Use of downloaded worksheets

[Conchamar]

Hello Mums!
We are new to the UK education system with a daughter in Y4. What has surprised us is the extensive use of classwork/worksheets downloaded from teaching resource websites, particularly Twinkl. I am wondering how widespread this practice is across schools? On a couple of occasions, the worksheets have contained American spellings/spelling errors/incorrect punctuation. There is little room on these printouts for the child to respond fully to the question. There is a vast range of material out there but it strikes me that a good teacher will use such resources with care/thought. At the other end, it must be fairly easy for a lazy or inexperienced teacher to click into material that will get them through without necessarily much thought being given to how the info sits together or flows. I would love to hear comments on this and indeed the resources/methods used in other schools for the teaching of English and Maths at Y4 level. Thank you!

Op, what do you want your child's teacher to do? Type up a worksheet themselves? With three differentiated levels? With the perfect amount of space for your child to write their answer? (obviously different children have different sized handwriting and the level of detail in their answers will vary so each child will need their own perfectly sized answer line!)

Honestly, why do you think you know more about what makes a competent teacher than the teacher themselves and the head/ line manager that monitors them?

@HexagonalBattenburg Twinkl are often recruiting for people to create worksheets if it would be something you’d like to do. It comes up on the site straightaway.

Sorry - not answering the OP at all.

The teacher probably pays for the twinkl membership themselves too. I know I do as the school membership cost is insanely high and won't be paid for by the head. When we put our requisition I for next year's resources I'm putting my membership cost on and hope they will pay me back.

Perfect point 're homework. It's pretty pointless yet expected. And we have to power to ensyrevthat it's completed either! So setting valuable tasks ends up with the same kids not doing them. So we still to ttrockstars, my maths, paper maths practise and occasionally a topic based task they might enjoy doing.

What started out as an open question has raised a few heckles hasn’t it. Good grief! A lot of steam to let off.....

Well I think you've raised a few heckles because your "open question" seems to be a fairly transparent criticism of your DD's teacher.

Perhaps if you come out say what you mean next time with a little less of the breathless faux naivety you might find the responses more helpful.

I'd rather the odd spelling mistake on a downloaded worksheet for homework (which if you're that tuoe of parent you can use as a learning exercise for little junior anyway) than an exhausted teacher who has spent hours up the night before recreating a perfectly good worksheet to make it perfect.
I'm that exhausted teacher by the way, still up, still working and probably got another hour to do yet before I can crash. Ptoblrm is in my secondary subject there aren't many textbooks or pre prepared worksheets. If there were maybeid be in bed by now!

Ahhh those lazy teachers again.
Just finished my marking at 12.30

Op, you say you are new to UK education system. A lot of people think homeworks are pointless for primary children in UK. So, it's quite common to have ready made printed out worksheets to satisfy the need of school/parents who prefers children to have homeworks. It doesn't mean teachers are lazy.

And as PP said, American spelling or spelling mistakes can be used as a good learning opportunity. By yr4, I think children are quite familiar with difference between American and British spellings anyway.

Twinkl costs me money but saves me time. Time I can then spend with my own children.
However I rarely use it for worksheets as we have restricted printing and photocopying. Many teachers I know print these at home.

I do avoid American spellings (color!) but the odd one will slip through. Also $ instead of £ has come up before.

As for room for the child to respond -do they need to respond fully on the sheet? Could they use the back or write in a book instead?

A good teacher will choose these with care, but a rushed or harrassed teacher may let mistakes slip through. This usually happens to me when I've little time to get prepared for the day as I've been in a meeting or on the phone to a parent. These are things that are not officially accounted for in our hours, come unexpectedly and often leave me feeling mentally exhausted. That's when when I do a quick search for a resource to use and end up using one that's less than perfect. I can't have the children sitting idle while I make my own powerpoint or find one that's perfect.

Most teaching incidently, is not reflected in the worksheets/books your child writes in. A lot of it is in the discussions they engage in.

You can come in to my classroom and offer an uninformed opinion about the resources I choose to support my teaching, the day you allow me to have an opinion on whatever your field of work is.

Or, you could fuck right off.

Hello
To which person were you addressing your unsavoury comments OhDearGodHaveaLookatThisMess? There had been interesting commentary on here and I don’t think anyone should be subjected to your offensive tirade. I wonder what the Mumsnet policy is on the language you have used? I am minded to report you.

Go ahead. You don't have to be on this site for very long to know that swearing is practically de rigeur. It's not netmums.

And I'm sick to death of people thinking they can dictate what teachers do in their classrooms. They are answerable to their HT and Governing Body, (and higher orders, such as Ofsted), not parents.

@ladolcevida ODFOD. Look it up.

oh deargod makes excellent points. Teachers do actually know what they're doing.