To feel like parents aren't allowed to criticise teachers anymore?

[velaryon]

I have the utmost respect for the teaching profession, especially the hard work and dedication of many teachers despite a pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
But at the same time, I've seen a lot of parents genuinely concerned about the teaching & communication at their DC's school who were immediately accused of 'teacher bashing' and being too lazy to teach their own children.
AIBU to think this is absolutely ridiculous?
I don't see anything wrong with questioning the level of teaching a school is providing, provided it's done in a sensitive and understanding way. IMO it's ridiculous how quickly someone is accused of teacher bashing for asking a legitimate question.

I'm not a public servant
I work for a private school. That ok?

Maybe the maths teacher is ill. Maybe his parents are dying. I don't know. You don't know. We are in the middle of a pandemic and it is unreasonable to name call when you don't know the teacher's specific circumstances. Phone the school!
Um..this is not "bashing of all teachers ever" this is just a comment about the missing maths teacher so pls don't daffodil me but..if I went AWOL at work for whatever reasonI think the responsibility would be on my management to tell my clients , not for 200 clients to have to email chasing me!
In other jobs it's normal to let people know if they are no longer going to get a service, and what is being put in place to manage this. I think that is why a lot of parents are getting wound up , because the general communication for their schools has been shit. That's why they come on a parenting forum to vent.

Daffodil I was massively generalising. (Not nice is it?) Many many teachers on here have wasted huge amounts of time trying to explain what is happening to numpties. Only to get:
We’ve not had a phonecall we could be dead
My brother is a teacher and he’s doing fuck all
Teacher unions are telling teachers not to go back
Private schools are doing zoom lessons so why can’t ours?
What are teachers being paid for doing nothing?
Ad infi fucking nitum. It’s boring. And people have been asked to stop generalising and have continued. So what does that look like?

ifnotnow You are not a fucking client of your kid’s maths teacher. Your analogy is bullshit.

Mrs Keats. If you’re going to nitpick you should notice I didn’t say ‘servant’, I said ‘service’.
Anyway, private school or state school, my point still applies. Unless a parent is abusive, it is no business of anyone’s how they parent their child. If you are a teacher, you are PAID to do a job and offer a service! Therefore if you don’t do that (just like in any other job), people will complain and be critical!

No, I'm not a client of a maths teacher Jimmy.
Christ on a bike.
I'm saying that in most jobs you can't go AWOL and expect your [clients/customers/ service users/pupils/audience/customers/ please insert a term that won't upset you] to chase you.
If I am unexpectedly dead I fully expect my management to inform people, not for MY CLIENTS ( mine, noone else's) to have to chase up where I am.

I've worked 35 hours online this week
Plus all my admin
You have literally no idea what all teachers are doing
Meanwhile on another thread a parent is not even bothering doing any work that's been set. It is totally within my right to judge that.

ifnotnow you don’t know that our child’s maths teacher is AWOL though, do you? You’re just speculating.
Madame we are PAID to educate children. Which we are attempting to do, under the instruction of head teachers, Local Authorities and the government. We don’t work for you.
That’s me out. Going to bed. Have a long day of watching telly and drinking gin in the garden to look forward to. Ta - ra.

I think it's far more common that teachers don't get the support they need from parents than the other way around. ("Support" in terms of disciplining their children when behaviour warrants it and bearing some of the responsibility for ensuring their children respect the teachers, pay attention in class, complete assignments, etc.)

And parents (many of whom are working full time) are worried and exasperated. WHY can’t teachers acknowledge that?

And many teachers are parents (many of whom are working full time) and are worried and exasperated. WHY can’t parents acknowledge that?

sp what are you supposed to be doing on full pay? Serious question - not bashing!

In school some days. Teaching full time via internet the rest of the time. Marking and planning evenings and weekends.

If you don’t like the fact we are being paid to work, why not register your experience with your MP. I would happily volunteer to be furloughed.

I bow down to all teachers at the moment. BoJo did all this and gave them no warning, and all people seem to do on here is expect bloody miracles. It's ludicrous that they are now being sent back to teach the most efficient germ spreaders (r and yr 1) and they aren't given enough credit.

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/18459879.bradford-parents-appreciate-teachers-since-crisis/?ref=rl&lp=1

My mum is Head of SEN at an academy and herself and her assistant are going above and beyond with their plans it is governmental and academy limitations letting them down, as well as certain assistants in her department breaking confidentiality laws by falsely promising parents things that are simply not legally feesable. My advice for parents is if you feel the need to teach bash go to the senior teams first and they will either correct the issue for you or exain how you are wrong and it simply isn't possible. You need to take a reasonable responsibility for your children finishing their work. If your children have underlying issues fair enough just liaise with their teacher about how much they have done and how else they can achieve or more specifically THE SEN MANAGER OF THAT SCHOOL ( who will be entirely overloaded). Just take notes of you are worried of the progression and reansobly and professionally express your issues and resolution guidance from SLT. Do not explain the SLT's roles to them instruct them what they must send to children's services 'for benefits purposes' ect we all see through it. X

Teacher bash*
Resonably*

Not everyone is generalising.

I've the utmost respect for some teachers and the opposite for others.

I'm not sure why I cannot come on mumsnet and express my disappointment about some teachers my DC have who have made zero, or almost zero effort to set any work or assist with any work.

Our secondary school has set out expectations for teachers but some are not close to this and myself and other parents are disappointed. Surely we can be disappointed?
One saw three teachers who have set little or no work and not answered emails (other than see below) asking for help on a narrow boat last Friday daytime. Two of These had previously said they were too busy to set any Y9 work. This was queried with the school and parents of those teachers have now been set work etc by the head of each subject instead. Surely I can express concern about this. Yes maybe there is a legitimate reason for them all taking a leisure day, but I can be concerned.

I feel for the teachers trying their best in difficult circumstances and I respect the profession. I also feel, that some teachers are letting the profession down.

Saying Boris gave no notice before closing schools doesn't mean that like the rest of the affected people teachers shouldn't be doing what they can to make it work. It was the same for many many people.

Saying the government set no expectations for remote teaching (as said upthread) sounds ridiculous to me. Surely common sense and decency suggests if you're being paid in full you are expected to carry on doing what you are paid to do to the best of your ability?

Other professions appreciate this but many teachers it seems do not. If you could have seen the provision for my DC last week I guarantee you would have agreed. After filing in a questionnaire I have seen an enormous improvement this week- because school managers saw that myself and other parents had legitimate concerns and dealt with jt.

The final interesting twist has been me managing to secure individual private science and English tuition twice a week for two of my DC from teachers at their own school. I'm not sure they realise my DC attend their school, and I realise I'm very lucky to be able to afford this. All lessons are in the daytime and in the case of maths this teacher sent worksheets and links to videos six weeks ago to his Y7 class and they have not heard from him since (according to my friend whose son is in this class).

How come any question or criticism of teachers is "bashing", yet teachers who complain about members of their slt are "expressing genuine concern" or are they not worth of a daffodil . As teachers keep saying to parents "You are not aware of the pressures"

Op, don’t you think that teachers have been criticised enough ffs.?
They do a difficult job as many parents are finding out now that they have to home school their own kids
Leave them alone FFS

I think teachers suffer from a form of Madonna/whore complex in the eyes of some parents. We are either going "above and beyond", "wreathed in gold", "working flat out" etc, or we are workshy layabouts sipping gin in our garden/boat whilst laughing at parents.
Can we not just be ordinary workers doing a "good enough" job in times that everyone is finding a struggle?

This OP has prompted me to write an email to my my children's school to thank them. I am seriously stressed about my Y10 but they are doing the best they can in an unprecedented situation. Give them a break.

During this pandemic, every day I thank fuck I'm not a teacher!

OP couldn't you have added your "concerns" to,one of the other 300 threads running and not started another teacher bashing thread!

It's disgraceful the amount of threads on the same subject.

@LaureBerthaud

I'm a teacher on full pay probably not doing very much in most opinions. Not through choice, I would love to be doing more but my SLT have set out what they want us to do and have actively stopped staff that tried to go above and beyond as it created inconsistency. It is incredibly frustrating but I risk my job and my financial security if I ignore them.

I would have taken 80% furlough if it was offered, but it also would have meant that my school could not contact me to do anything, including the prep work they've asked me to do for June, and if the government followed their own advice and 'made up' the missing 20% they've asked employers to try and do, I'd still be getting full pay while doing absolutely nothing.

I don't think radio silence and very little directed work is adequate education but the government did not state what adequate education would look like during this time. They didn't do this because they know that every school in country faces different barriers, many of which have already been mentioned in this thread (digital poverty, teacher health, care responsibilities, parental support).

I hope that when I am working in school in June, parents views will change but from experience, I know I will then be faced by complaints about the rules we've had to put in place, the groupings where we cant guarantee best friends will be together and my own class' parents will be disgruntled that I can no longer prioritise their emails while teaching.

I think it is really tactless for the PP who said to 'just have more emotional resilience or leave' during mental health awareness week. Teachers are leaving the profession, most within their first 5 years. I never normally think of myself doing anything other than teaching because I love it, but I have considered handing in my notice several times over the last few weeks.

Im not a teacher knocker (don't have kids and my brother's a teacher) but im a mental health nurse and have been working throughout, going into patients homes daily to administer meds. There are a lot of people out there who have been working through the pandemic.

Yep, spidey66, just like teachers who've also been working through the pandemic.

and it can be incredibely frustrating when the school isn't teaching effectively

What is it about “lockdown” you don’t understand?