Charging for Design Tech materials

[nomiddlename]

I'm so cross having just read a letter sent home from my dd's middle school (yr 5). The new DT teacher is asking that all parents 'contribute' £5.00 for the materials they buy for DT projects.

I'm really annoyed that for a curriculum subject, we have to pay (and yes, I can afford it but that's not the point). Can you imagine if the english dept. sent a letter home saying that we had to pay for books the kids have to read?

Then it says, that if you don't pay the fiver, after your child has made the thing, it will be dismantled so the bits can be recycled - how cruel is that?!!!

Surely for a standard curriculum subject, either the school could ask for the odd thing (ie, cardboard box/loo roll etc) and the school provides things such as clay/paint etc or the PTA raise money so that the cost of materials can be subsidised.

Do other schools charge for DT materials at primary age?

But if she didn't worry too much about doing something a bit more exciting and just taught what the syllabus states, then it may be cheaper.

When I say core, I mean a subject they have to study rather than a voluntary school trip or non-obligatory music lessons.

Me thinks teachers earn too much money then

But shouldn't school be exciting sometimes?

Yep, too much money and far too many holidays

Our school are good at managing their budget but just covering the day-to-day essentials often does not leave enough over for curriculum needs. I don't know of a single teacher who doesn't buy stuff for their class, TA's in our school often put their hands in their pockets too. The PTA refuse to fund curriculum stuff (and I don't blame them). Our class has roughly £50 pa to spend on things we need from the budget.

Except that non-exciting lessons = satisfactory lessons, which leads to satisfactory Ofsteds and parents thinking the school isn't very good.

But satisfactory is satisfactory and means it's passed the required criteria to be satifactory.

My DC's last primary before we moved was a recently graded 'Outstanding' school yet I couldn't stand the head and the way she runs it. It's surely all relative.

You don't have to be building with materials to find something interesting and exciting.

You are making the error that many parents do and looking at this from a single perspective.
For some children,designing and making is their talent, their comfort zone. Something they excel at when they might struggle in another, more common subject. It is an opportunity to try something new, to experience cooking or using tools or sewing. As a teacher, you have to consider the needs of all the members of your class, and for some, DT is the most exciting and interesting aspect of the curriculum.

So it's worth the money to do it properly.
I've cheered up now, I remembered why I bought the materials rather than the fact I didn't get paid for them. Thank you OP.

But unfortunately satisfactory = unsatisfactory and lacking in education and LEA/ OFSTED speak.

Building with real materials is interesting and exciting rather than just designing, talking about, researching and evaluating something on paper. Developing motor skills, team work, problem solving and fun, these are the reasons I enjoy teaching DT.

The term 'outstanding' is relative I agree, but most on MN look for an outstanding school for their kids. Not all children are academic some are fantastic at PE or musical or practical. Surely we should not squeeze these pupils talents from the curriculum in pursuit purely of Level 4/5 in maths and English.

Exactly Chopper.

I have now changed my mind about it all and would rather parents pay than the teachers!

I am astonished myself, a few years out of classroom teaching at how much stuff I paid for. But it happens all the time. Especially in primary and especially coming up to Christmas.

Nomiddlename that has fair made my day (it hadn't been a good one, been vomited on by one child and bitten on the head by another) I often wonder if our parents would like more of an explanation as to why we sometimes have to ask for money. I suspect we should.

Downbytheriverside- agree with you totally.You are never going to please everyone unfortunately.
I'm lucky I suppose as my own children are academic (at uni), I just wish they were a bit more practical! It's as much about confidence as anything. I don't crow/ moan about how much I have spent over the years (this is the first time I have ever really thought about it). The pleasure I have received back from the kids reactions and the fun we have had doing different projects have been worth more than money to me. This is what keeps me going through all the pointless paperwork, and this is what I remember most about individual pupils once they've gone: the things we made and the fun we had.

Stuff MN etiquette...
(((hugs clopper)))

I read in the Times Ed (or similiar) the average primary teacher spends £200 a year of their own money

I love doing bits of cooking with my classes, and sometimes get reimbursed from petty cash, but do it even if there is no petty cash left! And then we eat it so it gets recycled :) even if not reused. school budgets usually need to go on more lasting things.

Sounds conservative but average so allows for those who don't need to or can't spend.

£200!!!! I'm sorry but more fool you.
I'm edging back to my previous thoughts now tbh.

£200 - think what you could spend that on for your own children.

I bet that the teachers who spend that do not have their own children or have way too much than to care.

I am also more cross that heads condone it!

Oh this is a tricky one - half of me feels sorry for the teachers and think it's sweet they do a few nice bits but £200 !!!?

You really are coming across as a bit of a PITA now.
Yes, I have two children of my own and a husband that earns less than me.
Yes, I spend about £300ish a year on resources, but the stress of trying to manage without them and still do the job properly balances the pain of spending money on other people's children. Some of us went into the profession to try and help children in general, not just our own.
What is your profession? Accountant? Business manager? Or just focusing on your own children all the time?

Okay - thanks for that. I was really only trying to see it from both sides.

Actually, I'm currently studying to become a health professional and I volunteer a lot of time to other people.

I see what you are saying and I'm really not trying to be a PITA.

I cannot think of any other profession where the staff would pay with their own money for the people they are caring for. A carer in a nursing home does not buy jigsaws for dementia patients, a nurse doesn't buy M&S food because it tastes so much nicer than the standard hospital food, my husband doesn't buy his soldiers nicer boots with soft insoles because the issue ones are like wearing cardboard etc.

Anyway - I've learnt a lot and can kind of see both sides. It's nice that teachers provide extra materials but I think totally uneccesary.

ahh but plenty of your DHs soldiers DO buy their own better boots.
MiL was a care home worker, she didn't have to take a resident home for tea occasionally, but she did.
My DH doesn't have to "buy" extra stuff for work, but he does travel at weekends and not take all his ToIL , He will almost certainly not claim back every single expense he could do from these trips either. He's a civil servant, so its public money he is saving.

LOTS of people go the extra mile in various ways to make someones life a little better, it may be their own life, or it may be a child at school or it maybe a tax payer.

OP £200 a year comes out at around £2 a week. It's not like teachers rush out and spend £200 all in one go. The hospital patient hopefully has family who bring in nice food. I know I do when DD is in ditto the care home folk. Schools ask patents to do the same, is that so wrong?

hellhasnofury let's hope you're not a teacher then because £200/52 weeks is not £2.00..... it's £3.85.

uniS - yes, but your examples (except your mother taking a resident for tea) are all about the employees paying for extra things for themself, not their personnel. So yes, soldiers buy their own boots but their bosses don't buy them for them.

Yup so it is. Crap at maths, me. Sends me into a blind spin.