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?

I'm not convinced this is genuine. When my dc came home from school at 5 all they told us about was who had peed on the floor that day, who had thrown up in the dining room and who had thrown sand in who's face. They didn't come home talking about their teachers opinions on anything, certainly not climate change, politics, race or gender identity.

@ThirdElephant

I'm familiar with the standards, thanks. There is nothing on there that states social media should be kept private or apolitical. Expressing support for a political viewpoint on a social media platform is not the same as exploiting a vulnerable pupil nor encouraging a student to break the law. It takes a special kind of mental gymnastics to conflate the two.

I could not care less about her personal opinions

Yeah right:

I've had a little peep on teachers Twitter and she jumps on many trendy societal issues of today, even supporting insulate Britain FFS

and

Teacher expresses many opinions in favour of things such as gender identity and race theory

Do yourself favour and ask for the curriculum documentation about whatever the fuck is rattling round your head.

Why does concern over these issues make her 'insufferably woke'? I hate that phrase, it's the word Piers Morgan uses to shut down any conversation about things he doesn't believe in.

The teacher hasn't done anything wrong. You chose to stalk her social media and maybe you ought to ask yourself why her views bother you so much. Mentioning climate change to a class is not a bad thing...

I think I speak for many teachers when I say you will find home education a lot less stressful.

[quote Megalameg]@UnsuitableHat

Oh no, it definitely means something. It’s just short hand for a certain type of person who will support the same sort of woke causes, be predictably triggered in the same way by the same same things and use the same kind of “woke” language (privilege, problematic, toxic etc.) and of course generally be for shutting down or deplatforming anyone who has views they consider “problematic”, “toxic” etc.

If the OP has looked at the teachers twitter and it’s like this then calling them woke us very appropriate as it’s far more than just being for climate change action or supporting green causes etc.[/quote]
You have absolutely no idea just how stupid you sound with your constant use of the word ‘woke’, do you?

And no, I’m not triggered, or whatever woke phrase you feel like using...

what can a five year old do to challenge climate change?

Have a different attitude to climate and the environment whilst he is growing up.

YABU for using the word 'woke' in that way.

The teacher has a curriculum to follow, she doesn't make it up as she goes along. You are going to be a joy of a parent aren't you.

live No one is telling 3 year olds that hmm. At the moment what we are covering is respect so listening and not interrupting when another dc is sharing, respecting their privacy ie if they don't want to share their thoughts that day that's ok we thank them for answering with 'no thanks' and move on and that's 6 year olds. You are way over thinking this

I’m not overthinking it. It’s literally what the jigsaw programme tells teachers to do. If individual schools decide that is wrong, that’s good. But the PSHE programme tells schools that lessons are confidential, and I know of one school where the school have taught it like that - directly telling young children that the lessons are confidential / secret. There will be some schools that are sensible and some that are not. Parents need to make sure that their school is one of the sensible ones, otherwise their child may be told to keep secrets from them.

@Sowhatifiam

I think I speak for many teachers when I say you will find home education a lot less stressful.

😂😂😂

*Arthur That means if a child in class says something other students need not to treat the comments as gossip. It does not mean not talking about the lesson content at all. It means not going home saying X,y and z said this. It means going home and saying we learnt about X, y and z. If the child's comments flag a safeguarding concern the teacher will deal with it.

Its about making the classroom a space where children feel they can talk freely. They are not advocating hiding information from parents about the content of the lesson*

Do you think a three year old can understand the difference?

@Ladyday1995

I left this out of the original post as I got curtailed by the climate change thing. Teacher expresses many opinions in favour of things such as gender identity and race theory.

I don't have advice OP but just a word of support for you here too. This is political, COP is political. Practical things to help the planet is different to teaching about COP. Being cool with your little boy wearing a dress is different to changing his pronouns.

It's not whether what they are saying has a valid point. It's about frightening a small child about something that they have no power to change. There will be plenty of time for that worry as they get older but it's getting to our children younger and younger. I would be speaking to the head to find out more information.

It’s literally what the jigsaw programme tells teachers to do.

I don't think you understand the word 'literally'.

It's been explained to you what is meant & you still persist in misunderstanding that it's not keeping anything secret from parents, it's not discussing what others say in that context.

Caring about climate change isn’t ‘woke’. Are you living under a rock??

@noblegiraffe

You stalked her on twitter, don’t like her personal opinions and are complaining that she’s talking to kids about protecting the environment?

This.

I’m not overthinking it. It’s literally what the jigsaw programme tells teachers to do. If individual schools decide that is wrong, that’s good. But the PSHE programme tells schools that lessons are confidential, and I know of one school where the school have taught it like that - directly telling young children that the lessons are confidential / secret.

Yeah that’s a lie. Get off your soapbox and do your homework.

So many people desperate to have their views represented in the classroom and horrified that the teachers views might be being represented in the classroom.

Teachers follow a curriculum. I wish I had time to push my views. I'm too busy cramming in Maths and English. My class know that blue is my favourite colour. Is that ok or am I pushing 'blue' on them?

By the time your kid gets to secondary school he'll have 12-15 different teachers. Your social media stalking will turn in to a full time job!

I don't think the fear of God has been put in to your child - that's just hyperbole.

It's been explained to you what is meant & you still persist in misunderstanding that it's not keeping anything secret from parents, it's not discussing what others say in that context.

.. and has little relevance to 3 year olds however at 10 if a dc was to disclose that they'd started their period but had no sanitary protection because they live with their dad and have been too embarrassed to tell them, you don't want the other kids to think it's ok to spread it around the playground or go home and tell their big sister etc. At 10 they are old enough to comprehend this level of confidentiality that should be afforded to their peers

Earrings I don't think you understand the word 'literally'. I do thanks. I have read the jigsaw guidance. I pasted in the wording. Teachers might put their own interpretation on it. However, it’s still wrong in 100% all circumstance to tell three year olds not to tell their parents something. It’s always, always wrong. It teaches very young children that it’s sometimes ok to keep secrets from their parents. That gives an ‘in’ to an abuser. I don’t get what about that people don’t understand. Young children don’t have the ability to discern which secrets are ok to keep and which aren’t, so the message that beat protects them is to never keep secrets from their mum/dad/carer..

@Moreandmoreandmore

Earrings I don't think you understand the word 'literally'. I do thanks. I have read the jigsaw guidance. I pasted in the wording. Teachers might put their own interpretation on it. However, it’s still wrong in 100% all circumstance to tell three year olds not to tell their parents something. It’s always, always wrong. It teaches very young children that it’s sometimes ok to keep secrets from their parents. That gives an ‘in’ to an abuser. I don’t get what about that people don’t understand. Young children don’t have the ability to discern which secrets are ok to keep and which aren’t, so the message that beat protects them is to never keep secrets from their mum/dad/carer..

Nonsense. It's been explained multiple times. Respecting someone else's privacy is not wrong.

Do you not teach your DC to do this?

Live At 10 they are old enough to comprehend this level of confidentiality that should be afforded to their peers. But the jigsaw guidance that I posted is for 3-4 year olds, it says so on the front cover. Don’t shoot the messenger, it’s not me who wrote the guidance.

@liveforsummer

It's been explained to you what is meant & you still persist in misunderstanding that it's not keeping anything secret from parents, it's not discussing what others say in that context.

.. and has little relevance to 3 year olds however at 10 if a dc was to disclose that they'd started their period but had no sanitary protection because they live with their dad and have been too embarrassed to tell them, you don't want the other kids to think it's ok to spread it around the playground or go home and tell their big sister etc. At 10 they are old enough to comprehend this level of confidentiality that should be afforded to their peers

You vastly underestimate the abilities of children.

However, even if I accepted this underestimation, how do you think the older children become able to understand and do this? It's not because it's newly launched to them at their later ages. It's because they've been taught it gradually from a younger age.

This thread

It reads like the ramblings of someone with paranoia and although I was talking about the op at first, they seem to be at least taking other opinions on board. Thank goodness for the drips of reason throughout. The learning through osmosis system at school up to the 90s has a lot to answer for. Lack of reading comprehension and only being able to think in a narrow way. Thinking words like woke is an insult. Agree with previous posters , woke=political correctness gone mad/did you know Christmas has been cancelled? people from the previous decades. Usually said by people who suffer from road rage.

Get off your CT social media. Read the curriculum so you know what is actually being taught and then if anything untoward does appear you actually have something to base it on.

Is there something else going on op? In my experience, when a parent gets fixated on small issues with a school (I'm not talking about bullying/sub standard teaching etc) it's because there's something else going on in the background. Hopefully, your mind is more at rest. If not, ask the teacher what they were talking about so you can talk around the subject as your DC responded to it emotionally.

There will be certain topics your DC will get obsessed by as other posters have commented. It's quite common. Sometimes they get the wrong end of the stick too. A chat with the teacher to set them straight again is simple and effective. Don't build a wall against the school. You'll be bashing against it for a long time. Easier to just communicate.

@noblegiraffe

You stalked her on twitter, don’t like her personal opinions and are complaining that she’s talking to kids about protecting the environment?

this.