What would happen if a child didn't want to do their work?

[Classof2032]

Basically that. My 5 year old was kept in at playtime and lost all of her Golden Time today. I feel it was extremely harsh and has the obvious side effect of her deciding that she doesn't like her teacher any more.

[LagerthaSilverHair]

You would apologise to the teacher or you would want your child to, Cody?

If, you it seems a bit excessive, the teacher would be kept very busy if every parent did this every time their child had to be reprimanded.

If your child, do they not have to understand what they did wrong first, for it to mean anything? This girl was most likely ill, as explained by the OP, when she didn't 'want' to do her work. 5 year olds are often not the best at verbalising what exactly is wrong. It will probably and rightly seem quite unfair to her. If I was not worried about my child's behaviour, in this instance, I would probably see if she forgot about it.

[clam]

Exactly, irvine.

[LagerthaSilverHair]

Op's posts on this thread do not read that terribly or controversially to me.

[mrz]

I suppose it's to do with your definition of "work" which in an EY setting coukd be any adult led activity from painting a picture to measuring a Giants footprint to writing a list for Jack when he sells the cow - and no one expects a child to do more than they are actually capable of doing. Finish children also do "work" ... Play is a child's work.

[bruffin]

Verbena
I worked for a finnish company for 6 years, i was not impressed with the results of their education. The reason they lead academic results worldwide, is they have the simplest language for a native to learn to read and write, and they do not include children with SEN in their results.
Agree Cody
My dd went through a stroppy stage in reception for a few weeks and ended up losing play. I supported the teacher and dd got over her strop (turned out she wasnt happy about new children joining at the christmas intake)

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I'd be very surprised if many European pre-school educators would be understanding of a child not following an instruction and the parent not backing the school up. IME that doesn't generally go down well at all.

And Finland's results are on a downward trajectory. I think their raw scores in international testing are actually falling. I wouldn't be so sure what we see of the education system leads to the results that people think it does.

[user789653241]

Sometimes I have to force my ds to do something that he doesn't want to do, but I only do it because I care about him. I think teachers are the same. They do it because they care. So, I feel sad that OP seems (from her post, so just speculation) to see teachers/school as an enemy, and doesn't seems to want to work with them.

[LagerthaSilverHair]

I'd be very surprised if many European pre-school educators would be understanding of a child not following an instruction and the parent not backing the school up. IME that doesn't generally go down well at all.

Well, they should be understanding. As I have said, upthread, there are many legitimate reasons why a child might not follow an instruction, in which case a parent would not back an action to punish for this, without question.

[CodyKing]

She wasn't punished - she was asked to complete her work -

Golden time isn't a right - it's earnt - it's a reward for hard work -

She didn't earn her reward -

Same as if you didn't do your work - you finish in your own time or you don't get paid -

[LagerthaSilverHair]

Most adults get sick pay and can stop work if they are ill. The OP thinks her daughter was coming down with an illness. Most adults are allowed breaks when they are working, regardless of how much of the work they have completed.

[MidniteScribbler]

Why instead is she not being reassured that it is normal for children to test boundaries and her daughter will be ok?

Because this is yet another post by the OP about her child and the schooling. The memorial one was because the teacher wouldn't get out of a meeting with another parent to immediately look for a lost cardigan, as I remember correctly. Not the actions of someone who is likely to be reasonable in their approach towards education.

[CodyKing]

Doubt the teacher got her break - bet the OP got hers -

[mrz]

The child will be spending the majority of their school day playing and would be asked to complete a teacher led/directed activity for a few minutes (at this point in the year 15-20 minutes would be the norm) . We don't know if what she was coming down with prevented her from doing what she wanted for the rest of the day or if it only prevented her from doing what she was asked to do ...we could guess 🤔

[LagerthaSilverHair]

It is a great shame many of the poster's comments regarding the problems this little girl is having, with concentration, behaviour and completing her school work, have been overshadowed by criticising her mother's obvious frustration over a lost cardigan, in a previous thread.

I vaguely remember that thread. She didn't come across so terribly then, I thought, either. Extremely frustrated over a whole series of items her child had lost, yes. Powerless to retrieve them, without any support from a teacher, compounded by the fact she did not get to pick her child up very often, yes. Personally, she just seemed at the end of her tether - and having experienced school staff being spectacularly unhelpful, at times, myself, I am not surprised. Thankfully, I am not one to lose my cool, generally.

It can be stressful, especially if a child is somewhat disorganised and a school does not in any way support the development of organisation skills. I have noticed, on here and in real life, the end of a school day can often be chaotic and poorly supervised. Coming out at at inconsistent times. The majority of children having no bags ready, having to go back for items several times. No teachers to be seen or lower down the school correct handovers to a parent failing. In this context, retrieving lost property can be a nightmare, as parents cannot enter a school building without permission / finding a member of staff to accompany them. And even when things are named they do not get handed back to a child but end up in a lost property 'black hole' at various changing locations within a school.

So yes, I've still sympathy for this mother. But regardless of any sympathy or lack of it, held over mother's frustration over lost property, this should not greatly affect the consideration of whether a teacher's withdrawal of the whole of Golden Time / Breaktime, for a 5 year old child, who did not complete her school work, is warranted or beneficial.

Focussing on the child, instead of the parent, for a minute, it is apparent that she has had difficulties with concentration, controlling her impulsive behaviour and has found the noisy classroom environment 'stressful'. I would have thought this would have been particularly relevant contextual information, however posters who are teachers on this thread seemed to want to minimise this particular contextual information. I wonder why, we could guess....

[BathshebaDarkstone]

larrygrylls DS in reception actually says, "I want to do homework!" at night. His homework is things like: "how long does it take you to have a bath?" and "read the caption and draw the picture."

[CodyKing]

it is apparent that she has had difficulties with concentration,

Once

controlling her impulsive behaviour

Once

and has found the noisy classroom environment 'stressful'.

Once

According to OP

[LagerthaSilverHair]

Cody The OP posted this on the other thread (which I refer to since it is apparent that the OP is receiving criticism for her posts, concerning her daughter's education, on other threads),

"I have asked for her to work in the corridor because she finds the classroom environment stressful, but they said no."

"She prefers silence for her work, so she gets extremely distracted when it's noisy. There have been a few issues with her sitting down on the floor, which we are working through."

From this it sounds like her daughter has had some ongoing problems. The OP here, has shown that her daughter shows tendancies for being 'extremely distracted when it's noisy'. She talks about there being 'a few issues' which they have been 'working through', so it sounds like some sort of plan has been necessitated for dealing with her daughter's difficulties. Added to this her daughter has been showing enough stress due to the classroom environment that her mother felt strongly enough to ask if she could do her work elsewhere, not a decision that can be taken lightly.

To me, it seems obvious, due to the way the OP has spoken about her daughter's issues, that these issues have occurred more than just twice in 6 months. Repeatedly, claiming there have only been 2 incidences indicating the daughter's difficulties, in this context, seems a deliberate attempt to play down the difficulties the daughter has experienced, to me, in order to make the sanction appear more valid.

[mrz]

So who supervises her in the corridor?

[CodyKing]

Mrz - are you serious?

Poppet will have a soft velvet chair, surrounded by armed guards and host of servants to fetch and carry refreshments -

The teacher will be on call at all times to assist - bow and say "Yes Mam" whilst attempting to deal with 29 other children who may actually have additional needs - and at the same time search out missing clothing.

[mrz]

And mum will be first to complain when child hurts herself doing something she shouldn't

[LagerthaSilverHair]

So who supervises her in the corridor?

mrz this really is not the point.

Don't tell me, after all your teaching experience, you have never come across a child who finds noisy classrooms stressful and intolerably distracting. I would have expected that you know ear defenders, clam rooms, 1 to 1 learning support assistants and small group working are just some of the methods regularly employed by mainstream schools to reduce the impact on learning these difficulties can have for a child. Just because a parent suggests a course of action, that has flaws, is no excuse to do nothing to manage her child's difficulties, other than delivering sanctions when they cause her to fail.

[LagerthaSilverHair]

^calm rooms. Typo.

[LagerthaSilverHair]

Poppet will have a soft velvet chair, surrounded by armed guards and host of servants to fetch and carry refreshments -

The teacher will be on call at all times to assist - bow and say "Yes Mam" whilst attempting to deal with 29 other children who may actually have additional needs - and at the same time search out missing clothing.

Cody is it possible to be any more dismissive over a parent's concerns? Being overly dismissive is not only inconsiderate, by definition, it is extremely rude and can be dangerous, if the information someone is attempting to communicate is of vital importance.