Unfair treatment of my daughter by class teacher

[Mummy20192]

Need some opinion please... my 9 yr old dd was very excited since summer holidays to return to school and to be able to run for the class eco monitor.. she did research on oceans, pollution over the lockdown all ready for election of the year. Anyways she won the ecomonitor role in class by democratic vote of her peers. She was super proud and excited.

Today she goes into school, and her teacher tells her that a senior member of staff has said that she has to share her role with the eco monitor of PST year as that child is very passionate about the environment.

My port dd is sad and embarrassed as she thinks her teachers think that she’s not good enough to be eco monitor even though her classmates voted for her.

I explained to her that’s it’s ok to share the role, but now I’m thinking that it’s completely unfair on the part of the teachers to put my child in this situation when no other children in the school is having to jobshare apart from my dd. Am i overreacting?

@Aridane I'm sure they can cope with it, that's not the point.
Why should they have to?
They are there to teach and support the children in their learning.
Not to police petty disputes over roles that have no real importance outside of school.

The attitude on here towards teachers over something as minor as an 'eco monitor' is astounding.
They're professionals who've worked hard to get the job they have. Not fucking babysitters.

Primary school was hellish. The parents were a much bigger part of the job than I was anticipating. They’re much harder work than the children. More demanding. More entitled. They were falling out with each other on WhatsApp and expecting teachers to sort it out.

A sad state of affairs. No wonder there's such a recruitment problem.

Not to police petty disputes over roles that have no real importance outside of school.

They set up the roles, they set up the elections, typhus overturned the outcome. Both children are their pupils and both are involved.

Yes they DO have to 'police ' it.

typhus 🙄

They

They're professionals who've worked hard to get the job they have. Not fucking babysitters.

Really poor practice by this teacher.

@sunglassesonthetable - I hope you not inadvertently predicting the next pandemic!

Bloody hell...it is a storm in a tea cup.
Nothing at all to be fretting about...if Mum has to come in and ''rescue'' her offspring for something so utterly minor as a 'shared task of milk monitor or library monitor or eco warrior...it is just so incredibly ''First World Problem''

Mum wading in just disempowers the Daughter, I think..
It makes me think that this OTT reaction says more about the mother than the daughter?

Was the OP overlooked as a child?

In the scheme of things it seems a huge fuss about naff all.

IF a child was being bullied, for sure contact the school...but in an instance like this? So not worth it.

The teachers have their reasons. They will know more about what os going on in the other child's life.

Don't raise your DD to be a princess. T
Tell her she's so lucky to be part of a TEAM working together, just like adult ecologists do.

Yes the teacher is professional and responsible for the learning ( academic and emotional). This is petty to us adults, but for a 9 Yr who are developing their self confidence and learning about the greater world, it is not petty. I am not allowed to be politically incorrect in my job, so why should a teacher be not questioned( respectfully) as to overlooking my dds emotions and also that of her peers who wanted the same role and worked for it? Not forgetting the children who voted to select their representative? Yes team work is great, but so is learning fairness and respect of others choices.

The teacher hasn't overturned the outcome. OPs daughter is still doing the role, just with someone else.
If the teacher had taken the role from OPs daughter and given it to the other child I would understand, she hasn't. They're just sharing it.
There's a million and one reasons as to why the teacher opted to do that.

The child could be lacking confidence, have a poor home environment, no access to the internet to be able to write their speech, SEN, it could be an incentive for a child who doesn't like school, child may have been promised the role last year and the teacher just reminded. It could be as simple as the child wasn't there on the day of the election for one reason or another... it goes on and on.
Would you really begrudge a child for those reasons?

What is the issue? Really?

*Bloody hell...it is a storm in a tea cup.
Nothing at all to be fretting about...if Mum has to come in and ''rescue'' her offspring for something so utterly minor as a 'shared task of milk monitor or library monitor or eco warrior...it is just so incredibly ''First World Problem''
*

From your perspective or the DD's.🙄

Just you probably.

OP doesn't have to "wade in or rescue" her DD. But she can point out how undermining and un motivating this is for he 9 year old who doesn't realise that being an eco monitor is totally "first world" and nothing much at all.

Teachers are fantastic! but they are not infallible and this teacher has handled this REALLY badly.

They can be told. Because they are professional.

If the teacher had taken the role from OPs daughter and given it to the other child I would understand, she hasn't

Slightly off topic, but on the other thread (not OP’s), 93% of posters thought it was fine for a teacher to rig the results of a class election!

It's not just about your DD. The teacher has to look after the emotions of 30(?) other children too.

The vote could have been a popularity contest where the other child didn't run because they're not as confident/didn't feel like they stood a chance, could be for the myriad of other reasons that I've listed.

As a PP said, there was a thread the other day about a teacher fixing the vote because another child deserved it more but wouldn't have stood a chance against the child that was voted for. The voters aren't always fair and considerate, they don't tend to deliberate and decide fairly based on what the child can offer/what they promise.. they vote for their friends. Primary school isn't a democracy.

I’m with you, OP. I think it’s a shit decision. Your DD should be monitor. She put the effort in and won through an early example of democracy for the kids. It’s crazy to then just stick another kid in for a job share.

So the other girl had the role last year and was really passionate?
Did she lose out on over a term of the role?
Our school closed 2 weeks before Easter, and no-one could do anything in the very short (2 day a week for a month) return in bubbles.
That might be part of the reason?

@Aridane
Again, in that situation, the teacher did the right thing.
The child that she gave the role to was more deserving than the child who would've won purely down to popularity.

Sometimes teachers need to do things to ensure that the same kids don't fall at every hurdle just because they're different, don't fit in, have it hard at home...

I can't believe people don't agree with that.

I can't believe people don't agree with that.

What - overturning the results of an election?

@tinkers then the teacher should have not done the election.

What's a PST year?

The vote could have been a popularity contest where the other child didn't run because they're not as confident/didn't feel like they stood a chance, could be for the myriad of other reasons that I've listed.

Back to square one🙄

Then don't run an election.
^
Be a professional and handle the situation differently.^

Anyway YANBU. Why bother voting if the teachers are then going to override it, and it takes away from your daughter's achievement. May as well just be down to the teachers to pick, or put interested parties' names in a hat and draw a ticket out.

This is basically turning lights off, yes?

*Sometimes teachers need to do things to ensure that the same kids don't fall at every hurdle just because they're different, don't fit in, have it hard at home...

I can't believe people don't agree with that.*

No one disagrees with that.

Just don't hold a bloody election and lead other 9 year old children up the garden path.
Just dish out the monitor roles like loads of schools do.

What is so hard about that @TinkersTailor

Congratulations on winning her role and for not being a shoe in by Teach

You do know that this 'shoe in' was another 9 year old girl????

Yes team work is great, but so is learning fairness and respect of others choices.

And so is learning that you don't always get what you want, and so is learning that when you're 9, adults may have reasons to which you're not privy for doing the things they do.