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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Teacher rang regarding home learning

189 replies

OntheWaves40 · 31/03/2020 10:49

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?

OP posts:
oncemorewithfeeling99 · 31/03/2020 20:34

They use # this is used for when schools are shut.

cardibach · 31/03/2020 21:40

@oncemorewithfeeling99 They are closed to pupils. They are not shut in the sense that ‘they don’t have a leg to stand on’ when contacting a pupil about work. That’s what I was responding to. Schools are expected to provide work as the pupils are still on role. It follows, then, that they have every right to see if there is a problem with the work being completed. As I said, if you don’t want that, withdraw your child from school, home educate and provide your own tasks.

cardibach · 31/03/2020 21:40

On roll. D’oh.

scottsparkteacher · 01/04/2020 17:27

To sum up: some parents think teachers ring too much, some too little.. I think Bob Marley should have dedicated his song to teachers who have mumsnet pupils in their class: you certainly can’t please all of the people all of the time.
How come some people don’t even trust teachers to speak to their pupils ?
I phoned a parent yesterday about a child who wasn’t doing enough work, and they were very thankful.

JustDoingMe · 01/04/2020 17:38

Where I work staff are not allowed to contact students except via google classroom and our school email system, I would be very upset if a teacher rang my DD directly (she attends the school where I work too).
If they feel the student is falling behind or any other problem they should be contacting the parent.

FelicisNox · 01/04/2020 17:45

If he's working until 8pm in the evening then he clearly has too much on his plate depending on the time he starts.

I find it odd the teacher rang him directly: my DD teachers would never do this?

Time to have a word I think.

ChloeDecker · 01/04/2020 17:48

If he's working until 8pm in the evening then he clearly has too much on his plate depending on the time he starts.

It’s not necessarily that clear to be fair. The OP’s son could be spending most of that time on social media or playing computer games for a large part of that time, unnoticed. This is potentially likely judging by the previous threads that the OP has started about her DS, that are referenced upthread.

Whyohwhymusti · 01/04/2020 17:55

It might be for some lessons that he doesn’t need to complete all the work, he just needs to work on it for one hour or so.
E.g. for a primary school task I know has been set.. there are three activities that you work on for 45mins. If you don’t finish, you can stop.

could he start doing this instead?

maddening · 01/04/2020 18:07

I would get him to kick off earlier, have a break for Joe Wicks and them carry on.

He would be finished much earlier this way and then have time for any over flow, but finish no later than 6 and he can totally de-stress in the evening.

MaterEstIratus · 01/04/2020 18:11

Can those who are bashing teachers please realise that this is new to us too? We weren’t trained to teach like this, we don’t know how long it takes your child to work like this, we don’t know all about their home situations. If we aren’t in contact and your child isn’t communicating or submitting work we don’t know whether your child is struggling, working away, or doing nothing at all.

OhMyDarling · 01/04/2020 18:15

My daughter is the same age and having the same problem, is he in y10??

I think schools are really quite freaked out about what will happen with next years GCSE’s and this is how they are trying to handle it.

OhMyDarling · 01/04/2020 18:19

I’m a teacher too
I saw a mum if a girl in my class while out with the dog today- she said she’s not done any of the work as her daughter is having none of it and she’s not a teacher so we cannot expect her to be getting her d’s to do any learning.
She is a hard worker at school but the situation has changed as has her work ethic it seems but it’s totally understandable.

Then straight away she asked for extra work to keep her dd busy.

Errrre what??
Cannot win.

deepflatflyer · 01/04/2020 18:29

As I remarked yesterday, you can’t get far on here with any criticism of teachers but WHOAH I think that’s really not on. Bad enough getting snippy emails but a phone call is overstepping the mark. We’re 10 days into a situation nobody had ever thought possible, and everyone should take a step back. Lots of kids are getting set far too much work. There needs to be a bit of leeway on both sides.

Kayagh · 01/04/2020 18:53

Sorry but with only one kids getting group assignments and the pressure at home I’m not putting pressure my other daughter has been told to wait her timetable won’t even be available till at least end of month erm more important life lessons right now

xjox1983 · 01/04/2020 18:58

I personally think it’s a positive thing
My son is in year 6 and I want him and myself to be supported / guided by his teacher

Many children will be deprived
So general and welfare checks are a positive thing

In specialist schools the teachers are visiting households a minimum of once a week To make sure are children are ok emotionally also

As the otherwise the headlines will be
Teachers did not do enough for my child

Only my opinion

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 01/04/2020 19:03

If he is starting at 10.30, stopping for lunch 12.30-1.30 then maybe a snackbreak at 3pm and dinner 6-7pm, finishing schoolwork at 8pm, then he looks to be doing 7 hours.

Similar to a school day 9-3 (4.5 hours minus breaks) and 2.5h homework per evening.

So the right amount of time?

MrsBadcrumble123 · 01/04/2020 19:14

Massive safeguarding no no! My sons school teacher is not allowed to call individual pupils for SG reasons - they are allowed to email and used Microsoft messaging which is recorded - I would have taken phone off of DS and informed teacher that any issues be directed via you or your husband!!

cabbageking · 01/04/2020 19:16

School are supposed to checking on children.

It depends on the school arrangement as to who and how they do this

Ofsted have announced they will call on vulnerable home schoolers as well.

Roxymoomoo · 01/04/2020 19:21

No... a teacher would not be calling my child end of, never ever.

Wehttam · 01/04/2020 19:46

It’s rather moronic to think this is unreasonable given the circumstances. Surely the teacher calling is a sign they are actively working towards educating your child? Anyone who thinks otherwise is a waste of space and I truly fear for your kids futures.

MonaLisaDoesntSmile · 01/04/2020 19:51

@MrsBadcrumble123 but the teacher did not ring student, he/she may have rang home number and the student picked up. While not ideal, it's fine, I have had to make phonecalls in the past and spoke to student when parent was not home and didn't pick up the mobile phone either.

AnnieLouJ67 · 01/04/2020 20:08

As I understood it, teachers are not allowed to contact students directly as it’s a safeguarding issue. They should be speaking to parents.

Olsi109 · 01/04/2020 20:16

Who does 2.5 hours homework each night??? Certainly not my child.

I think it’s hard for us teachers to get it quite right. I don’t think the teacher should have called DC directly, they should have been encouraged to communicate electronically or call and speak to parents. I don’t think any child should be getting a bashing for not doing loads of work at this stage, so much work is being set by different subjects, home learning is much much slower than learning in a classroom, home environments/equipment aren’t always easy for learning. A school day is 9-3 with 1 hour total breaks so 5 hours learning - I wouldn’t be making my children do much more than this or expect students to do more, it’s mentally more draining for kids to learn and teach themselves at home than in a class. And I can guarantee you that what your child is learning at home will be more than if they were at school in the current “wrap-around care” climate.

Call the school/email, explain your DC is doing what he can and you’d appreciate in future if they would contact you with any issues rather than putting extra stress on your child.

1forsorrow · 01/04/2020 20:17

As I understood it, teachers are not allowed to contact students directly as it’s a safeguarding issue. They should be speaking to parents. So if they phone the home number and the child answers the phone?

Mamato2gorgeousboys · 01/04/2020 20:17

Op, I can’t actually believe that you’re annoyed with a teacher who rang your child to see how they were getting on. He’s in Y10 so it’s a vital year for him as he’s missing a chunk of his GCSE course. People like you truly make my blood boil... you have a school that cares about your child and wants him to stay on top of his work so they can minimise the impact on him and you’re still unhappy and coming to whinge on Mumsnet. The teacher obviously stated that she expects him to work until 5pm which is a reasonable time and that is how long they expect the work they’ve set to take. If it’s taking your ds longer and he’s not managing, either you contact his teachers or encourage him to do so. It’s always everybody else’s fault isn’t it Op... next year you’ll be blaming the crap teachers for your son underachieving in his exams... then it’ll be his friends fault he’s had a drink... and so on.