Are teachers held to account if children aren't meeting their targets?

[AbsolutelyEmma]

This isn't a teacher bashing thread in any way.

But if a large percentage of a class aren't meeting expected levels have slipped behind is there any accountability?

Are they applying the criteria for where the child would be expected to be now- half way through the year? Or against expectations for the end of the year in July?

Yes teachers are held to account for the children's progress.

It sounds like your child started reception at a lower attainment level than many other students.

Covid etc and now he has made up some of the progress.

In the past students who were either low attaining or making slow progress had interventions - so they might miss assembly once a week for extra phonics for example.

The interventions are put in place based on the data from assessments.

There are a lot fewer TAs around in primary schools than there used to be so I'm not sure how many interventions happen these days.

Often children who are low attaining do find it hard to keep up, and much harder to keep up, especially if they are weak in reading. In the past it was the same kids in intervention year after year.

Op the major issue is why is your dc falling behind, why were they struggling before covid and why aren't they retaining info now.

Have you considered a sen?

In my experience finding this out as a parent and getting to these underlying causes is better than aksing any teacher to help because with the best will in the world they just can't.

*@Octavia64. Intervention in phonics is useless if that's not actually helping the dc to learn to read but is in fact a barrier.

@AbsolutelyEmma I would see if you can read the school assessment policy. Some schools have parents’ evenings to explain it.

As a governor, I was always looking at assessment data. Not individual dc, but overall data for each class. First of all, our teachers assessed around 3 times a term. It was agonized over! Also work was sampled by other teachers to ensure accuracy. The assessment was based on what dc had been taught. Not what they hadn’t been taught.

In KS2, DC were set work based on their understanding of the topic. The dc who were working towards did revision of basics needed before a new topic. So tables, measuring, multiplication etc. Then they would be taught the topic and appropriate work set. That way the teacher can see who can do what anD accelerate dc where needed. Therefore of course you get exceeding, meeting and working towards. However not all classes will be the same. Very few could be exceeding. These dc should be getting extension topics. Others will improve with revision and practice. Some will remain as working towards.

The teachers are expected to keep the dc making progress but they have different starting points . With borderline dc this can be a bit yoyo as you are discovering. Neither do teachers always agree on progress made!

I would expect dc to be assessed more regularly than once a term. Thats actually too infrequently to put in intervention. So definitely ask about that. Can the teacher say what dc needs to do to get expected? You could then practice or guide dc at home. The teacher might have low expectations, which would be a worry.

Its fairly unusual for a teacher to not get salary progression due to this and it would depend if it was a target for their performance management. It would not be the only measure of their performance. Heads evaluate performance and make salary recommendations to the governors pay committee.

They will have a pupil progress meeting to look at data and make a plan for next term for interventions etc.

Tell the teacher you feel deflated because you already do loads at home but ask what you can do to ensure the best chance of getting EXP in the summer term.

Thanks, lots of useful advice.

I did try to ask a lot of these questions such as what do the assessments mean, what specifically is dc struggling on, but I didn't really get clear answers. On one hand it sort of sounded like dc was struggling with everything, but in the next sentence was being told that dc helps less able children. I was told that dc doesn't ask for help when needed so they are quiet.

This is what I do every day at home with dc.

10 minutes times tables practice - dd is secure on these
10 minutes spellings for the weekly tests. We also practice other spellings that year 4 need to know. Dc gets good results in weekly tests but general spelling isn't great.
10 minutes reading. Dd is a fluent reader, comprehension is good when reading a book.
CGP workbooks. Maths, Grammar, Comprehension. Not all of them every day but we will do a couple of pages of one each night.
Practice telling the time.

There are definitely certain things that dd really struggles with. Extracting info from the text. Certain maths topics there are strong subjects and some completely missing.

I'm doing my best.

@AbsolutelyEmma I would ask for a meeting with the teacher.

Firstly: what is the curriculum? Do you have an overview of it? You then know what is being covered.

How do dc get allocated work? Do they choose from a menu of questions? Work allocated by table? Who is he sitting with? Usually dc get to help others when explaining the topic helps them too. So explaining to another dc the steps of a process can be beneficial but usually a dc who has total grasp of this is asked to do it. So explore this concept with the teacher.

A teacher that knows a child is quiet should check on them! Ask them a direct question. Do they have a hands down policy? This is where teacher doesn’t just ask the keen ones with their hands up, they spread the questions around to include everyone. Ask what the teacher is doing to include dc. It’s her responsibility to ensure he makes progress and a quiet child not asking for help cannot be overlooked. Sounds like her teaching style needs monitoring!

This is one of the reasons I don’t teach any more. Sometimes I would get kids who were simply below average ability, who were badly behaved or wouldn’t cooperate. Then I would get blamed for them not achieving highly enough. I was encouraged to falsify results to make it look like they were achieving at the required level.

Hi @AbsolutelyEmma. Yes, teachers performance is related to the children's progress. Of course, this has its flaws, as some children's progress will be slow due to a number of reasons (home life, SEN etc). You sound like you're doing lots with your DD, which is fantastic.

What I would ask for is a copy of her test papers, so you can see exactly what she's good at, and what she's finding tricky. I've done this plenty of times for parents, and they find it useful. If the school are difficult about this, ask them if you can at least see them, and discuss them with the teacher.

Ah, so I asked for exactly this and the teacher was going to do so but senior leaders shut it down and we were not allowed to have them copied or see them.

You sound like you are doing a lot and that your child is working hard.
You MUST go back to the school and get some better answers. Try teacher first, then head of year if there is one then go above that if you’re still not getting what you need to know.

@AbsolutelyEmma that's ridiculous! If I was your DD's teacher, I'd just copy them and not even ask senior management! Gosh how infuriating. Parents like you, who actually want to support their children, being presented with obstacles from school staff is so unhelpful. I wonder if there's a way you can find out what the tests are, and see if they're available online?

@AbsolutelyEmma There should not just be termly tests to assess progress at this age. Is this a state school? Of course you can see your child’s work. The school should make her work available for you to look at.

At good schools data on assessment is entered into a computer program to give data for head and governors. It shows progress over time. Of course progress varies. Some dc will never be above working towards. However that doesn’t mean they haven’t made progress. Others make constant progress and are always exceeding - they are well taught and bright too.

Teachers are not punished for having dc who are WT. What is not acceptable is where dc who have been expected regress and nothing is done to move dc back to expected. Therefore you need a more detailed discussion with the teacher and a knowledge of their assessment policy. Once a term years is very skimpy and, frankly, lazy. It’s too infrequent to fill the gaps. You seem to know what they are so surely the school should too and be doing something about it.

Reading comprehension seems lacking so ask questions about what she has read. Did she actually understand it?