To think parents are expected to be much involved in our kids education than our parents

[Notagoodtime]

Right from the get go when my kids started school, we have been heavily encouraged to take a big part in helping our kids read, times tables etc. I’m happy to do this but appreciate that not all parents have the time. When I first started school 40 years ago, I never brought a reading book home but I could always read well.

Now my kids are at secondary school, I feel that the demands are even more. We are required to log onto our child’s homework daily and I get regular updates if my child even forgets a bloody rubber! I’ve just got an email this Morning to say that my daughter has 3 days to finish her maths homework and try and encourage her to finish the 50% she had started. I feel all the responsibility is on us and I feel that kids are slowly loosing the ability to be responsible for their own work. My parents never knew what homework I had but we all survived!

I think it depends on the parents. There was an expectation that a good parent would do all the things-and my parents certainly did reading, homework, board of governors etc- but also an acceptance that some parents wouldn't do any of those things and probably couldn't. Now, establishments are much pushier and unrealistic in their expectations of parents with everyone expected to provide the same support as someone with time/education/inclination. I know they're trying to change generational trends but it does come across as bossy and demanding. If the child has additional needs or there are problems at home, I believe some parents think it did be easier to pull them out of school and take things at a slower pace due to pressure.

@Athrawes

Schools do this because kids no longer take personal responsibility for their own success or failure and teachers are blamed for the latter. Parents complain if they weren't told that Josephine hadn't done her assignment and so is failing her course and what have we, the teachers, done to ensure that this doesn't happen. The world is a different place. Kids used to fail and get a job anyway. Now there aren't jobs to fall into at 16 so there is more pressure on schools to ensure that kids pass exams. All the evidence tells us that actually it's is families who have greatest impact on the academic success of a child. So we ask you to be involved.

Children don't learn personal responsibility because it bounces between school and the parents. It is the government/ OFSTED culture that puts ridiculous pressure on schools and they then spoon feed children and pass the buck to parents.

Then we wonder why many teenagers flounder when they reach the point of having be responsible for themselves.

Our school isn't like that. Ds 13 has a homework diary which shows ds what homework he has on which nights and what is required. It's also available on MS Teams.

I'm supposed to check ds has done his work each night and then sign the diary. But no pressure to get more involved. Ds is expected to sort himself out.

I help with food tech and occasionally French/German.