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?

Another teacher bashing thread ffs

Everybody thinks they can teach because they went to school.

I'd love to know why this is. People don't assume they can be doctors because they've been in hospital.

I think that's why some of the rigidity of the system seems cruel. I'm a horrible teacher. I have nothing but respect for teachers because I simply couldn't do it. But then i wouldn't expect my patients to suddenly be able to treat themselves either.
So - now we have lots of parents and students having to become teachers. Some are struggling badly. So kindness and latitude are good things. That's all i was trying to say. You summed it up well SuckingDieselFella.

Everybody thinks they can teach because they went to school.

Unfortunately a lot of parents are currently expected to teach their kids, though. It sucks and I don't know what the answer is.

Impressed that the teacher had your DSs phone number...

Everybody thinks they can teach because they went to school

I don't think this is true. I am well aware I'm not a teacher. I'm doing my best. I'm blagging it and using google to re learn things I'd forgotten do I can help them. My ds is expected to continue with all his subjects. I've thrown in the towel with computer science...it's beyond me. No amount of research on the internet is going to help me there!

Some schools make teachers do it, so it was not wrong of your teacher to ring and check. Some students do work for some subject and not for others, some dont have computers, some have parents who work and unfortunately without a crystal ball a teacher has no clue why the work set has not been done, so maybe just pop an email to the etacher and explain your concern.

I don't assume I can teach. But I've foundecided myself in this situation and I know when my child, I know he us a hard worker under normal circumstances. These are not normal circumstances he is doing 5 hours school work a day but if some work isn't submitted on time so be it. He is a young human going tho a frightening time right now so his we being is more important than hitting every single dead line. I don't need to be a teacher to understand my child and his needs.

@SuckingDieselFella

I'm someone who went into the education profession after a successful career elsewhere. I wanted a change. It's an eye opener to see how a school now works, and certainly a lot more different than when I was at school myself. [As a parent, or someone whose been to school, you only ever see it from your own experience, and if that experience is mostly negative, then that can colour any future interactions.]

@ilovemydogandMrObama They have access to home numbers so maybe the chils picked it up?

I think it's a huge ask for parents to do this. I'm not blaming the schools or teachers. I want my DC to continue with their work at home as I'm incredibly worried about their education and don't want them to do no school work for weeks on end. I am finding it difficult though. It's an impossible situation really for students, teachers and parents.

My DS starts school at 8.30, if he'd start each day working at home at 10.30 I'd expect him to finish 2 hours later than he would if he started the normal school day and then a couple of hours homework, sounds about right finish around 8.

I am not saying to do no work. A couple of hours of maths, a couple of English, great. It does not make sense to cover GCSE work this week when so many parents are trying to work from home/have only one laptop/amounts of work vary ridiculously from almost nothing to full day programmes.

Two of my friends have reported their children are anxious this week and another one their child has been crying over the work at home. This is a time of huge anxiety. If you have a child who thrives on routine and does not find working off a worksheet or online stressful, great, crack on. It's the expectation that all children have to do this, this week, or their entire futures will be upset. The UK has a very poor record of mental health support for our future generation, we have an option to take the pressure off a bit and some people want to keep it up!

I don't advocate no work for 5 months, by the way, that would be silly. But expecting home-working, with parents also stressed by jobs/home-working/some parents can't enable school at all, similar to a school day is unrealistic right now and not even necessary. So ringing up to check why a particular piece of work isn't done is piling on unnecessary pressure in my opinion and I would not do that for any of my uni students right now.

Doggomatic secondary schools in Germany are similar to the English ones described, primary school in the state of Germany I live in is also setting a full day of work - exactly what they'd have done in school. Parents are clearly told to teach and mark the primary school work (we're sent answer sheets but they're also set daily writing exercises for which obviously there are no answer sheets) and warned very clearly that the work will not be repeated and parents are responsible for ensuring children don't fall behind.

Teachers are only in email/ on-line platform contact not telephone.

Secondary teachers are contacting children individually. I wish the primary school teacher would as we've emailed her several times but she writes a whole class email weekly and doesn't respond to individuals. Our primary school is not open at all and her own children are adults so I don't know why.

So it depends which country you're comparing to really. I'm not sure yours is typical. It probably depends on national laws and culture. Where I live home schooling is normally illegal and children's right to a set amount of schooling is clearly enshrined in law.

@ MonaLisaDoesntSmile - Oh good point. I hadn't thought of that.

@adaline Unfortunately a lot of parents are currently expected to teach their kids, though.

In Primary I'd expect parents to support their kids learning yes, in so far as practising times tables, reading to them and listening to kids read, and doing an all round kind of education (baking together to measure ingredients kid of stuff). And I expect that even in pre coronavirus times.

I wouldn't expect parents to teach short division, multiplying double digits, factors and multiples, and various grammar terms unless the parents can teach it confidently or there's a risk you'll just all end up frustrated and confused. I've set my pupils a small amount of work I know they can have a go at, that is within their ability, with my contact details attached asking them to contact me if any issues. Otherwise, times tables and reading please!

With secondary (both my kids are teens in GCSE years) I would not expect to teach my child course content, but I would expect to talk to them, support them, provide a quiet space for them, check they have a good work timetable setup, and encourage them to have a go, maybe even look up some tutorials on YouTube or BBC Bitesize. And if all else fails, contact the teacher involved.

Stop slacking, kids! Society expects every single one of you to do as well, if not better, than if you were still at school and there'll be hell to pay if you don't. What's that? It's a time of national crisis, you don't even know if grandma's going to live, you miss your mates, your little sister is being a cunt, your dad's in the ICU with coronavirus and your mum's walking around like someone's shit in her handbag?

WHO GIVES A SHIT, YOU LAZY FUCK.

I will start by saying Im a TA so this post is definitely not teaching bashing...I fully understand how hard they are working and how stressed they must be.

DS1 is in Year 10 and has been working solidly from 9 until about 5. He has a break for lunch and runs for an hour after tea then gets working again until about 9pm. He is basically following his timetable as much as he can (although he is doing GCSE PE so the practical stuff is tricky). He has spent more time than necessary I imagine on his Media Studies coursework because the GCSE's being cancelled has really thrown him about what might happen next year and he wanted to make sure his course work was amazing.

He has just got a message from one of his teachers reminding him he's not on holiday and asking why he hasn't done the homework that was set on the last day of school...the day when he was literally the only student in the class. Never mind the fact that he has been in school when all his mates were out having fun (before they were told no contact) and despite the fact that he appears to be the only one of his friends doing any work he is now being told off for not doing something which having seen what it is doesn't appear to vital anyway.

Loving your post, @Nearlyalmost50

@formerbabe
"Everybody thinks they can teach because they went to school

I don't think this is true. I am well aware I'm not a teacher. I'm doing my best. I'm blagging it and using google to re learn things I'd forgotten do I can help them."

I didn't mean the parents who are home schooling. CS would be beyond me as well. I meant the posters who are bashing teachers without bothering to understand the basics of the current situation. The "experts" who know nothing and can't be bothered to find out. I'm sure you and many other mums are doing a better job than you think.

The UK and Canadian education systems are not sensible ones to compare.

I agree with the general consensus on this thread that if you start at 10.30am you're going to be working into the early evening and that the lad is old enough to actually tell the teacher he's struggling to finish the work. My school (secondary) has said students should stop when they reach the end of the allotted time.

My daughter's school has emphasised that they don't have to do everything set (primary).

The alternative to school work for most DC is realistically, YouTube or texting their mates, as parents are running round trying to work and get food in. May as well do some school work. It's only a week till the holidays!

My son is in y9 and at a state comp (which might make a difference here) and he's set 2-3 hours work a day. Unless your son is taking constant 1 hour breaks, that's a very long time for studying!

I have a y12 who is doing similar hours to your son (no breaks) but is ahead of where he needs to be and works 3 or 4 times a week at that intensity.

I would sit down with your son and compose an email so that he can explain to his teacher that he is working x hours a day but his problem is too much work/work too hard/laptop problems/ill/can't concentrate at home/Internet problems/life problems rather than laziness.

I need to keep off Facebook...I'm getting massively irritated by all the good ideas on there. Families camping in the garden, cooking, making dens, turning their living room into a soft play, themed learning days, cosy movie nights etc etc. Even with my primary aged dc, we have barely no free time once the school work is done, we've been out to exercise and they've eaten.

@Nearlyalmost50

"Two of my friends have reported their children are anxious this week and another one their child has been crying over the work at home. This is a time of huge anxiety."

You don't say...

Sticking to a routine is likely to combat anxiety, particularly for children. They are used to the routine of a school day. You don't seem able to understand that a university context is very different.

Normal anxiety is different from a clinical mental health issue. We are all anxious. It would be abnormal if we weren't. But normal anxiety is part of life. If you try to shield kids from everything which will cause them stress, such as completing difficult schoolwork, they won't develop emotional resilience. If they can't deal with setbacks as adults they won't be able to cope with normal life.

" So ringing up to check why a particular piece of work isn't done is piling on unnecessary pressure in my opinion and I would not do that for any of my uni students right now."

I would certainly hope that you aren't checking up on grown adults. We are talking about CHILDREN here. You keep missing this salient fact. Kids need to develop life skills such as concentrating, applying themselves to the task in hand and working through problems. If they don't they'll never get to uni, now will they?

Impressed that the teacher had your DSs phone number...

School needed to call my Ds so they called me and I handed the phone to him. I suspect that schools often have a landline number for the family and the kids are usually at home atm