To think some posters will always say the school / teacher is not being unreasonable

[andineverwill]

It really does feel you can’t criticise schools / teachers on here.

I can’t imagine a thread criticising one retail worker would have accusations of retail worker bashing

But if there were repeated threads every single week criticising retail workers, it would probably start to get mentioned...

However, you do seem fixed in the view that people who don’t teach don’t understand, and at no point have I given away what my job is

I thoroughly believe people who don’t do the job don’t understand why everything they expect isn’t possible. It doesn’t matter what your job is; that’s still true.

The parents could get their dc an overlay so they could read black and white

If a child can't read on white at my school they get an overlay and keep it in their planner. Some children have glasses with coloured lenses. The sen department also provides coloured paper exercise books to write on. I teach 15 different classes, this ensures that pupils can access the resources.

Overlays aren’t always very easy for children with visual impairments.

The overlay/differently coloured paper thing is a red herring. That is one possible adjustment, for one child. I am not teaching currently (and won’t until they make the job more rational) but when I did teach I taught hundreds of children. Each one could potentially require “reasonable” adjustments which, in and of themselves, seem simple. Cumulatively, when you have twenty or thirty students with separate individual needs, they are near-impossible to deliver in the available time.

If a child has a visual impairment I would have expected the parents to have accessed medical help as that is more than a school issue. You asked what parents were expected to do if a child couldn't read on white, an overlay costs £1.99.

I change fonts and colours on presentations all the time to suit certain students but what works for one will not work for another

So the teacher shouldn’t make an adjustment, it’s on the parents to sort it out, and people wonder why on earth this doesn’t look great.

JacquesHammer I hope your friend manages to move her child. Not being able to trust on health issues must be awful.

So the teacher shouldn’t make an adjustment, it’s on the parents to sort it out, and people wonder why on earth this doesn’t look great.

I think it’s obviously unreasonable to expect the teacher to photocopy things on different coloured paper (for however many children who “need” this) when overlays are so readily available.

That’s a common issue - the person who makes the arrangement not being the person who is expected to implement it.

Ok, that might not be a 'teacher' problem it might be a 'head' problem or a 'sendco' problem, although they are all teachers too but it is a school problem.

Why do teachers keep blaming the parents or the kids for it?

My point was rather that even 3 seemingly minor adjustments can take a long time to implement. Multiply that by the different classes you teach and you're spending and hour plus each day to implement this stuff. Teachers don't have an hour to do this.

Plus it’s better for the student to take control.

Why do teachers keep blaming the parents or the kids for it?

Who did that?

I've quite clearly stated what adjustments we already make, stop twisting what I'm saying. A visual impairment is going to affect their life in and out of school and long afterwards. We have all manner of resources to help but parents also have to take responsibility. One of my pupils has glasses with a built in microphone, another has a visual pen linked to a head set.

If there are two possible adjustments, one which will take hundreds of hours of teacher time over the course of the child’s schooling, and one which will cost £1.99, why is there even any debate about which is the correct recommendation to make?

Dobbins I used to either go in or email every time, and point out the trigger, the fuse as it burned and the explosion. Every time, I’d point out where a small intervention would have made a difference.
It took years, because the situations, the teachers, his peers and the child himself kept changing. But it worked over time, especially as teachers saw that I wasn’t attacking them, or seeing my DS through rose-coloured glasses.
But I was working with a fantastic SENCO and a fairly motivated and open-minded team of teachers. DS graduated last year.

My points were
I never asked for the snack plan
There was one very important condition
They always find an adult to remove him from class when he's disruptive
They withheld what happened from me

I think there's some disharmony between the Head and SENCo (SENCo contradicting Head openly on an email)

It's not fair that DS3 is caught between them.

The only "good all day" day DS3 has had this term was when Ofsted was in

DS1 also has ASD and he's in amazing secondary (enhanced ASd provision)

Just another 5 years to go

They always find an adult to remove him from class when he's disruptive

And I am sure they would find an adult if the building was on fire. That doesn’t mean this is always going to be the top priority. Other things will come up and - sometimes - will be more important than this arrangement. Someone needed to tell you this. Perhaps there is where they failed.

Overlays, adapted pens, pencil grips, labelled colour pencils, wobble cushion, sensory toys, visual timers, writing slopes...all stuff I’ve bought as a primary teacher for individuals. No funding, but the resources are necessary.

GrimalkinsCrone that's lovely to read. There's a very high turnover of staff, new head every school year so far for DS3. Had a couple of SENCos too. Does make it difficult.

Why do teachers keep blaming the parents or the kids for it?

Who did that?

Parent on mumsnet: we had a plan with the school regarding our kids to support his SEN. Teacher didn't follow it now xyz has happen, I'm fuming, aibu to go and talk/shout/be upset at the school?

Teachers on mumsnet: YABU. It's not the teacher's fault. Your kid is probably lying. Find out what really happened. Don't be so stupid, teachers would never do that. Don't go up to school. let teachers do their job. Teach your child not to be a lying little scrote. If they behave better it wouldn't have happened (not that it did happen 'cos kids always lie.)

"I thoroughly believe people who don’t do the job don’t understand why everything they expect isn’t possible."

This is true. Just one morning last week - six parents at the door at 9am with minor requests. But actually, all together, quite a lot of things to remember throughout the day on top of normal workload.

So if I forget to remind A to drink water every half hour, even once, her UTI will worsen and mum will complain.

And if I forget to send B to the office for medication at 11am, his mum will complain.

And if C isn't moved to the front today because she's forgotten her glasses, and if D isn't kept away from E because they've fallen out, and if I forget to have a quiet word with F about that thing that kept him up last night worrying, and if G isn't allowed to get changed for her dance exam before school ends, and if H isn't reminded hourly to go to the toilet, and if there isn't an empty, private space for J to change in by herself for PE today, then I get a complaint.

It's exhausting, and hard, and sometimes we feel embattled and there's a camaraderie that comes with the profession too, and all of that conspires to make us seem defensive sometimes maybe.

There aren't many professions where other people feel quite so equipped to critique the job, where they have such an emotional vested interest, where they are so quick to judge and think the worst.

Whenever I read about a terrible teacher on here I think : maybe, or this could be a parent with unreasonable demands, or a child that has not told the whole truth, or a truly great teacher who simply cannot do what's being asked of her, or a reliable teacher who is herself mortified to have made one mistake. Because I see all of those scenarios every single day.