My 5yo's teacher is insufferably woke

[Ladyday1995]

Apologies if this is not in the right category.

My DS started year 1 in September. His new teacher has been somewhat of a thorn in my side for a few weeks. Nothing serious though and I've never had much need to speak much to her.
DS came home last week waxing lyrically about COP26, how we are wrecking the planet and destroying animals habitats. He quite rightly doesn't understand what he can do about it, we live a fairly "green" lifestyle etc. We talked about it at length so I could make sure he understood.
Anyway, I'm not all too happy that this is what he's being taught in his valuable schooling hours. I've had a little peep on teachers Twitter and she jumps on many trendy societal issues of today, even supporting insulate Britain FFS.
I realise this is a slippery slope. I'm in Wales and I know the gov has recently slipped past a controversial new "diversity and equality" plan for the curriculum. I can't say I agree with much of what I've read being taught to children, particularly regarding sex education, and gender identity.
It's a bit of a minefield. The climate change lessons aren't ideal, but I digress. My worry starts when the PSE lessons start. Ideally I'd not have my son attend these lessons at all. I am more than capable of explaining these matters to him myself when I think he is mature enough to understand. Is it unreasonable to ask for a more detailed report of what they will be studying? I don't want to look like some Pearl clutching bigot. I am concerned about how much of his teacher's political stances could seep into her teaching practice. Does anyone else have any experience or ideas of what little uns are being taught in school these days?

@Megalameg

Let’s be real if OP had posted that her child’s teacher was a big Bojo supporter who supported alt right causes and was a men’s rights activist on Twitter the responses to OP looking at the teachers twitter would be radically different. But if they agree with the teachers wokeism then of course looking at her (public) twitter is snooping.

And if those beliefs they didn’t agree with seeped into the classroom in any small way like this teacher they would be all for trying to get the child to sack her. But of course it’s fine if they are of the same opinion as her.

This is why one sided political views have no place in the classroom. It’s sad when drunks in pubs have a better code of etiquette than woke primary school teachers.

Climate change is no longer 'belief'. It's scientific fact. So it's not comparable to what you are saying.

Teachers are obligated to not influence children with their own opinions. The OP has actually been clear the teacher hasn't done this. She just doesn't like her Twitter feed!

Teachers also follow a curriculum. Nothing 'woke' about climate change.

Some ignorant posts on this thread about both climate change and education

I work in Scotland's equivalent of y1 and we have a similar new curriculum. I can assure you what we teach is age appropriate and more about dc knowing the real names of body parts, about consent and privacy at an age appropriate level. No wokeness. We taught them that boys have penises and girls have vulvas. None of them knew what a scrotum was and many didn't know what nipples were.

@ArthurTudor

I’m not against something about climate change and the actual science being taught. But let’s be real, 6 year olds aren’t going to understand it and won’t be able to get their heads around it in anything other than a very very simplistic form - and they don’t need to be pointlessly scared by it.

Of course there’s also the chance this teacher has highly politicised opinions around climate change as well given her woke belief system. Teach the science to 10 year olds and up or around that age - keep it very very basic for little uns and don’t scare them and don’t politicise any of it with a woke belief system.

I can understand why you’re upset about how climate change has been communicated. Your little boy is now worrying about something he wasn’t worried about before. There’s nothing he can do about it, so what is the knowledge going to do at this age apart from make him fret. You could talk to the teacher to explain he’s worried and find out how they have taught it at a school - are they doom and gloom or are they focusing on the positive things young children can do - like litter picking - which would be more age appropriate.

For the PSHE, have a look at merchedcymru.wales/rse/.

@liveforsummer

Teaching sexual consent to 6 year olds who don’t even know what sex is or understand it is wrong and perverted.

@ChequeredHistory

He has his entire life to comprehend that the planet is facing a crisis. He has just about gotten over the global pandemic that shook the world. I don't understand why we can't let kids be kids for a little while,

I am SO with you here OP

The majority of 5 year olds have a worldview that doesn’t easily allow them to make much sense of huge global issues. They can just about wrap their heads round 3 sleeps till their birthdays, fire is hot so don’t touch it and you shouldn’t beat up your toddler sibling because they accidentally stood on your Lego model.

Teaching them to not drop litter, teaching by example by turning lights off when you leave the room and shutting the door to keep the warmth along with a talk about why we have various bins for different waste, is probably enough. There’s plenty of time to learn how their parents have fucked up their home planet and what they can personally do about it but at five they need not to have the weight of that world on their shoulders.

Agreed! And I sympathise with your view OP. Let them be little and worry free as far as possible at the age of five ffs. And we wonder children and teenagers’ mental health is shot to shit

I think you need to distill exactly which parts of the curriculum you’re unhappy with and why. Is climate change a problem because it might upset him? Because you don’t feel it’s taught in a way he can understand? What about ‘race’ theory? Do you meant the teacher runs an anti-racist classroom (as she should) or something else? I’m a little confused, but if you have specific concerns or questions about the curriculum at the school you should write an email detailing exactly which parts have concerned you and why.

Between now and and until he is 18yrs old he will have lots of different teachers, all with different views. One of the joys of going to school is that you don’t just get subjected to one point of view. I can’t believe you are already worrying about sex education! You are going to be disappointed as it is all very dull and uncontroversial and there will be very little to complain about.

[quote Megalameg]@liveforsummer

Teaching sexual consent to 6 year olds who don’t even know what sex is or understand it is wrong and perverted.[/quote]
Or it creates a layer of safety for children who are abused?

[quote Megalameg]@liveforsummer

Teaching sexual consent to 6 year olds who don’t even know what sex is or understand it is wrong and perverted.[/quote]
Hang on, so you actively want to prevent children saying no, or seeking help if they are innapropriately touched?

everything’s gonna burn up and die off at some unspecified future point

Yep - you're not wrong there!

@VashtaNerada

I also wondered what 'race theory' was.

It's been two years of abject psychological hell for children and he's barely even had a year and a half's worth of proper schooling due to lockdowns. I would rather he was learning valuable skills such as STEM, language, artistic expression

Unless your child is living in a chaotic or abusive household I think 'abject psychological hell'
Is a rather hyperbolic - my dc have thrived having 1:1 teaching and have learned valuable IT skills, a new hobby that has given them huge self esteem boosts and we've had family time that tbh has been good for all of us. They are both on track with leaning and at yr1 age there's loads of time to catch up anyway. Mine are older. Unfortunately your preferences won't change the curriculum. Climate change teaching/environmental issues aren't new. Dd1 is 12 next month and I remember her being the light monitor at your DC's age. It was her job to make sure the classroom lights were turned off when they left and a home learning task was to make a poster about it and why it was important.

[quote Megalameg]@ArthurTudor

I’m not against something about climate change and the actual science being taught. But let’s be real, 6 year olds aren’t going to understand it and won’t be able to get their heads around it in anything other than a very very simplistic form - and they don’t need to be pointlessly scared by it.

Of course there’s also the chance this teacher has highly politicised opinions around climate change as well given her woke belief system. Teach the science to 10 year olds and up or around that age - keep it very very basic for little uns and don’t scare them and don’t politicise any of it with a woke belief system.[/quote]
There's nothing wrong with a 5 or 6 year old knowing the planet is under threat. At their age they can learn small changes can help. Young children should know about recycling, turning lights off etc. By your argument they should also not learn about remembrance Day as they would be "pointlessly" sad about the loss of life. As long as these things are taught in an age appropriate manner there is no issue.

You seem to dislike teachers. You know they are allowed opinions! Educational professionals can are trained in how to keep to facts and not to bring in their opinions. So what if she has 'highly politicised' views? The OP herself had indicated she's got no reason to believe she's teaching the children her opinions as fact

I think essentially though you and the OP have a different attitude towards education. I would be thrilled if my 5 year old was learning about COP 26.

[quote Megalameg]@liveforsummer

Teaching sexual consent to 6 year olds who don’t even know what sex is or understand it is wrong and perverted.[/quote]
Are you referring to the pants rule? Kids need to be taught this.

[quote Megalameg]@liveforsummer

Teaching sexual consent to 6 year olds who don’t even know what sex is or understand it is wrong and perverted.[/quote]
Where the hell did I say sexual consent. I said age appropriate ie if another child is trying to hug you and you don't like it or if someone is tickling you. As for the sexual side of it - the privacy/ pants rule has been around for an age. Of course we need to teach dc it's not ok for strangers to look at or touché their private's outside of dr's etc. Parents should be teaching this too but they frequently don't. The nspcc has guidance

Teaching about climate change is not a political belief, nor is akin to a religious belief. Humans are really screwed if parents won't event allow their children to be educated about it. The next generation are going to need to sort the mess out that our generation and older generations have made, at the very least they need to understand Telling a 5 year scary stuff about the consequences isn't a brilliant idea I agree, but they need to be taught about it at some stage. In fact they've been repeatedly telling adults that they want to be taught much more about it.

All the posters saying there is nothing inappropriate taught in PSHE are very lucky if this is not happening in their school. There are lots of PSHE programmes teaching all sorts of questionable things. EG the very popular Jigsaw programme tells children from aged 5 to keep the lessons secret from their parents. I think the situation is worse in Wales due to their new curriculum. Parents are being prevented from seeing what is taught to their children; and when they are allowed to see it, they might find that all sorts of rubbish and harmful things are being taught.

Why does a child need to be taught only about stuff they can do something about? It’s not as if they can do a whole lot about history, geography or science but those are all entirely valid subjects

@Moreandmoreandmore

All the posters saying there is nothing inappropriate taught in PSHE are very lucky if this is not happening in their school. There are lots of PSHE programmes teaching all sorts of questionable things. EG the very popular Jigsaw programme tells children from aged 5 to keep the lessons secret from their parents. I think the situation is worse in Wales due to their new curriculum. Parents are being prevented from seeing what is taught to their children; and when they are allowed to see it, they might find that all sorts of rubbish and harmful things are being taught.

Jigsaw does not say to keep it a secret

Woke???? It’s so awful that teachers try to educate isn’t it?

Teaching climate change is woke…

Arthur the jigsaw charter says “ We respect each other’s privacy (confidentiality). Although, realistically, it is unlikely that complete confidentiality will be observed, it is important that children are taught to respect the privacy of others and to do their best to keep what is said in Jigsaw Pieces (lessons) and Circles confidential. The teacher must emphasise that she cannot promise complete confidentiality as she must report any information relating to safeguarding concerns” How is that not telling children to keep the contents secret from their parents? And that’s for 3-4 year olds. www.jigsawpshe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Jigsaw-Approach-to-Early-Years.pdf

My son is year one. His school has spoken loads about COP26. He probably knows more about it than I do. He's told me we have to look after his toys so they don't end up in the bin and we can pass them on, that he should put recyclable stuff in a recycle bin, and his school is collecting plastic bottles to make eco brick. All little ways a 5-6 year old can help the planet and have some ownership. Tbh I'm quite impressed.

I think you're over thinking this.

Climate change is not a woke political opinion it’s a basic fact about the world we live in.

Also, it’s creepy to look teachers up on social media for not good reason.