Can teachers please go out on strike against the fantastic waste of their time that are REPORTS

[MerryMarigold]

My sister is a teacher and she agrees! (She's been a teacher for 10 years and she said nearly all the parents say the same thing).

I feel so sorry for teachers spending time on these. I had fun 'decoding':
"Takes a real interest in" = is good at
"is beginning to" - is actually pretty rubbish at, but let's try and say it in a positive way

etc. etc.

He's in NURSERY. Can't they just make some insightful observations on how he plays? I am dreading 14 years more of this type of thing! Please, please can this change? Who is it helping?

I'd much rather have one line "Ds1 is very kind to other children, but his concentration could improve." Any teachers out there who would rather write one line per child, or maybe one line per subject for the older kids?

Mrz it is useful as I have no idea what are reasonable expectations for a 5 year old. We read Biff, Chip and Kipper books but I would love to know what level a child at 5 should idealy be at. When I was told DS was below average it made me think of more inventive ways to engage DS with reading, since then he has moved up a book level.

OP you're sooooo right!! When DS was 2 we had a report which amongst other nonsense told us how many blocks he could stack. 12, apparently. No information about whether that was above or below average. And if below average, what's to do? No, boy, you can't use the sandtray, you're off to remedial stacking!

At my school, we have end of year reports and a parent/tutor conference. At the conference, the tutor, parent and student review the report and develop targets for the next year together.

If the parent/student do not attend the conference, the tutor decides the targets and sends them home for signature.

These are then stuck into the students new planner in September.

We do this from Year 5 - Year 12. Below that, there is more adult lead.

Does it matter ?

I tell my class that if they have done their best they can be proud of themselves (even if their best isn't as good as the person sitting next to them).

Who is that comment for "needs to develop his data collecting skills"? Is that a message for next year's teacher, the parent or the child - who do they expect to fix the issue...I've always assumed that given the report is written for the parents the comment is for me...does next year's teacher get the end of year report or something more revealing?
We get lists of things our dcs can't do, small things that I seem to be able to teach in less than a minute, I wonder what the point is in bringing them up - it would be quicker for the teacher to teach it.
I find it really frustrating that issues haven't been communicated with parents throughout the year. Where is the line drawn between an issue being big enough to alert a parent to mid-year and saving it up for the big reveal in the end of year report.
I would have thought if teachers were communicating well with parents the end of year report should lack any element of surprise - or am I expecting too much (once again!)

mrz, it is right to communicate achievements with pupils, but you also have a duty to communicate with parents. Formal reports are important.

But there is always a next step, heavymetal - children never have nowhere to go in their learning.

I think it does matter. I am not a teacher so I accept that the teachers amongst you do know best, however I found that when I made the homework more playful the results were amazing. We played a game of zapping the action words with his Ben 10 gun. He was suddenly engaged and wanted to learn. Had I not been told he was falling behind, I might not have thought of different ways of teaching him.

'We get lists of things our dcs can't do, small things that I seem to be able to teach in less than a minute, I wonder what the point is in bringing them up - it would be quicker for the teacher to teach it.'

Hear hear.
Endemic in all helping professions thoguh. (Including my own.)

Quote: moondog Tue 29-Jun-10 21:36:57
'We get lists of things our dcs can't do, small things that I seem to be able to teach in less than a minute, I wonder what the point is in bringing them up - it would be quicker for the teacher to teach it.'

Hear hear.
Endemic in all helping professions thoguh. (Including my own.)

But it works the other way too. DS and I go over and over somethign and it wont click for him, then I mention it to his teacher and the next day he has it sorted ... And likewise there is something he doesn tget at school but I word it differently and he gets it
I do think it is worth telling us if there is something that they arent making the right progress on

The 45000 words mentioned earlier are personalised comments about the children's attainment and achievements in literacy, numeracy, science and 'personal comments' only (only tick boxes about achievement, effort, concentration and behaviour in foundation subjects).

They have taken hours and hours....... we have also had to fill in tick boxes for: Achievement in relation to National Curriculum Expectations, effort, attitude, behaviour and concentration. And we've also had to put two individualised targets for next year at the end of each page.

If I get one complaint......

As a parent id rather read negative things if they are true. Peoples flaws make them human, if my dd didnt have any id be very worried!

Am eagerly awaiting her report next week, im hoping for 90% good and 10% constructive/negative stuff we can work on.

Primarymum - I too am very glad that we are finally able to wordprocess.

When I started teaching (that makes me sound very old!) all comments were handwritten on one big piece of card. So, if I messed one up, all the other teachers would have to write theirs out again.

To the poster who asked if state school teachers write 'real' reports... I work in a state school and I write my own comments. I've never used a comment bank in my life nor have I taught in a school that allows them.

I think I prefer an end of year report to an additional parents' evening because of its concrete nature. Parents who wish to are able to meet with us to discuss the report.

PMSL @ 'remedial stacking'