Who holds the responsibility?

[melissa75]

We had a discussion in our staffroom at work today about who holds the most resposiblity for teaching a child, the parent or the teacher. Some parents seem to feel that they send their child to school so it is the teachers job to teach their child, and other parents recognise that there is no way that their child is going to progress without support from themselves.

It just amazes me as a KS1 teacher how many parents complain to both myself or one of my teaching colleagues that their child is not progressing quickly enough (ITO) in reading for example, but then they never read with their child at home. This is actually what initiated the conversation at lunch today in my staffroom, about parents who complain about lack of progress but yet don't want to take any responsiblity to help their child at home.

I guess, because I am a parent and also a teacher, I have seen it from both perspectives, but I just cannot personally imagine not supporting my child in areas that they need help in when working with them on things at home.

So just out of interest, who do you think is responsible for 'teaching' your child the academics? Is it solely the teacher, the parent(s) or someone in their home life (eg grandparent) or both? And do you complain about your childs lack of progress in class but then are not willing to do anything to help them at home?

[cory]

When you broke the hours down, melissa, it did seem to make perfect sense. At the same time, I can't help remembering that in certain other countries I know, children start school later, do shorter hours in primary school, get less homework and still manage to keep up educationally compared to this country.

I wonder if we are not partly inefficient because we try teaching children too young. My ds was certainly not ready to learn to read when he was 4, but we had to spend hour after tedious hour doing reading exercises and making him miserable. He has finally twigged after 4 years of feeling a failure.

When I started school in Sweden as a (near) 7yo, I don't think there was a child in the whole class who didn't twig reading in the first term. At about the same age as my ds, when he finally got it after 4 years of struggling. Is this efficient?

(and btw those of us who were ready before taught ourselves to read, or kept ourselves entertained in other ways, noone was made to hold back)

With dd I did very little homework in infants because I knew she was too young and exhausted after a long day at school; it was totally counterproductive. I noticed this morning that she has nicked my copy of Vanity Fair to read at break time (she is 12. So I don't think I have exactly failed her.

[terramum]

In law it is parents who are responsible for ensuring their children receive a suitable education. If a parent decides to use the school system then they are still responsible, it's just that they are using the school's resources.

[katiestar]

So does the school not have any legal responsibility to provide an education ?

[saadia]

It's an interesting question. A while ago I would have said that the school holds responsibility but now I think that ultimately it has to be a partnership.

Ds1 is now in Y2 but since Reception his teachers have been telling us that he needs to practice reading/comprehension and maths. They all said he was able but needed practice.

I would read with him but found him very unco-operative with anything else. He has been in middle to lower sets in most subjects as his concentration has lapsed lately.

Anyway, having volunteered in a couple of schools and seen how little attention each child gets, dh and I now do a lot of work at home with him . Over Easter dh taught him his times tables, and I worked with him as well and he has progressed a lot and his confidence has improved.

I would say parents can and really should make an effort to re-inforce school work and help their child. In many cases children just need more practice with various things.

[twinsetandpearls]

I think it is the job of parents to provide the socal skills so allow learing in the classroom to take place. So teaching her right from wrong, taking her to groups to develop her social skills, following up any concerns at home. We are very aware that she is an only child so spend a lot of time playng boardgames with her or inviting friends over. I also very very rarely allow her to have time off school, I would never allow a holiday in term time.

I also see it my role to inspire a love of learning and to support what dd is doing through trips and real lfe situations. For example dd is a lover of nature so we go bird watching, she rides, goes fishing. She is a number whizz who also loves a spreadsheet ( don't ask) so we make spreadsheets and graphs of birds we have spotted, how our plants are growing etc.

We also see ourselves as role models she sees us as constantly learning and reading. Most children of my dd age (7) still look up at and want to be like their parents so she too loves learning and reading. I have noticed that dd likes things we like. Dp works with computers and loves science and maths. DD not surprisingly loves the same. I teach RE and dd shares my interest, I also love history dd loves coming on trips and like her mother has an interest and growing knowledge of women history. Our house is full of books in every room, she has her own library of encyclopedias and books she can use to look things up She is a little sponge constantly soaking up new knowledge, some of that is nature but a lot is nurture.

We get a letter at the start of each term from the school saying what dd will be studying. We will follow that up at home and often plan trips or activities to follow that up.

The actual teaching is up to her teachers though. However I think it isn easier to fix bad teaching than bad parenting.

[melissa75]

"When you broke the hours down, melissa, it did seem to make perfect sense. At the same time, I can't help remembering that in certain other countries I know, children start school later, do shorter hours in primary school, get less homework and still manage to keep up educationally compared to this country"

Cory, I think this is such a major point. IMO, children are WAY too young to be in full time school in recpetion, or even year one. So many other countries in the world as you said do not have children starting full time school until they are six or seven (Canada being one of them, which is where I was born, raised and trained as a teacher). I personally think it is so much better to wait longer, as having seen and taught reception, so many of them are just not able to cope with a full day of school. Never mind the Year ones who are expected to sit and do work all day long, and they are five!! I have always tried to give them time to have some choosing opportunities, but there is just SO much to jam into the curriculum that this is becoming more and more rare. I teach Y1/2 split class, and as we are doing SATS at the moment with the 2's, it means that the 1's obviously have to have something else to do, so we have been setting out construction activities for them to do in small groups, and it is so nice to see them have time to do this, teaches problem solving skills, fine motor skills, social skills to name but a few. It is just such a shame, that those making the decisions about what has to be taught and when forget how old these children actually are, and that jamming words, numbers etc down them each day at such a young age really does not do them much good as proven by worldwide statistics, because it is the countries where children start full time school at 6 or 7 that have the higher success rates, so they must be doing something right!

twinsetandpearls, we have a lot of the same ideas on things it seems, as I wholeheartedly agree with everything you have written. Can I have you as one of my pupils parents please?!

saadia, such an important and true statement you made, where you said you volunteered in the classroom and saw how little one to one each pupil gets. This is such an imperative aspect of things. I personally think it is so important for every parent to be given the opportunity to volunteer one day in their childs school, not their childs classroom, but the school. This allows parents to see what "really" goes on in the classroom. So many of my parent volunteers have come to me after volunteering and said they had such a different attitude towards schools, education and teachers after having spent time in the class. It is usually the parents that complain that cannot seem to make the time to come and spend even half a day in the classroom.