Teacher rang regarding home learning

[OntheWaves40]

DS (14) teacher rang, didn’t speak to me just to DS. I could hear conversation and it was along lines of, you should be sticking to school schedule, you need to finish my subject for last week even if it takes you to 5pm.
DS was working yesterday until 8pm as he was every day last week. We don’t get enough down time. He watched one film last week for 2 hours.
DS was apologetic and said he’d get straight to it. I wish DS would have explained to teacher he was working flat out but DS isn’t confident enough to.
AIBU to think this teacher is wrong to call at home to push pressure on DS?

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily I do teach so I understand the pressures but it’s different ringing kids in their own homes in the middle of this nightmare that most adults are struggling to get their heads round never mind kids.

Please feed back to the teacher if there are any issues for your DS, that way they know what is happening and why he is working until 8pm.

Have you any insight into why it's taking your DS longer? Is it sibling noise? Access issues to work set?

Remember, teachers are human too, and this way of working is new to them - trying to set and mark work remotely for many many students, whilst also working from home with their own families. If you just feed back what the issues are to the teacher and work together with them, I'm sure it will be resolved quite easily, and everyone involved feeling positive about it.

As long as other teachers know what is being set & that it's doable in the time available.

At that age there was easily 2hrs homework on top of the school day.

Is he working in the same room as you?
Have you checked his schedule and the work he has to do? Is it excessive? Why is it taking him so long? Does he need some prompting/reminders?

They have a rota at DS’s school (he is in year 8.)

There are around 120 children in each year. They aren’t ringing year 11, so the twelve members of staff in each have about 40 to call. I’ve requested no phone calls.

LOL OP do you take offence at the teachers talking to your DS about their work at school? Get a grip, be thankful your DS has a teacher who wants YOUR child to do well.

@Thinkinghappythoughts what in my OP gives you the impression I don’t know the basic facts? I know exactly what he’s doing and when. I know right now he’s left his coco pops and is doing the subject the teacher called about and is upset. I need to go and get my parents shopping and my DD medication so I can’t always be here but for a couple of weeks I am.

If he isn't starting the school day until 10:30amish, maybe it isn't so strange that he isn't finishing school work until 8pm?

@OntheWaves40 I do teach so I understand the pressures

Then think how you would like to be approached by a parent if their child was struggling. Double check with your DS whether the phone call was a check in to see how they are getting on because maybe the teacher can see that working is being submitted at 8pm and knows something isn't right?

No teacher's in the wrong (I'm a teacher) teacher there put themselves in a very professionally vulnerable position.

I'd consider it a good positive thing.
The fact your son is struggling and unable to communicate this to his teacher isn't the teachers fault.

You obviouslybarent happy with this situation so why dont you email/contact the teacher and ask for a convenient time to.kpen up a dialogue about how you can both support your son rather than take offence.

Is he genuinely working solidly till 8pm every day?
If so, he should be telling his teacher this, or you should be contacting the school on his behalf.

DC's school are contacting students because a lot of the ones not doing the work are not doing it because they can't due lack of devices/internet at home or because they just don't understand it, rather than won't. And students are not proactively getting in touch to let the school know!

I teach adults not children but find that what I can get through in one lesson with prompts, checking, pairwork and confirmation of "yes that's fine / good enough now move on to the next task" often takes students a LOT longer if they're working without my direct supervision. It does depend person to person but if this is the case for adults, I would expect it's the same for children.

Your DS or you could record how long each task takes him and let the teacher know so they can adjust accordingly or advise on how to speed up.

None of us have had to do this before so there needs to be some feedback to the teacher about what works and what doesn't. I've got nearly 20 years' teaching experience but am finding my feet teaching online and frankly making a bit of a mess of some things. It will settle down but it's hugely stressful and involves a lot of learning for us all.

Well done that teacher and all teachers who are making contact with children. All these adults have enhanced DBS checks and are well used to 1-1 discussions with children about their learning.

I've just asked my teenage son who wants to know how teachers have your sons mobile phone no! He thinks that would be weird! Or did the teacher call on the landline?

The teacher isn't doing anything wrong by calling.

But your DS can't be working very effectively if he's working until 8pm each night.

We did Joe Wicks every morning so he started at 10:30am ish and worked through until 8pm with bits of time in between for meals or half hour exercise. But def not enough family time to relax and get heads round new situation.

Do yesterday's Joe Wicks each day and then he can start 'school' at the normal time?

That way there'll be more family time in the evenings and of course at weekends.

This is just so weird to me.
Why is he expected to do any formal learning at all at this time? In our country, it's actually not legal right now to expect the children to do subjects which haven't been taught already to them. There is a learning platform given out by our provincial government just yesterday but it's all suggestions on activities.
How are kids supposed to be teaching themselves difficult material? What about SEN kids who need increased support? It strikes me that there is going to be a two tier of knowledge bunch of kids coming back to school.
It's interesting to see how this is being done in different countries though. I don't have an answer for the teacher calling - as said, seeing as we don't even have formal contact here with the schools this strikes me that if a teacher has to call then perhaps the balance of work has gone very wrong.

If he's working 10.30-8 and still not getting his school work done then he's either got too much to do (I doubt it), isn't doing school work all that time on the computer or isn't managing his time effectively. Y10 is the perfect age to learn about time management and prioritising work.

It's tough - I teach a core subject and wonder if the teacher who phoned home also does. Out of my Year 10 class of 26, only around 10 students are completing the work that I'm setting. We've been told not to chase parents but you can bet that next year, when their children are failing because they didn't do the work I carefully made and set (not normal resources) it'll be my fault because I didn't chase their children. Maybe have a tiny bit of consideration that the teacher is and was trying her best at this time.

I would love it if my dc’s teachers had any contact or showed any effort at all. We got sent pdfs of 15 worksheets from twinkl and left to it.

Did the teacher ring on your Landline? I very much doubt he/she would have access to your sons mobile. He sounds very compliant for a year 10 boy - daily Jo Wicks followed by school work until 8.00pm. If you are worried about your son to the extent of posting on the internet then I would look at the schedule/workload and contact the teacher. Or is your post simply an excuse to complain about teachers?

Surely the teacher calling him would have been the ideal time for him to raise concerns about his difficulty keeping up with the workload? It really sounds as though the school is trying to support him.

It doesn't sound as though he is working particularly efficiently. Time for meals, and exercise, and faffing about can very quickly add up, especially if you don't actually start work until 10.30am.

Why is he expected to do any formal learning at all at this time? In our country, it's actually not legal right now to expect the children to do subjects which haven't been taught already to them.

But the OP isn’t in your country, is she?

Tebolla totally agree, many rough parents are simply dismissive of any form of education discipline but once their kids start falling behind they leap at the chance to have a go at the teachers. You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.