Why do schools insist on pupils attending parents evening

[18yearstooold]

Parents evening tonight, all very nice 'are you enjoying the subject?' -addressed to the child, 'well they are doing really well' -gives a couple of examples, 'do you have any questions?'

Well actually yes I do but I don't want to raise them in front of my 13 year old as they might make her feel awkward or you may feel like i'm undermining you in front of your student!

Is this a thing with all schools now?

No Ofsted; in Scotland. Have reported lack of communication with parents at inspection time along with many other parents!

I expect I can get to see someone if I make enough fuss, thus becoming "one of those parents"! It fosters an adversarial mood unfortunately.

Recently attended parents evening with dcs for the first time. I found it very useful for discussing issues that the dcs had with the teachers and their subjects, issues that they were too scared to bring up in my absence. Problems were aired and solved, dcs learned about speaking up when they have a concern rather than letting it fester, they really didn't want to speak up. I want the dcs to take responsibility for their education, I am there to support but I want the dcs to hear the feedback directly.
The drama teacher had seen dd as a bit quiet, lacking animation...listening to her chat in the presence of her parents showed him the potential she has, he said she was a different child.

As a side note, the difference in the teacher's different styles was very interesting, do they get any training on how to give feedback? One teacher spent the whole 5min in a monologue about what they had been studying for 3 months, no feedback on DS at all!

Its much better that the child is there because that way they know what the teacher's said. If you want to say something to the teacher only then just send the child away for a couple of minutes no big deal. I think parents often forget that teachers dont have time to give 10 minutes worth of feedback to individual students regularly so it's really valuable.

I really can't see the point of it just being about parents because school is about the child! And feedback should be for most kids really positive.

I've had instances where I've said loads of positive stuff and the one negative is the only thing relayed to the child out of context who is then the next day. If they'd been there then they would have known what had been said.

Yes children always come at secondary school, and in the sixth form everything is addressed to the student and the parent is just an onlooker really.