Re this math teacher's response

[Diorama1]

I am contemplating emailing the teacher to discuss his response to an issue with my son.
My DS is 14 and is in 2nd year (in Ireland and its the year before your GSCE year). He is very bright and very good at maths. He is doing higher level maths.

He is not a math genius or gifted but he does find it all very easy, he grasps the concepts quickly and has an excellent understanding.
His average in his maths tests this year is 98% and the things he got wrong were only simple errors from rushing eg saying 21 divided by 3 was 3 instead of 7.

We had his parent teacher meetings this week. I dont think what they are like in the UK but here we go around the PE hall and sit for 5 mins with some 10/11 teachers while parents stand behind in a queue waiting their turn. There is little time to discuss and almost no privacy.

I went to his math teacher and he said he was working very well, excellent scores and advised he should keep up studying as things will get harder. I told him that he loves maths but is finding the pace too slow, that he never opens a book at home and wont study for any tests as he knows how to do it. I asked for ways to bring back his interest and to encourage him back into maths. I said I try to get him to study and practice the questions at home but he hates going over what he already knows.

The teacher got very defensive and said the exams were all about rewarding those who study and not those who were good at maths, he said he has to practice the sample questions. He said he has taught many children 10 times better at maths than my son and that if he kept up refusing to revise he would do badly in his exams. He said if he gave my son the same test now as he sat in Sept he was sure my son would do badly in it as he would have forgotten the concepts.

I was a bit taken a back and didnt really respond at the time.

On reflection thought I am very disappointed with his attitude. I was seeking ways to encourage my son back into a love of maths and all he did was advise he repeat work he already knows which I told him is what is killing his enjoyment in the first place. He acted like I was saying my son was a math prodigy and he wanted to put me in my place by saying he has taught much brighter children than him.

DS was doing this level of maths work 3 years ago on his own.

AIBU to expect a better response from an educator and to email him about it?

DS came home yesterday and asked did I say anything to the teacher about him as in class the teacher said that some kids are not putting the work in at home and if that continues they will be moved from the higher level class. DS said the teacher was glaring at him while he said this!

Also if there are any maths teacher on here that have any advice on what DS can do, I would be very grateful.

Get him a maths tutor who can do extension work and practise his revision technique.

If this class is so easy for your son, shouldn't he be moved up to a higher level class in which he's actually being challenged?? What's the point of keeping him in a class that's not teaching him anything because he knows it all already? He could go much further if he skipped ahead, no?

Do you mean sit in with the older students?

I deregistered both my DDs from school in Ireland for similar reasons. We’re home schooling - self study really - IGCSE’s. They were losing all interest in learning due to being bored and the ‘one size fits all’ attitude. It’s been a year now and the difference is off the scale! They’re both so engaged, interested and happy. I think it may be an uphill struggle for you with the teachers OP.

Hi,

Irish maths teacher here. I understand your sentiments completely but think you got the teacher's back up and the conversation went awry when you told him it was too slow for your child. Don't email the teacher please, just drop it.

I don't know where you're based but check locally for maths workshops; possibly in the colleges. He needs to be doing the past exam papers not the book questions. What text book does he have? Texts and tests have advanced revision questions and they all have extra resources online. Corbett Maths, TY Peters Problems, www.khanacademy.org, project maths.ie student section, ixl.com, folens beehive section are good places to start.

Get him excited about the Young Scientist maths entry and check them out.

Good luck.

They are pushing him at all? My son was doing higher maths. (at college now) but his teacher knew he was good so, they pushed him.
Sadly he hated some parts, trigonometry and some other bits that put him off maths. Sadly he dropped maths at A level because of that. Which is a shame, because it comes really easy to him. But he got good grades.

I had a teacher a bit like that when I was at school - very defensive, kept asking me if I was boring him and ask my parents to tell me not to ask so many questions!

I told him the class was moving too slowly for me and he then told everyone in the class that I thought I was cleverer than him! It was awful and as an adult I can now see what was going on.

I went on to do a degree, masters and phd in this subject. I have looked back over my A Level notes and realise he got some things wrong and I now see he wasn’t confident teaching the subject.

while Teachers will always defend fellow teachers on here - but remember there are good and bad teachers - like in any profession. This guy doesn’t sound like he has great interpersonal skills and may be struggling to manage his class and impress his bosses.

I agree this teacher handled the situation poorly - but your son does need to study.

I’m sorry, but did the whole purpose of an exam change over the past couple of generations? It’s not about a reward for studying… It’s about measuring competency. And if someone can do it easily without studying, so be it.

Goes to show you the public schools are only about teaching to perform on an exam and nothing else.

I disagree with the posters here. If your DS is finding the work too easy then get should be being given extension work. The OP shouldn't nee to get a tutor! That's what happened in all my DS's higher maths classes. It ensures the brightest children remain engaged. It doesn't mean they shouldn't revise but revision is inherently boring. If you make the whole subject boring then they won't be able/wont want to engage with revision.

Having said that I do disagree with the teacher re their sheets being a need for revision. I found maths v v easy and did no revision and got top grade in GCSE. If you know it, you know it. As a pp has said he'd be better spending his time on subjects that he isn't naturally good at.

If he's rushing and making mistakes, continually going over stuff he knows won't help him, focussing on exam technique will: eg read the question properly, check your work, go back over your answers if you have time at the end etc etc. Also if he wasn't so bored, he'd probably take his time more!!

if he said it like that then the manner is rude. But..:there is nothing wrong with the essence of what he said. He’s not wrong. You’ve got rose tinted glasses on.

I love this reply. Absolutely true.

Just what Soontobesixty said. My* *DS found maths easy until he stepped up to A level and it wasn't. Because he had never had to try, it came as a bit of a shock to find he needed to work. In my experience, it's not the students who find it easy but the ones who are prepared to make the effort who get the best results. My friend's DS thought he was too clever to try and he now drives a delivery van. Nothing wrong with that but he had a lot of potential to do more at one time. Letting your DS think he knows better than his teacher will not do him any favours.

OP is this the right school for your child?

@Diorama1

There's a lot of helpful replies here OP, but most relate to the UK system. It's really different in Ireland.

I'm in Ireland, 3 DC, 1 5th year, 1 2nd year (and a younger DC). I work in a teaching role at a university.

The revised JC curriculum is problematic. The assessment is superficial, yet still dealing with key concepts. The marking is a mess, meaning it's really hard to do very well (Distinctions & Higher Merits) and the majority of grades are Merits - which is a very broad range from 55 - 74 %.

It's so completely different in 5th year, it's hard to comprehend.

If your son is interested in exploring maths beyond JC curriculum, that's up to him & you (I see CTYI has already been mentioned). You picked a really bad time to raise this with the teacher. P/T meetings are exhausting, 5 mins per student only.

Because the papers for the JC are so limited (short, to the point answers), accuracy & attention to detail are essential, if he is to do well.

Like other posters have said, you've conflated the issues.

By all means explore his interest in Maths & develop his skill set further but see that separately to his school work.

I just wanted extension work suggestions

That's the key - that's not the teacher's job. He is working hard to get his students through the JC. It's not up to him to provide extension work.

He might find Applied Maths interesting enough to study, so he ploughs through the usual things at school and then has something to get his teeth into at home.

Teachers aren’t there to create a love of learning they’re there to get kids through exams. They may want to help children love their subject but the sad truth is they system makes that virtually impossible.

I’m surprised at the volume of teachers on here being defensive and absolutely ignorant to the suggestion you’re trying to make. Any half decent teacher would see your comments as a parent skilfully recognising that their child could do vastly better and retain a love for a subject given a little encouragement, and he’s responded by threatening your child and defensively framing your input as criticism. Very poor teaching and character indeed. You could try talking to the head but given the maths teacher’s weak response, you run the risk of offending the faculty and them outrageously responding by doubling down on what you’ve identified as the problem. Maybe find extra resources yourself as per many of the good links people have given you here. If you’re feeling righteous, try OFSTED.

OP is in Ireland. No OFSTED.

@Diorama1

He is not a math genius or gifted but he does find it all very easy, he grasps the concepts quickly and has an excellent understanding.
His average in his maths tests this year is 98% and the things he got wrong were only simple errors from rushing eg saying 21 divided by 3 was 3 instead of 7.

Your DS clearly is gifted at maths

You need to be grateful your DS can do the maths set for him

I'd suggest you apologise to the teacher and say you got off on the wrong foot otherwise that teacher will subconsciously hate your DS

Next time bite your tongue and be glad your DS will get a 9 for his GCSE

If you're lucky the teacher next year may have the time to print off more difficult questions for your DS and others to work on separately if they finish first.

However this is not always possible when you are teaching a whole class

And yes OP

You are one of those mums

The thing is Maths is very much formulaic - much of it is going over and over again. I had to tell my son this - you don't need to understand it , you only need to know HOW to do it.

My son then had a similar problem in Uni - he was told his thought analysis was too advanced for the stage he was at and what they wanted was to see that he had acquired information and was able to regurgitate it. I told him to give them what they want.

As regards your son's handwriting bad handwriting will not necessarily hold him back but as a former exam marker bad writing which is difficult to read can grate and affect your marking mind.

If you are being told by all his teachers that he needs to revise then do so. What would you expect them to say though? We all say that to parents at this time of the year!

What a shame the education system is so stretched that it cannot stimulate all kids.

This country is weird when it comes to the phenomenon of very bright children.

I didn’t have superbright kids but the negativity I see towards those who do, is depressing. So many people rush to explain how the kid is not that clever, that the mum is deluded and the poor teacher knows the ‘truth’ and the pupil is actually average.

I am not sure where this negativity comes from. ?jealousy

The teacher needed to swallow their pride and put the pupil first and look at the child’s needs. Instead their own insecurities or tiredness etc led to unpleasant comments to the mum and threats to the child. It’s not on really.

OP I would be tempted to get an opinion from an unbiased tutor. They could assess your son’s level of functioning and make helpful suggestions.

With your support, I hope your son goes far.

Are you a teacher?

And yes OP
You are one of those mums

Sometimes, if your child is outside the average being catered for at school, you do need to be one of those mums (though in fact this seems more a miscommunication to me).

We never criticise mums for fighting for children who struggle at school because of neurodiversity, learning disabilities or other issues.
OP's son is clearly very bright, possibly gifted. She says he passed the ctyi assessments with flying colours so this shows it's not just his loving mum's opinion. Children like this are outside the norm catered for in a classroom environment and she is right to be concerned if she thinks he's bored and getting turned off the subject.