Teacher keeps asking Dd to do jobs

[Nextdoorarebangingagain]

Is this a good, bad or nothing…thing (rubbish sentence, but you get the gist)

Dd is almost 8, bright and hard working, but also chatty with friends in class. She’s been saying recently she’s been doing jobs for the teacher-putting kids work in files, going up to the office or another class.
I asked her if others do jobs and she said no, I asked her if she finishes her work and is then asked to help with jobs (she doesn’t ask to do jobs) she said usually

If you’re a teacher in particular, why do you choose certain children to do jobs (i’m wondering if she’s finishing early and being too chatty and distracting others 😬 or something else)

I remember a time I was far more interested in the workings of the slide projector than the content being shown; and as I kept turning back to look at it, I was given the task of operating it. At the time, I wondered if this was a punishment or not!

I also remember lots of other tasks around the school: taking dinner registers to the office, setting up the hall for assembly, and so on. When I volunteered in a primary school, two year 6 girls were given the task of showing me round, which they did very capably, and with big smiles.

When I was late primary aged we all had specific jobs to do each term - stacking the chairs up after lunch, sweeping the lunch hall, collecting registers, the coveted operating of the over head projector and music system for hymns etc. I was responsible for ringing the school bell for end of lessons/lunch/break and signalling wet play (3 short bursts of the bell instead of one long one!)

I asked her if others do jobs and she said no

of course the teacher will ask others out of 33 students. She is 8, as if she will be aware of the ins and outs of what’s going on all the time.

Awful.

I ask children to do jobs and I’m far from lazy.

I must remember to ask children to fan me with palm leaves during Maths while I relax with a gin and tonic.

Anyway, in the real world I either ask children to do jobs for different reasons…

1- they’re very trustworthy
2- they’re close by
3- they would benefit from a boost in confidence
4- they have a sibling in the class they need to visit so know where they’re going
5- it’s their turn.

You seem to have a very narrow definition of "learning".

As well as learning academic knowledge and skills, children also need to learn to be kind, helpful, confident, good citizens. It's completely valid to ask children to help the rest of their learning community, in an age appropriate way, for example by asking them to show a new child where reception is, collect a shared resource, give out books, something like that.

Obviously there is balance, and it wouldn't be appropriate to send a child on errands that take up 50% of their lesson time.

But asking children to perform a brief, helpful, necessary task can help them develop their wider skillset, as well as fostering a stronger sense of the belonging that is known to improve student outcomes overall.

OP, if it's really bothering you or your daughter, you could ask the teacher. But I'd only bother if you are 100% convinced that your daughter's perspective is accurate (the teacher may be asking a range of kids to do stuff, but maybe your daughter only notices when it's her) and if you feel it's bothering her, and/or having a deleterious impact on her learning and/or overall experience of school.

Lots of children benefit from being given tasks when they’re chatty. It’s much better to say “X can you hand out these sheets please” than “X if you continue talking you’ll be on detention”. But the end result is the same - no more chatting.

It is also (in secondary) often recommended in the paperwork. In one class I’ve got 4 teenagers who have “thrives on being given small tasks as movement breaks” in the notes. It’s quite unusual for me to be able to find enough tasks for them all!

DD gets this becuase she needs movement breaks but won’t take them, so this disguises them. Also helps her to distract others less. Also she likes feeling special and helpful.

I was thst child and loved it, the jobs i mean

There aren’t 33! Around 20

Some secondary students can't cope with double science so they asked to fetch glue and scissors from the technicians room. It's a useful leg- stretch for them.

DD was this child, to the point that her teacher told us that she wouldn't know how to cope without DD acting as a TA in the class! I was careful to talk to DD about whether she enjoyed helping the teacher, and ways she could politely speak up if she felt imposed on, but generally it made DD feel special and important, and taught her lots of soft skills. I don't think it's harmful, and kids don't need to be stretched educationally every minute of every day, especially in primary.

For sure. My 6-year-old loves “filing”. I am 💯 sure she’s being kept busy and feeling responsible and kept well away from any important documents 🤣

ok so private school. But still, at 20… you’re 8 year old won’t be aware of always what’s going on with the teacher perhaps asking other pupils.

Added to which, how often does this teacher actually need your daughter acting as a PA? Answer: very infrequently

and if you’re worried about her being bored, the beauty of private, and I speak from experience, is that the teachers generally have much more time and availability to meet for a chat.

My 8 year old has ADHD and does a lot of class jobs, even if they don’t need doing like sharpening all the pencils (again) or reorganising the library! He enjoys it and it keeps him busy so he isn’t distracting others

It could literally be any number of reasons! My child gets selected with a friend as she's very shy and nervous. They are trying to boost her confidence. I know of other children who need movement breaks so are selected frequently so they can walk around. Ideally they would probably do sensory circuits but there isn't always staff available!

It’s a good tactic if a child has finished and is then getting too chatty with others who may not have finished.
Rather than telling her off and nagging at a child who is clearly bright and engaged enough with work to whizz through it, the teacher is redirecting her to a task that makes her feel a bit special. Primary kids in particular love being the one to help the teacher do a task as it makes them feel quite important and ‘chosen’.

Haven't read the thread. I know enough to know know I'm going to be irritated by parental ignorance if I do 😉

The two main reasons I give jobs to specific children.

I know that particular child is reliable and if I give them a task or an errand, they will get it done and I know they won't go awol and we won't have to launch a full scale man hunt to find them.

The child benefits from 'brain breaks' or 'movement breaks' and becomes disruptive after too long sitting focused on a single task.

Doing a job gives those children a break with a meaningful purpose and they get 2 mins out of the room to reset whilst it also feels like a positive/reward because it isn't supposed to be a punishment.

Doing a job makes them feel valued and respected, which is how we want childen to feel because its true.

Children love doing jobs.

Complaints from children who don't often get jobs to do - plenty

Complaints from children who frequently do jobs - never.

Who wants a job? Is the only question I ever ask that guarantees every hand up and every child showing me good sitting! 😅

This- jobs and shared responsibility are part of learning. I'm always surprised how few children do even small chores at home. And then in countless other threads people will be complaining that schools don't prepare children for the real world. A teachers' place truly is 'in the wrong'.

I was also regularly sent to the shop at lunchtime, with a friend, in 1978 - 1979.We were the sensible ones. It was quite a trek, through a housing estate.
One day a bloke walked past us, dropped a pair of bright pink knickers, then jumped over a 6 foot garden fence. We kept on walking and giggling. He then appeared from behind us asking if we'd seen anything.
We reported this to the teacher who laughed incredulously.
At the end of the year we were delighted to receive little silky purses with 50p inside.

Some reasons I give jobs to certain kids are:

• they are a child who needs movement breaks - they struggle to sit still, they struggle to focus without little brain breaks.
• they are a child who thrives on the praise they get from doing jobs
• as a reward for good behaviour and being trustworthy (many children enjoy doing jobs 😊)
• they are a child who maybe ends up with negative interactions a lot of the time, to help them feel purposeful and valued in our class community.

So it could be anything! Definitely not a bad thing though.

She probably just misses other children doing jobs as maybe they are offered discretely/not always an obvious 'who can do this for me?'.
If we run out of tissues in class, I will normally just get the child who asked for one to pop to the office to get some (most of ours can be trusted to do this job). The children like it and as a school we do encourage children to interact with other adults like the office staff e.g. remembering to say please/thank you.
If she is helping put children's work in folders maybe she has just been told to help her table. We have mixed groups sat at tables (which I believe is the norm for most primary schools) so some children do still lack the motor skills and understanding of how to actually get the work into the folder (maybe needing help to hold the folder open, placing the sheet in without screwing it up). Likewise with several sen children in the class they sometimes need help with organisation, we have a child who uses a visual timetable and if staff forget to do it there are usually multiple children who want to help the child find the correct images to put on their table.

I personally wouldn't mention anything to the teacher unless they raise it with you or your daughter is unhappy/feels she is doing more jobs than others which she doesn't like.

The headmaster of my school in (also in the 80s) sent me and my friend out to buy a Valentine's card for his wife! I dread to think what sort of card two 10 year olds chose.

To the Op. In my case, I was often doing jobs because I was seen as a responsible child. I enjoyed it but in the end my mum put a stop to it because she thought I was missing too much class time.

He actually sent you out of the school grounds and to the shops? At 10?

By 10 my autistic dd was mentoring other girls who were struggling (most diagnosed) and she went on to be the pupil consultant for the new autism centre at her school, she’s very eloquent and happy around adults but struggled with peers, but a helping role suited her. She would finish her work in a fraction of the time of others, but emotionally couldn’t be moved up to later years, there’s more to education than just book learning (if I’d home educated i suspect she would have got through GCSEs by 12 but what’s the point if they aren’t functioning properly. Bottom line is she’s an independent adult now so I think giving jobs in school is a good idea