bad at discovering it.

I wonder how adults would feel if every street published a list of all residents with last year's annual income of each (as declared to HMRC)
Or a list of their BMIs

And likewise princess the star pupils at GCSE don't necessarily shine at a-level, and again at degree level. And then beyond. I excelled at every single stage of the education system, up and beyond phd. Do I now, at 40, have any earning potential? Very little! I didn't realize what many non-academic kids realise very early, which is that success at school is an exceedingly narrow and unhelpful definition of success in life.

Each of us should have a realistic idea of our strengths and weaknesses - and children should be specifically given this information and what to aim for next
Publishing these would be humiliating and intrusive

BigChocFrenzy As there's 0 relevance to the thread, I am not sure what your point is there

I wouldn't have minded grades to be publicised (at any age) with my first son. 3 years later, would have felt the opposite with my second son. My third son is very able academically but I am silent about it.

I am older and wiser, thankfully. Maybe we should have 'wisdom grades' for parents up on the wall.

I received my GCSE results on a board for all to see, quite a long time ago. But even back then I found it strange and was quite uncomfortable that my friends knew my results before I did.

I don't see how it's important for the children to know their attainment levels. SATs were supposed to test teacher's -never thought that was the best thing to do in this way- but it quickly became a test of children. Tests only ever have a detrimental effect- on young children in particular. Putting this info in the public domain strikes me as irresponsible.

and children should be specifically given this information and what to aim for next

They do this at junior school - whatever level of achievement there's always a 'NEXT' element about it - top reader? Could read more! Excellent at maths, here's the next stage - they don't stop pushing and celebrate - so even the top kids feel like failures -

One size fits all doesn't work

Definitely YANBU. Ask school what the point of the display is. Will be surprised if it is anything beneficial to children.

Then voice your concerns. Children do need motivation and sometimes seeing what their classmates are doing can be a benefit but not this approach of having a constant reminder of what everyone is achieving. Children can be so cruel to both high and not so good achievers.

It’s basically crap teaching! Have a word!

I was in the same sort of system Horatio describes and I was a really academic kid that found school boring for the most part.

But I've never been good with Maths for example and that system told me to never try so I would avoid ridicule.

Even now it goes against my instincts to try something that I don't excel at straight away.

My point, llangollen : If publicly shaming children works to motivate them, why not publicly shame adults ?
Answer: there would be total outrage about the humiliation and invasion of privacy

For academic ratings, it's ok to state the top 3 and to give them prizes each year
Just don't list how the whole class is doing
Each pupil should be advised in private where they are and what their next goals should be

On sports days too, give medals to the top 3
And do NOT make participation compulsory, just attendance
So those who hate sports don't skive off, but watch and cheer on their fellow pupils.

over-exaggerating much?

You are proving my point, the issue is with the parents, not the kids.

You are the one talking about shame, I am not sure why. Most kids don't feel any shame whatsoever in being the 4th or the 27th of the class. If I remember my own days, the usual reaction for below average was complaining that you would be in trouble at home. None of my kids feels any shame because they are not amazing at maths, or language, or whatever subject they are not great at.

You might feel embarrassed by your own salary, most people aren't. It's usually quite obvious how much a nurse earns as opposed to a corporate lawyer. It's telling that you feel you are defined by your own salary. I am not.

Your posts make it sound like you are projecting your own issues, you and the posters dismissing sport days because of "Public humiliation". If you make your child feel humiliated because he didn't in a race, it's awful. It does help them in competition to know their rank, and who is better than them to learn and progress.

Having your results published is such a non-issue. It's a shame you are making it one. Kids wouldn't care if the parents were not making such a huge fuss.