For teachers- do your pupils learn something new every day?

[jasper]

I am asking this due to the thread about taking kids out of school outwith holidays, where some of you explained it disrupted the teaching programme.

My question is do you really teach your pupils something different every day? This is a genuine question, not intended to provoke or criticise. I admire anyone who chooses teaching as a profession and the friends I have who teach are , to a woman, remarkable and inspiring individuals.
It's just that my memory of school (particularly primary school ) was of weeks and weeks of repetition of the same things.

That was my biggest compliant about school - it was boring and repetitive and I felt I hardly ever learned anything.

We were taken out of school for a week or two most years and there was never any notion of having to catch up or missing anything. Have things changed or am I suffering from false memory syndrome ? Might I have gone on to acheive greatness if it hadn't been for those fortnights in Harrogate?

So to repeat my question,which was not intended to rehash the holidays issue, do you teach a different thing every single day?

I agree with oaky. I think HE has a lot of pros, however like anything it also has its downside. School is the same - pros and cons, one might be right for a child (and family) at one particular stage in a child's life whilst another might be better at a different time. However the 2 can't really be compared. The education a child receives at home comes from different sources, is delivered in a different way. Just 2 totally different things.

I'm very impressed with all the staff in my son's school. The head is great (and I think this can make a real difference to a school) his teacher is great, the support staff are friendly. And the outsiders who have gone in there (SALT, autism outreach team and his new LSA) have all said that it is a very supportive environment. Could I do better at home? Not at the moment that's for sure.

I agree very much with your statement about different types of schooling being right at different stages, Jimjams. I was never happy about dd1 starting school at 5yo, she wasn't emotionally ready, and I really think she would have benefited from HE for at least a couple of years. But, no internet and HE wasn't such a big thing then, so unhappily off to school she went. However, dd2 needed school and would have been suitable to start a year ealier, if it had been permitted. It's horses for courses, isn't it?

One person I knew HE'd her two boys up to Highers stage (age 16). She did Standard Grades in the subjects she didn't know enough about. I wish I knew what they were doing now they are adult, would be really interesting to find out.

Janh

I just wanted to add my voice to the "think teachers do a fantastic job" crowd.

I started a PGCE (science secondary level) and by the Christmas term knew it wasn't for me. I could probably have bluffed my way through, my tutor was cross with me that I quit, but I knew in my heart that I could never be 150% a teacher which is the sort of dedication you need to do the job. To be anything less would have been an insult to the kids and to the other teachers. I went on to do jobs that I could walk out at 5.30pm and not have to think about again until 8.30am the next morning.

What I'm trying to say in a very roundabout way is that teachers have my utmost admiration having had first hand experience (albeit at a very limited level) of what they deal with day-to-day.

Um that should have said by the end of term by Christmas.

Blame the glass of red wine that I'm taking for the sake of raising my blood pressure so I stop fainting so much

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robin, you're obviously not impresssed with the teaching your daughter has recieved so far. So for you, the teaching profession has let your daughter down.

Do you know if any other of her classmates and their parents feel the same? Are the teachers managing to inspire them? Is yours a majority view - that's what I'm getting at. Or is it a case of your dd'd teacher managing to 'reach' most of the class, but not your dd. If it's this, then isn't it difficult to generalise about the failings of the teaching profession as a whole? I see you have had worked in several classrooms and you run brownies, but, like everyone on this thread, aren't your views limited by your own experience?

To be honest, I think it's really difficult to be objective and separate ones views on education with ones experience of it.

I'm sorry that your dd has had a hard time, and that you have been unhappy with the schools and teachers. You say 'Primary school is not good for children - I've said a number of times that with no recent experience of secondary school I don't know about that. After 6 years of primary school I'm not surprised that children cause problems later, though. And from the arrogance and rudeness of the teachers here I'm pretty pessimistic about secondary school. '

You are entitled to your opinion, and I can't contractdict your veiw that her teachers are poor, as I have not met them. But if you are so negative, why not take her out of school and educate her yourself?

I stand by my comments about the brownies, it was facile to compare playing games with little girls who want to be there, with trying to get disruptive and violent teenagers to work.

How many of your brownies have pulled a knife on one of the teachers? A year 7 boy was excludeded from the school I work at for that.

If you want your child to have 100% stimulation, all this time at school you will have to get a 1:1. Things should be better than you say, but your expectations seem to be too high, and you have no trust or respect for the teaching profession. So put your money and time where you mouth is, and teach her yourself.

And I repeat, the question was asked of teachers do your children learn something new every day. In your dds case the answer is no. I have said that with the children I teach the answer is yes. Are you saying that I am lying, or that I am so stupid that I don't know what I am teaching these children. Talk about arrogance! Look to yourself.

Re the How do yoo make things better. Well, I think that most of the teachers on this thread would say, by working our arses off! By setting challanging work, by giving up our breaktimes and dinnertimes to do extra work with kids, by talking and working with parents, by setting and marking homework in the evenings, by setting high standards in the classroom. In short, by doing the job in the best way we can, we make a difference. I've just had exam resuilts that have proved that I have made a difference in all 8 of the classes that I teach. I changes things by working my arse off. Fine it is my job. But at least I made a difference, and didn't just post carping comments to a news group.

What the hell, I may as well give up and run Brownies, that will doso much more for the education system in this country. And I'll learn so much more about motivatiog kids that way.

Ah, I can see why I'd never make a good teacher - I'm much too wishy washy

Years ago, luckily for all concerned, I realised I lacked the necesssary passion about my subject and fierceness to command respect. Unlike nearly all my contemporaries, I never studied teaching after university.

Short, fat, feisty Welsh woman, that's me

I Often think how silly I must look waving my finger up at a six foot 16 year old, with a face covered in stubble,( him not me) while I loudly tell him off for messing round in my lessons. Bless them, most of them look sheepish. It must be because I look like their mum.

I've done it in the past, and later found that the kid has been excluded for violence! I think my guardian angel works overtime on my behalf

It is always easier for people to make demands of us, than for them to answer our questions Hulababy.

And you are spot on about the lack of respect for teachers and learning being passed on to the kids. I don't expect the [arents to be singing my praises, but I don't want them making things harder for me either.

Note to self, must try to get them to sit down

Robin - thanks for your long response.
"Primary school is not good for children - I've said a number of times that with no recent experience of secondary school I don't know about that. After 6 years of primary school I'm not surprised that children cause problems later, though. And from the arrogance and rudeness of the teachers here I'm pretty pessimistic about secondary school."
This is find offensive
And I am DEFINITELY leaving this thread now. How would you feel if you profession which you had trained and worked in for almost a decade was insulted, belittled and humliated on a public message board?
That is just my answer to you comment.
And to answer the real question which this thread began with. I believe that, yes, they do.
But again, that is just my lowly opinion.

Hmb, hulababy, popsycal, you go girls

Robinw. I have children who come to school hungry because their parents can be bothered to feed them. I have kids coming to school in filthy dirty clothes because their parents are too stoned to care. I have kids who come to school with dreadful behavioural prblems because their parents either ignore them or beat the hell out of the. Some of the parents are alcoholics, some are drug addicts and at least one is a prostitue.

Am I therfore entitled to tell you that you are a crap parent? Because that is exactly what you are doing regarding teachers. You child's teacher is not good so you are saying that all school are teachers are crap.

So OK, if some parenst are crap does that make all of us crap? If I infered that you were a crap parent would you be hurt? Well, that is exactly what you have done to the teachers on this thread.

she just ain't worth it love. You'll never get anything more than a 'I helped at Brownies once so I know what I'm talking about' comment.Juat take a deep breath and remember what I said before - you are brainy and beautiful.BTW I too am a littlie ( 5 foot 1 inch) and my piece de resistance was when I reduced the 16 year old bad boy o tears with the lash of my tongue!!!!!he couldn't do enough after that. Interesting comment from our fellow poster robinw who seems to feel threats of violence are a good discipline technique.......

Where are all these crap teachers?
I have said this already but it is worth repeating. I know lots of teachers and they are without exception incredibly dedicated and inspiring individuals. I actually feel sorry for them - for having to deal with some of the nightmare attitudes they are faced with - not from the kids but from some of their pupils'PARENTS.

My mum was a teacher and spent many hours preparing and marking work. I have to say that she herself was critical of some of the effort put in by some of her peers. They were in the minority though. However, the abuse she had to put up with from parents was unbelievable - often from parents who had no idea of their child's behaviour in class or their actual capabilities ( and that was primary school).
Teachers amongst you - try not to take offence. You do a sterling job, remember you know how good you are

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Look I'm all confused now. I don't have time to look on the TES site, (got to get my children to school ) but is this true, is it discouraging untrained people getting involved at school?

I have never volunteered my help in the classroom (feel I am the only mumsnetter not to sometimes, )mostly because I feel I, personally, would be a bit useless and also because I am usually at work. The idea of helping with cubs scared the S* out of me.

However, given the need for more 1:1 time, are parents really welcomed into the classroom? Do teachers want their input? Robin's messages - this latest and previous ones say no, not in her experience. So that's not good for her and her dd.

Have others found the school relucant to involve them?

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