Teacher concerns?

[Hoppinggreen]

Without any previous concerns about the school in general or the teacher would you be worried if you heard your sons experienced, mature teacher say the following (within the same 10 minutes) to her Y6 class?
They speak Spanish in Brazil
Hitler wanted to reunite Germany because it was divided by the Berlin Wall

Norestformrz

I know primary school teachers who outsource some of the planning, buying in resources etc. And that’s fair enough. You can’t be a specialist in everything.

But in any case, even if this woman did do her own planning, I still think this error is understandable. It’s not a big deal - just a mistake.

I actually can’t believe that some people are calling this teacher unprofessional and others are talking about taking action. Poor woman. I’ve been teaching for many years and I’m sure there have been times when I’ve said something wrong. It doesn’t make me unprofessional or incompetent for goodness sake!

@Norestformrz in our school we don’t do all of our own planning. It’s spilt between colleagues. Some do English and Maths and the others foundation. We rotate. I’m teaching a Y2 unit on the Great fire of London that I didn’t plan. I’m not a history specialist. I’ve done a bit of background reading but it’s perfectly possible that I’ve made a mistake. I’m a P.E. Specialist.

"I know primary school teachers who outsource some of the planning, buying in resources etc. And that’s fair enough." And they don't check their sources for accuracy jollyroger?

Howtosupportmyfriend I'm not a geography, music, science...specialist which is why I make extra sure that whatever materials I use and whatever I teach is correct.

And they don't check their sources for accuracy jollyroger?

I imagine they don’t, always, no. Have you any idea how much work they have to do? Honestly, some of you live in cloud cuckoo land when it comes to the workload of a primary school teacher.

But the point isn’t whether they check or no. A resource aiding a KS2 teacher in teaching WW2, particularly the Home Front, isn’t going to correct the misconception that the Wall went up under Hitler. Even if everything in it is accurate, that misconception is possible.

In a way, Hitler did want to reunite 'Germany'. That is, the old heartlands where Germanic people lived. It was why many people rejoiced when he invaded. Is this what she meant do you think?

I think norest is a teacher so would know how busy teachers are

ineedaholidaynow

If that’s the case I apologise to @norest for suggesting otherwise, but then I am even more surprised.

Aquilla my understanding is that he wanted to unite - not reunite, the Germanic people.the difference is important. However, that’s not a huge error. Chucking in the Berlin Wall thing is
Maybe if this was in the context of her teaching about WW2 she would have at least done a bit of a refresher and would have have got it right
We all make mistakes when put on the spot but the point was she wasn’t, she tacked her comment into the end of an answer I gave to a question from a child. It was kind of like her wanted to show she had some knowledge on the subject as well ironically.

She wanted to show

Aquilla my understanding is that he wanted to unite - not reunite, the Germanic people.the difference is important.

Well, yes it is, and opposite to your understanding. Hitler wanted to recreate an Imperial Germany and the expanded Prussian state under Bismarck.

Jollyroger I am a primary teacher and would never teach anything without checking my facts. The problem with using other people's resources/planning is that you can't guarantee quality unfortunately there is a lot of shockingly poor materials floating around the internet.

Jollyroger I am a primary teacher and would never teach anything without checking my facts.

I suspect your workload is manageable, then. Not everyone is in your situation.

Where would go, by the way, to check your facts? If you bought a good resource from TES or similar? Would we find you in the library reading Mein Kampf?

It was kind of like her wanted to show she had some knowledge on the subject as well ironically

Your patronising attitude towards this woman is shocking, considering you hardly seem to be an expert yourself.

We all make mistakes when put on the spot but the point was she wasn’t, she tacked her comment into the end of an answer I gave to a question from a child. It was kind of like her wanted to show she had some knowledge on the subject as well ironically
Or she just made a mistake, just like millions of people do each day.

But I'm sure it's much better for you to decide she must have been trying to show off whilst you sit there smugly and go off to start a thread about her incompetence.

As jolly said, people are quick to think that what they know is general knowledge and quick to look down on people who don't know the same facts. It seems a bit unpleasant to me.

The defensiveness on here isn’t helpful. I’m a teacher and I don’t know everything.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z92hw6f/revision/3

BBC bitesize is an accessible (reliable) source for topic knowledge

It's not defensive. The teacher made a general knowledge error in a general discussion.

The OP has decided to take a patronising attitude to the teacher and start a thread suggesting the teacher isn't competent and withheld the fact this was a comment in show and tell (so not a curriculum topic) til much later.
Add in the smug comments about how the teacher must have been trying to show off their knowledge and it comes across as quite an unpleasant attitude in my opinion.

"I suspect your workload is manageable," I suspect you're wrong but no excuse for misteaching.

Once again (yawn) I have no issue with anyone not knowing everything but to my mind if you don’t know about something you keep quiet rather than try and get it completely wrong. I’ve been asked questions many many times in my career and private life, including when I used to do a bit of teaching and if I didn’t know I made sure I at least didn’t give information was incorrect.I don’t have a particular issue with the teacher not knowing all about Hitlers rise to power, why should she if she’s never studied it?
And as it happens (again) the show and tell was about a specific family heirloom which, surprise surprise, I do have quite a bit of knowledge about. The child asked me a related question which I felt was too complicated and in depth to answer at the time and said it wasn’t a simple question to answer as there were a lot of factors and then the teacher came in with that
I appreciate that there might be teachers on here that have to deal with arsey parents and I have nothing but sympathy for them. I couldn’t teach, I don’t have the skills or quite frankly the patience.
If I did want to be an arsehole about it I could have corrected her in front of her class or gone to The Head but I didn’t and absolutely wouldn’t. Instead I posted on an anonymous forum where the teacher is pretty unidentifiable

Norestformrz

Yes, it is an excuse. Nobody has time to check every single fact. Some things we believe we know, and sometimes we are mistaken. I, for example, don’t know what many people would consider to be general knowledge in the field of Biology. I would obviously research the topic, but if I made an error based on a misconception that fifty hours of additional research might have cleared up, then meh - I don’t have fifty hours, so it is what it is.

Hoppinggreen

But you’ve made a mistake yourself here. You don’t seem to know a lot about pan-Germanic nationalism prior to WW1. And that’s okay. Nobody is calling you stupid. But if you had ‘gone to the Head’, the Head would have rolled both eyes, patted you on the back and said, “Yes, Mrs Hopping” and done precisely nothing about it, because everyone makes mistakes.

If you haven't got time to check what you're teaching is correct you shouldn't be teaching it! teachers have a responsibility to get it right for the kids we teach.

Norestformrz

I agree I shouldn’t be teaching what I don’t have time to check, but since nobody is about to give me more time, again, it is what it is. 1 + 4 is never going to be 6, no matter how many times you say it’s important to have 6.