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?

robinw, isn't your dd very confused that you send her somewhere that you clearly feel is awful?

enid, you don't mince your words!

Sorry if that sounded harsh but it was just there, glaring out at me through all this...I know my own dd1 is very influenced by my own opinions on things, she is only 4 but I can't imagine how hard it would be for her to have to be packed off to somewhere that I really hated. Also I would be scared of making her feel 'above everything' at school...still, each to their own.

no, not harsh. An honest question.

Robin helps in school and brownies, though. So that involvement in itself must send out some positive message, sureley? Don't know, need Robin here to answer this.

Robinw - All I'm going to say is how rude! I've found your comments on this thread to be vile and offensive, I'm not even a teacher but if I were I'd be praying to a higher being not to ever have the misfortune of educating your dd, and so having to tolerate your obvious disrespect for my proffesion and for a system that works perfectly well if not brilliantly for a lot of other people.

Perhaps your brain has become more flaky and child like since helping out with brownies.......? Still no excuse for the way that you have slated a whole profession.

I'd now like to give a big cheer to all the teachers who just do their best.... HUURAAAYYYYY your all brilliant and please keep up the great work.

I have always found my children quite good at picking up how I really feel about something/somebody even when I mouth platitudes - and it doesn't sound as if mouthing platitudes is ever robin's way. So it's no wonder her dd is "bored" at school - she feels she is too good for it. If she demonstrated her obvious innate brilliance to the teachers I'm sure they would be only too delighted to give her more interesting things to do.

Insulting parents (anyone else remember the frequent mentions of "badly behaved mumsnetters"?) is another long-term hobby. You have to laugh, really...

Robinw just loves to wind people up - she has transferred her efforts from the breastfeeding threads (where she ended up being reported to MN for being offensive) to this thread. There really is only one thing that can be done - just ignore anything she writes! A serious, non-offensive debate is not possible with her.

A big thank you to everyone who has posted such kind, supportive comments. We may be teachers but we are human and can get hurt just as easily as the next person.

tigermoth-I really hope you are right. I really hope that is what that last sentence meant. At the moment I'm reading it in a different way.

Please listen to what emkaren has said.....
please ignore this thread...
she has upset enough people and I simply will not allow people who have enough on their plate (people like jimjams) to be insulted as we have been!

I'm afraid I 'read' it the same way as I think you did Jimjams. And nothing that robinw has posted on this thread makes me think that I need to give her the benefit of the doubt (as I'm a mother and a teacher)

I put my two pennies worth in about halfway through this thread, went away for a week and found that all hell has broken loose!! hmb, popsycal and all you others who have supported teachers - THANKYOU!! robinw is so unbelievable - more so when you read the whole thread in one go!!! Ditto, ditto, ditto what all of you have said to her. Interestingly, she still hasn't answered hmb's challenge about having the right to tell parents they are shit and don't deserve their children!! Hmb - do we work in the same area by any chance?? I feel SO pissed off now - but after 17 years have come to expect no less from people like robinw. I will NOT jack in a job I love, despite the fact that it makes me totally exhausted, has given me a broken nose (head butt from a 4 year old on my FIRST teaching practice!!) and EVERYONE seems to think that because they went to school (or any other totally crap reason!)they can teach too!!!

I thought I would like to retrain as a teacher but having recently helped out in a nursery school I don't think i could do it.My mum was a teacher, my brother and his partner are and I've seen how hard they have to work and how dedicated they are.Of course there will be a few skivers -there are in any job.

In my humble experience (3 kids of school age -14, 13 and 9 years of age) the most difficult/awkward/disruptive kids in the class are always the offspring of the mothers who sit at parties and moan and complain about school/teacher/facilities etc. If your child hears this rubbish at home of course they are not going to get much out of school. If your attitude is negative how can they be expected to have positive attitudes??

Teachers deserve more than this....

thank you to all of you who have helped to show that it is not just 'robin against teachers'
I thiknn everyone on this thread (bar one) can see the mudslinging.....
we never said that we were perfect......but we also will not take blanket critcisms od a whole profession. that is unfair, inappropraite and dowright rude robin
I have said it before but replace the word 'teacher' in your posts with SAHM, black or gay and you wil see how offensive they are
or maybe you won't

Just like to add my thanks for all the support from everyone here. Makes me realise that on the whole we are doing some good at schools. I did have my posts deleted, for no other reason than I hope to kill robin's posts - so she had less to argue against. This hasn't worked unfortuantely. So thanks to everyone who does put some trust in us and your own children's teachers. In all professions there are good and bad, but IME the majority are goos and do care.

looked at this thread with fresh eyes this morning. Jimjams, I can see what worries you about Robin's remark. Like you, I'm not sure how to take it. I hope Robin suppies an explanation sometime.

FWIW, I read it as meaning that the people who were satisfied with their children's education had the least experience of the education system, ie they are poorly educated themselves, and didn't bother to reaserch schools, check them out. Both of which are rude and simply not true.

I've only caught up with this thread last night, but was quite astonished at some of the things I read and wanted to throw in a bit more support for the teachers. My ds1 only started Reception in September, so I would be the first to admit that I have a very limited experience of the 21st-century education system as yet. What I do know, is that my son, to answer the original question, does learn something new every day; school has been hugely beneficial to him and he loves going. His teacher is dedicated and enthusiastic and the school environment is supportive, encouraging and inclusive of parents. Teachers do a hugely difficult and responsible position that I for one would not be equal to. Respect!

I kind of hope that's what was meant hmb as I read it as something worse than that.

Yes, having re-read it, I see what you might mean. I'd be the last person to argue robinw's case ( ) but the 'In my experience' lead into the statement makes me think that she means parents of all children, not just parents of children with sn. I think she was having a go at anyone who had the audacity to disagree with her and think that schools did a reasonable job. Obviously having a go at teachers was just the starter.....there are more people out there it insult!

For what it is worth I think that parents of children with sn probably have the greatest right to feel agreaved by the education system. It is sn children that the education system is failing most (with the possible expection of dyslexia which is usualy managed fairly well).

Robinw, i have stayed away from this thread as i didn't want to get involved.I didn't realise what was happening was just petty, unpleasant, generalizations. No wonder people are getting upset, if you want to villify teachers, perhaps its you with the problem. I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, i know everyone has there right to an opinion but your comments are just laughable. Are you seriously building up your argument by suggesting that all teachers have mental health problems(can't relate to adults etc.......)? Is that your point? If it is, its not worth listening to, its just pure silliness.

I want to echo Ponygirl in that I have been really pleased with DS's reception class so far. There is a lovely family atmosphere and they do learn something each day. They aren't pushed to the point of being stressed either, which is very important, IMO. One of my original concerns was that DS would be put off learning, as I think 4 is too young to start formally, but apart from complaining about having to sit still for long periods, he seems fine. I think the amount of stimulation and socialising he's getting (not to mention sheer entertainment) offsets the drawbacks of starting young. The one-to-one attention robinw probably craves can be provided by me at home.

His teacher and classroom assistant and head and dinner ladies are all lovely. I could take them home and eat them at the moment! It's also a lovely feeling of freedom knowing that he's there for 6 1/2 hours and I don't have to do a single thing!

I meant I don't have to do a single thing with DS1 for those hours. I have plenty to do with DS2 and work at home. DOH!

Hmb, I read it like that as well. As parents, dh and I are pretty satisfied with our children's education. (Ds1 has an MA and a pg qualification and is considering doing a doctorate in the US, ds2 is about to gain a probable First in psychology and has two offers to do a PhD.)

With children 'in the system' since 1980 (and still with 10 more years to go!) and experience of eight schools in widely varying geographical areas I really don't think we fit Robin's patronising criteria of people 'who have least with which to compare it'.

Of course there are areas where things have been less than perfect; our main gripe was the lack of attention to our ds's absences from school due to ill health. But even that I am 100% sure would be treated very differently today with the modern emphasis on inclusivity and SN. And there have been teachers here and there who haven't been up to the job but, quite honestly, they've been outweighed many, many times by the good. Ime, the vast majority of teachers want their pupils to achieve their potential. I would have thought that seeing children develop and do well (not just in academic areas) is where the job satisfaction and reward lies. But there again, I know nothing, because I'm happy with my children's education......

I've been following this thread with interest, as a mumsnetter of 3 years and also a member of the (dare I say it) teaching profession. I have to say that I've followed robinw's thoughts on teachers throughout my time on mumsnet, thought that they were ignorant to say the least but also couldn't be arsed to try to justify myself and other teachers because she seemed so "la-la-la not listening, with blinkers on" (and of course, I'm a lazy so-and-so who's never done a proper day's work and sits counting term days until the next holiday )
I stand in awe of hmb and her eloquent, well-argued and patient posts to robinw as she has tried to reason with someone who is clearly beyond reasoning with. It's lovely to read the support teachers are getting from all the others on this thread and we teachers need to get all of these comments into perspective, and see that the positives vastly outweigh the negatives. Unfortunately we've been treating this thread like the typical parents' evening: we can have great consultations and positive conversations with pupils and parents all night but the one we'll go with and brood over will be the one meeting - or even one comment that is in some way negative. And that's because we're conscientious, NOT because we think we're above criticism! Anyway, that's my twopenneth...