State education Is it up to standard?

[Educationguru]

Has anyone got any opinions on this one?

I thought she teaches in both state and independent and therefore had an inside knowledge of both. Maybe I misunderstood that.

My gripe was with the fact that a teacher had stated that teachers don't always have time to do something about children who are not achieving as expected. Now you're saying that this doesn't happen at all. I was only outraged at something said by a teacher who I understood worked in both state and independent schools (part time in both I presumed, but perhaps I got that wrong).

I think she has worked in both, but currently teaches in independent.

Not having time to call parents about things does not mean that problems are not being addressed. As a classroom teacher, I keep a very close eye on my students and put interventions in place if necessary. This might be as simple as one-to-one sessions during my lessons or involve extra time after school, using the SEN dept to support written work or working with other depts to share strategies. I wouldn't necessarily contact home about these. It's highly unlikely that parents would be oblivious to the need - if they were, it would mean that they had ignored review grades and written reports and failed to attend parents evenings. If there was a particular behaviour issue, then I would want to contact home, but again, it might be that I get the form tutor/head of year to do so.

It's much more complex that some people think, particularly when one is dealing with over 200 students per week.

That is what I would expect and hope would happen. I was quite shocked to see a teacher stating that the quiet non SN children slip through the net and teachers don't always have the time to ensure that measures are put into place to help non achieving children.
I do appreciate that calling parents constantly is not necessary and not necessarily helpful; but I would expect the school to do something internally to help children, which you have confirmed does happen.
What you are saying makes much more sense and is certainly what I have witnessed at my eldest sons secondary school.
Apologies if I came across as very rude yesterday. I think my own experiences and reasons for switching my youngest child to a new school, coupled with a teacher telling me that schools don't have time to help non troublesome struggling children got my blood boiling. I think the comparisons between state and indie parents was also very judgemental and unfair and not entirely true and isn't a reason to not attempt to maintain good links.

Totally agree with you.