About parents evening?

[Drstrange]

I feel I need to start this by saying that this is not a teacher bashing thread. I think they do a fabulous job and I fully support them in their work.

We have just received a letter home about “parents meetings”, during Covid the traditional evening was replaced with a virtual meeting with the class teacher, brilliant that they tried to keep in touch and provide updates on my child’s progress during challenging times. However, the pandemic has moved on but school are still operating a virtual system for these meetings. The slots for the upcoming meetings are 2.30-5pm on one afternoon and 2.30-4.30pm on another afternoon.

Whilst I understand this ensures that teachers get home at a reasonable time what about parents or carers who work? How are they meant to arrange to attend? There is no option at all for any later than 5pm, and from previous experience of booking the slots, unless you are on there as soon as they’re released then you are only left with limited options to book. AIBU to think there should be some options to book in the early evening, parents evenings have always been a standard thing in teaching?

So glad someone pointed out that teachers do not make these decisions. The senior leadership team and specifically the headteacher will decide the school calendar and how parents evening will be held. If you're unhappy with how your school is running it, don't blame the general teaching staff.

At my school and a few others I know, teachers finish teaching at 3.30pm, some have to go on duty to see children out of school until 4pm then appointments start at 4.15pm until 8pm. There is no break (you can schedule a 15 minute slot or 3x 5min slots) and no food is provided for staff so dinner is off the cards until 8pm atleast - it always over ran before virtual appointments. You can imagine how demoralising that is already without parents then making it clear they're unhappy that it's in person/online/too long/too short/waiting for appointments/being cut off on virtual ones/etc.

I have no issue providing feedback to parents as it's important but ironically the parents you need to see (of the more challenging pupils) never turn up. I think from a teaching side of things it would make more sense for staff to request parents rather than the other way around.

Why should I, or anyone, accept this?

@Gilmorehill retail management really badly paid and I regularly worked 50 hours a week and paid for 39 and no toil.

Exactly this!!

@jgw1 your argument makes no sense at all. Teachers themselves are the ones most unlikely to be able to get out of work to attend appointments in the middle of the day. Does that make them bad parents who don't care about their kids education?

I understand what you are saying but implying that parents who can't get to appointments during the day time are bad, disengaged parents is just a load of rubbish

Interesting my school and my DD’s school are business as usual. Face to face, slots between 3.15-5pm or 5.30-8pm. I’m surprised this isn’t the case everywhere, it certainly is for my teaching friends too. Teachers have collegiate agreement time and within those are hours for this type of thing. If I was the teacher and you contacted me I would ensure that I could call you at a time suitable, even if I had to arrange cover for my class to pop out and do so, but then I’d personally rather see you face to face.

My DC school have parent consultation DAY. It ends at 5.30pm and runs all day. Kids from other years stay home and do online work and kids in that year attend with parents. Dh took a half day. If you can't attend, they can email you. I thought it was fantastic as I actually got to see all the teachers I wanted to (9) and because it's so long teachers don't get 'booked out'. We also got a full 10 minutes with them which was extremely helpful. My other DC's school parents' evening (which ran from after school until early evening) was rubbish compared to this, hardly worth attending for the 5 mins you could grab with a few teachers that weren't fully booked. I think it's fully worth getting a half day off work and doing it properly.

This has been an issue in my school too. As a secondary teacher I can sometimes have two first year classes (60 kids) but there's only 24 appointments so not everyone will get one but some separated parents demand two 😡. I understand if there's been domestic violence that they can't be in a room together, but in 90% of cases surely they could be civil to each other for an hour once a year?

Who cares what happens in other countries. What a daft comment.

And you wonder why the unions are pre-balloting teachers for industrial action.
Make the most of these parents evenings because I suspect that by the end of term, teachers will be at least working to rule (max of 32.5hrs a week), if not actually on strike.
Schools are on their knees. Teachers are paid on average, 20% in real terms less than they were 10 years ago. No funding for any (below inflation) pay rises. Most schools have multiple vacancies, because as many op’s have suggested, teachers have gone and got other jobs.

I find it fascinating what those from other cultures value, maybe you do not.

And because education is valued, if a parent is a teacher then time would be created for them to attend the consultation.

Parents evenings are certainly part of the job. Staying on school site until late evening to ensure convenience for SOME parents is not part of the job.

Our school day ends at 2.30 and parents evenings run 4-6. There is already 1.5 hours of trapped time in between. If we extended parents evenings longer it would go over our directed time.

Some parents work shifts, does that mean we should also have very early morning appointments (pre school day of course as we are teaching) available for those who work 2-10?

We’ve just been told today that we’ll be going into a deficit if the school give out the proposed raises to staff and we might not even be getting the 8%….Reading threads like this is just another kick in the teeth.

I don’t mind the virtual aspect, but those times are terrible.

@Itsrainingatlast Most schools have multiple vacancies? Can you send me a link to prove this? I'm keen (I'm a HLTA!) and there are no TA vacancies in a 30 mile radius including a small City and several towns 😊 thank you

I've spent a few years in another sector and I'm keen to rejoin as a TA but just can't find anything 😔

Ha ha that doesn't happen in all schools!

I think they try to keep it ‘tight’ because otherwise someone will book 6pm and the teacher could be potentially be sitting around with no appointments till then! It does happen! And then the 6pm one is a no show…😏.

Unfortunately parents evening is one of those things where you just can’t please everyone. Ours is 4 - 7:30. We’re going to do a mixture of in person and online this year, depending on year group. When parents were surveyed about which they preferred it came out as pretty even. The problem with ‘in person’ in secondary is that people queue up who don’t have appointments so parents end up waiting ages and teachers end up seeing parents long after the official finish time which isn’t really fair. For example, in one year group I have 3 classes, that’s 95 children. There is no way in the world I can see all of those parents.

Just email the teacher and say these times don't suit. Can they do a phone call on a lunch break or a diff time.

@Hannahbabnaa I would suspect schools can’t afford TAs, which may be why you are struggling. If you look in TesJobs, there are considerably more teaching vacancies than there usually are.

PP is suggesting that teachers strike partly because they have to work parents evenings outside of their 32.5 hours a week? Honestly this is nuts. Teachers deserve better pay for their stressful jobs, sure, but you know what they earn quite a lot more than I do working 40 hours a week for a charity. And no payrise for 3 years either. I really do want to engage with my DCs education and I don't see it's that unreasonable for 1 evening twice a year (we're primary so it would just be the one as 1 teacher/ 1 class) is unreasonable. Especially since this is what always happened before covid. Most people, myself included do have to occasionally work late. I have to do fundraising events that go on to midnight every now and again without getting any extra pay. Like teachers though, I knew that was part of the job when I took it!

YABU

I'm assuming you don't ever WFH now Covid has moved on?

If you do ever WFH then you're a hypocrite. Most of the world has kept working conditions brought on from Covid. Teachers are entitled to reasonable working conditions too. And taking 20 mins off work for a virtual meeting isn't hard is it? Just join via your phone in your car.

It sounds like you're the kind of person who SAYS "teachers work really hard etc..." But really you don't think that.

“ I feel I need to start this by saying this is not a teacher bashing thread”………
teachers have lives and families as well, but hey let’s all pretend like your child is the most important thing in the world, and that the teacher should drop everything including their own family to accommodate you. Because we all know that your needs are more important than anyone else’s. applicable for mini posters on this thread.

I am 100% office based in a demanding job supporting vulnerable adults in a wide range of circumstances-planning my day is difficult as mentioned as my job can be reactive.

I absolutely believe teachers work hard, as do many other people who are regularly expected to work beyond their contracted hours