Anyone else have a DC who's teacher seems to be doing their own thing/gone AWOL?

[yesandyesagain]

My DC (7) has a teacher who seems to be doing her own thing entirely. I do think DC is on track, but every day they seem to come back with crazy stuff they've done that day-- walks, stories, ballet lessons by the teacher, little plays, learning poems by heart. She even taught them skipping rhymes I haven't heard since I was 10!

I know the rest of the school works from very samey powerpoints from what I hear from my other DC, and was considering moving my children but there aren't many better options around. This teacher quite reminds me of my own primary school days though, and I'm pleased. Doesn't seem like something OFSTED would like, however.

How is this possible? Is this the sort of thing she might get disciplined for if someone were to complain? I thought teachers didn't really have autonomy these days? Any way I can covertly support her?

How wonderful ! your child has a creative, enthusiastic teacher who makes
learning come alive! How lucky and fortunate it’s not death by PowerPoint .

I have a p3 child in Scotland (age 7/8). DC's class is in the midst of a project and they have been creating posters, books, hats, games and a class presentation on the specific subject. Every class walks outside every day, and the whole school has a monthly 'fun activity' afternoon - your childs teacher just sounds like a regular teacher in our school!

“Some people like to splash and play
Can you imagine that?
And take a seaside holiday
Can you imagine that?
Too much glee lives rings around the brain
Take that joy and send it down the drain”

So a slight devils advocate as am sure the OPs teacher is lovely but …

I do find there is often a lament for the free days of teaching in the 80s and early 90s, and it does seem lots of people have memories of skipping through summer meadows and learning about wildflowers and learning about Victorians from their teachers passions and so on …

but I was a product of this system and my primary education was absolute chaos. Maths was to work from a textbook: we worked at our own pace and weren’t shown how to do anything. I left primary barely numerate, knowing my times tables and little else.

History was haphazard: we did the victorians several times and the aztecs once. Nothing much else. Geography was once in Year 5, reading a local map. We wrote stories for English: that was it.

I had huge holes in my education and I was lucky, with a love of reading. Even so, I had to teach myself English grammar and my maths is still very poor.

I know the national curriculum and ofsted have many, many faults but I can’t honestly say my experience of learning before them was good.

DD is in 6th form. One of her teachers does their own thing in that they are not even present in the classroom for half her lessons!

Your child's teacher sounds fab. Learning to recite a poem is on the national curriculum so pretty standard but the rest sounds dreamy and amazing. How much freedom teachers get depends on the school. My school is obsessed with consistency. Every subject has a booklet of non-negotiable that the teacher must follow.

How much do you honestly think a 7 year old learns from sitting staring a TV power points. This sounds amazing and is how dc learn. Sounds pretty typical of both my DC's education (Scotland). Dd was still doing maths outdoors with staff and leaves in primary 7

I did this as a secondary English teacher in Scotland. Before I started teaching Macbeth I gave each pupil a genuine Shakespearian insult that they researched and we shouted them at each other. They loved doing this and it helped with the archaic language.Then groups chose an aspect of Elizabethan live to research and present to the class, setting the play in context. I assessed group discussion skills and each person has to do part of the presentation so assessed talk skills. I used a random generator to choose who read which character so it was totally fair. If they didn't want to read, they could opt to be a sword carrier They made or brought in costumes once we started the play. We acted out key scenes and I had Macbeth finger puppets for those who didn't like to act. They created cartoon strips of each scene. I created activity corners for each act and there were group points allocated. I could go on and on but I did this kind of thing with all my classes. I wanted them to learn and have fun

In Wales this is normal and I’m pleased.