AIBU to expect teachers to keep to parents’ evening time slots?

[Skipin29]

Waiting past my time every parent’s evening and then when I’m seen it’s rushed through and I don’t get the full 10 minutes.

You need to tell the waffling parents that their time is up and if you personally need to speak to the parent for more time then book them in a double slot.

This is why we do online meetings, it means that every parent gets an equal number of minutes with the teacher.

YABVU to think it’s the teacher’s fault - it’s very difficult indeed to move a parent on if they insist on staying! Parents’ evening is fairly stressful for teachers.

Never bothered me, they are very busy people and I was just always grateful and appreciative of their time. Never booked anything else in on those evenings so was never in a rush.

As you say, if they are running late because of demanding parents then I would blame those parents for taking up too much time. You see people like that everywhere.

I’m 5 min away from shouting wrap it up. Teachers can end meetings. They need to be firm.

YA probably NBU, unless you mean a few minutes late. In my DCs’ school the teachers always set a timer at the start. It worked. Maybe suggest this!

Parents wait until parents evening to reveal all sorts of things that make it difficult to say ‘Right, you’ve had your 5 minutes. Off you pop.’ Self harm, low mood, bereavement. What makes teachers run late in such scenarios is also what makes them good teachers.

This is why I loved online parents evenings. The only parents I know who didn't prefer them were the ones who never stuck to time in real life and got cut off mid sentence online. What used to take a whole evening in person could be done in an hour online.

Some parents just won't leave no matter what teachers do.

Just came out and my meet was 4 minutes

Our P1 meeting overran as we'd lots to discuss, our P2 we were late getting taken but it was a short meeting for us as everything was on track. Some days you'll be the parent with the child who needs more discussion a d sometimes not. Can't get worked up about it myself, it's only a couple of times per year

In many ways you’re lucky, this means that your child is doing well and the teacher has no concerns. You should be worried if the meeting rumbles on, because it usually indicates that there’s a problem.

If you had had something you needed to talk to them about, would you have expected your meeting to be the full 10 minutes? Because therein lies the issue, it only takes 1 to overrun.

They never stick to time slots. I don’t really know why they bother at secondary.

God we try we try.

but when a parent tells you that their child is self harming you do really have to give it more than 4 minutes.

The only time we had parents evening run on time was when we had them online. It drives me mad but it's not the teachers fault.
The only time I was annoyed was when it was Y4 and it was 45 minutes past my time. I left a note saying I couldn't stay any longer.(But I hated that teacher because she didn't deal with my DD being bullied for the entire year so I didn't especially want a meeting with her anyway).

At our school, senior pupils are outside each room with a timer. When a parent's time is up they knock at the door to tell the teacher.

If a parent want to discuss something further, they make a separate appointment.

Nothing overruns.

This!

I’ve tried in occasion, standing up and walking towards the door, explaining time is up and recommending they make further appointments if needed and firmly asking to leave. Sometimes they just don’t work.

Yes this is why I hate in person parents evenings.

We had one last year went to go for our time and got told oh no sorry these five appointments are still waiting… Honestly I skipped that subject as we had finished all the others 10 minutes prior, all the other subjects where on time or even had space and could fit us in early as you cannot book back to back.

Also nothing is meant to be a shock at parents evening so why take so long. If my child is failing I expect to already know and again if they are amazing. Running late on yes Jacob is where he should be is ridiculous.

Our old primary the head teacher walked the hall with a big hand bell and rings it every 5 minutes.

I agree, maybe online is the way to go. Without control it means that if one is running late you miss your next one. Some teachers are much stricter than others about slots. Some parents are so selfish, though, if they have a genuine concern that needs more than 10 mins then they need to speak to the school outside parents evening. They don't know (or seems to care) that those waiting behind them might also have real concerns.

I missed 2 subjects last time because parents evening was over by the time I got to them. I booked slots as wide apart as I could, I turned up on time, I took less than 10 mins at each slot. How is that fair?

I’m very firm with parents on parents evenings, but it often looks like this:

1. Thank you Mr and Mrs Smith for coming tonight. You can contact me if you have any concerns.
2. Right Mr and Mrs Smith, we’ll have to stop there now because my next parent is waiting.
3. Me: Stands up ‘Ok, it was great to see you tonight’
4. Me: Starts walking towards the door. The parents are still sitting there.
5. Me: Calls from the door ‘Thank you mr and mrs smith, I’ll see you next time’
6. Me: opens door and greets next parent. Next parent walks in and waits 2 mins while other parents keep trying to talk and take forever to pack up their bags.

Thankfully, it’s only a few families where this is the case.

Interesting
Just had our parents evening and every discussion was really short with the teachers
And every teacher managed to see us early because the next person wasn't there yet

At ours it's just a 5 minute slot but I'm pretty sure none of it discussions took 5 minutes

If I go to the doctor's and they are running late, and my appointment is short, I don't complain as long as my issue was handled appropriately. I know that some of the other appointments would have been more complex and the issues more serious.

The same goes for parent's evening - just be grateful that your teacher is happy with how your child is getting on.

Also - when ranking their favourite way to spend an evening after a day of teaching, I am fairly certain that most teachers won't put parents' evening in their top 10. They don't want to make it any longer than it already is. They are not running late just to annoy you.

This is the way. I could hear what the parent was talking about in front of me and it was pure waffle. Also causes anxiety as the person behind me watches their time slot go as well.

Parents evening is not the same Drs appointment

Thats awful but what kind of parents wait until parents evening and their entire kids class is standing around listening to disclose this?

Bloody hell, this should be a private conversation with pastoral care not something you drop into a 4 minute slot with other parents and their classmates mates hanging around within earshot.

Would you go into a doctor’s surgery room shouting at them and the patient for running late?! I doubt it. Parents’ evening is nearly impossible to run to time. The teachers don’t want to stay late any more than you do.