To think school doesn’t care reg my child education

[Boleboo]

looking for opinions from parents and teachers. I feel state schools in the UK are underfunded, teachers overstrached, many don’t really like/enjoy what they do; have to deal with lots of other admin and care little about children progress and their education,

I think majority of schools are only interested in the kids that are in the top sets and can raise their results.

I only hear from school once a year when they send the school report. Half way 5 min meeting with the teachers

Are you happy with the education your children are receiving? Or do feel you have to be involved on it/suplement it.

@Boleboo Can I ask what your concerns are about your child’s education?

Are you worried about something in particular?

I am not happy with my children's education, particularly my middle DC, as he is bright but exceptionally unmotivated/unfocussed. I don't blame teachers, the school or even the government really (can't believe I am saying this as I am not a fan of this current govt). I blame the system and the fact that we haven't found a way to teach people who won't, can't or don't want to sit and learn in a classroom.

Traditional schooling just does not suit DS2. DS1 and DD have passions so they have managed to find a way to get along with education as a means to an end to get to do what they want. Not sure it's anyone's fault but the lack of will to change the education system is a crying shame for DC like my DS.

The teachers care very very much.

They are underpaid, underfunded and overworked. Teachers do not stay for any other reason than the kids.

My 3 children have been in the system for many years now and there has only been 1 teacher in all that time that I haven't particularly rated. She cared but her mind was on other things I felt. All the teachers I have come across, both for my children and friends who are teachers, care massively.

Apologies to all the great teachers out there who do care and do a great job. It is not an easy one. I know some teachers do care but not sure all of them do.

I do feel sad that education and health are so underfunded as those are the services that needed the most.

Not sure where my child is in terms of progress, what things is she doing well and what subjects she struggles with. In the 5 min I had with the maths teacher It gave me the impression the teachers didn’t know my child. I have emailed the school but no response so far. Perhaps I need to email the headteacher.

To be perfectly honest, I am not going to be able to really 'know' your child like a Primary teacher may. I teach 200 students and I don't have the ability to recall exactly what your child needs to work on to the fine detail some parents expect.

When we do assessments we ask the students to make a note in the back of their books on topics that need extra work.

I also share most of my classes due to timetabling, I see my Yr 8's 3 times a fortnight, I try my best but I can sometimes feel there are students I don't know that well.

I 100% do care about my students but the job is a massive juggle daily, most of my time isn't spent on the top ability kids, its the ones with behaviour issues, needing support most of my time is spent on.

I think any parent that wants their kids to excel academically has to supplement/be involved with their kids education. Whether that’s helping them out personally or hiring a tutor.

My dad spend ages going through French and German with me, science etc. my mum helped me with maths. I think that’s always been the way. The onus of educating your child is on you not the school. The school is there to provide the basics and foundations for learning but ultimately it is down to the parents.

My parents ensured I took my education seriously and provided space at home to study etc. my husband’s parents on the other hand took the approach that school alone is enough and didn’t do anything to encourage my husband which has led to him having to do qualifications later on in life to catch up.

You’re right. Schools are shit, teachers are shit, we get paid far too much for doing very little work and deserve all the shit parents throw at us. Sack the lot of us I say!

If they’re not particularly aware of your child then they are probably doing ok academically and they haven’t identified any social or emotional difficulties…

At secondary age though I would expect a child/ teenager to be able to identify their own areas that need development.

What does DC say they find easy/ hard about maths?

Try giving them an age appropriate maths assessment ( a million online) and see what they find easy/ difficult.

Rightly or wrongly, the responsibility of a person’s education outside of classroom hours becomes more and more on the kid and family the further up they go by design. No secondary teacher can recall every child’s next steps (sometimes 1 of 300) When they might only Teach them for 2 hrs a week.

Thank you. I guess this summarises it. Schools:teachers do what they can with the limited resources and lots of other challenges, so the rest is down to the parents.

DC has an EHCP, school gets an additional 10k per year but I only hear from the school at the end of the year. Child is well behaved so no issues for school, no severe difficulties but requires a bit more support.

I feel I need to supplement their education with private tutoring or risk getting to GCSEs and hear from the school sorry your child is too far behind and won’t pass the exams and may not get a place in Sixth form

DC has an EHCP, school gets an additional 10k per year but I only hear from the school at the end of the year.

You should have a termly meeting including one formal Annual Review?

If your DC has an EHCP with additional funding then you should be getting more information than just parents evenings.

There should be targets in the EHCP that are reviewed annually.

At my school we had to fill in a report about them every half term which went home (EHCP only)

I think majority of schools are only interested in the kids that are in the top sets and can raise their results.

Are you nuts? These are the kids who receive the least attention and resource.

The current government focus is on closing the gap between lower attainers and the rest. The vast, vast majority of school attention, interest and resource goes on children with SEN, behavioural issues and those struggling to meet the academic standard expected. More able kids are rarely if ever stretched or even noticed.

Yes thanks.

Parents evening early in term time, meant to be 5 minutes but often more and time to also look at school books. This is repeated end of year. For nursery up to year 6. School report in Summer

Teacher is around for quick chats at end of school as she's stood on the door calling kids out.

Head, deputy head, assistant head and office staff on the gate every morning. Same bar office staff on gate at pick up. All very approachable.

Inspire mornings a few times a year - so chance to go in and do fun activities with DC around one of their key topics. Some art, some teach, all very relaxed.

Class assemblies a few times a year, where they present what they've been learning.

Half termly newsletter outlining the key topics for that period.

Never had an issue getting teacher to call back.

Other class teachers always friendly and still take an interest in kids

My dad always told me most of the teachers were not up to the job, but that nobody else wanted to do it. I'm just glad mine are now past that stage.

If your child’s got an EHCP you should definitely be getting a bit more information than this. Email the SENCo and cc in the head of year and headteacher.

Hope you it all works out 😊

This almost made me cry - this was DD's Primary.

Now in Y10, Secondary is a bloody bootcamp where nobody knows your kid, unless they are disruptive or a genius.

DD herself feels ignored and invisible. As do we as her parents.

Now, I do know most tearchers do care, and there is no budget or enough staff. But what are DD and other children to do? It's soul destroying.

It's all very well to say parents have to supplement learning, but in that case DD and other kids would be better off out of school, without wasting several hours a day just trying to survive ridiculous system that does not nurture and only teaches the dreadful NC.

The stats in here are horrifying:
https://www.hoddereducation.com/blog/february-2024/unlocking-potential-strategies-for-supporting-spec

I am very happy. Bog standard state secondary, but I feel that my DC were and are always supported.

This isn't the norm, where do you live? Do you have any reason to feel aggrieved with the school. It's a pity that's been your perception. Teachers care very much about pupils, overload of SEN in mainstream with inadequate support and parents that don't understand the role of school or the role of the parent in education causes difficulties and people get fed up being criticised for things totally unrelated to their job.

I think majority of schools are only interested in the kids that are in the top sets and can raise their results.

Not in my experience, ds was consistently in top sets and I was regularly told at parents evening from some teachers that he was doing ok so they didn’t have time to stretch/improve him because they had to focus on those struggling. Even where targeted him for a B they wouldn’t help try to get him to an A for uni.

i think it is natural to try to rationalise why you think a school isn’t meeting your child needs, but imo for every reason you come up with there will be someone experiencing no support for the opposite reason.

I have my own theories but others would disagree, all you can realistically do is try to plug the gaps at home because they won’t be plugged at school.

If we didn't care would we do double the 32 hours we are actually paid for? Would we work nearly every weekend and evening? Would we spend our own wages on other peoples children rather than our own to buy resources and treats?

I think majority of schools are only interested in the kids that are in the top sets and can raise their results.

Nonsense. The "new" progress measures mean that's absolutely not accurate.

OP, it's not that teacher's don't care, but there's only so much they can do in a system that's incredibly underfunded and under resourced, and that offers them very little flexibility along with poor working conditions and a poor salary. Teachers feeling overwhelmed because they can't meet every single need of every single child they teach and therefore feeling like a failure is one of the key factors leading to teachers quitting the profession.

And yes, quite a lot of of teachers have quite low moral at the moment for very understandable reasons. Some people seem to think that anyone who works with young people should feel grateful for the privilege. But of course it doesn't work like that, and lots leave because they can't justify working under such poor conditions.

If anything, it's the teachers who take a more pragmatic view, accept that they cannot be everything for every student, and make the decision that they will do the best they feasibly can, while still maintaining a healthy work-life balance, who are the most effective teachers. They are the ones who will have enough energy to cope with whatever a class throws at them, who will not take any setback personally, and who will actually stay in the profession for the long-term.