To think teachers' kids have all the advantages

[thepogues]

Bit tongue-in-cheek but a significant grain of truth.

Wherever my kids have been in classes (whether at primary or secondary), the kids of teachers always seem to do unusually well. Of course, some kids will be naturally super bright but statistically you'd assume their IQ/potential to be spread (bell curve and all that) plus, anecdotally (though I've known lots) most, anecdotally, do not appear more sparky or intelligent than their peers. But perhaps they work harder as they all seem to excel, particularly in terms of home work tasks but also when it comes to certain exams.

What is the reason for this? Is it because the teacher parents (or grandparents/relatives, for that matter), know how to teach or is it because they are able to find out about upcoming tests/similar tests or because they know the ins and outs of what is required to achieve certain grades (in line with the curriculum). Or both?

Would love to hear your views/comments.

[SnowWhitesSM]

Do you really think it's to do with valuing education and visiting museums?

I have two dc.

One loved reading and could read before starting school. She's predicted top GCSE results and did the higher papers. She is involved with the youth Parliament, very engaged in learning. She brought home a library book a few days ago about Anglo saxon churches just because she found it interesting.

The other will barely scrape 5s. Doesn't like reading, hates school work, can't wait to finish work and work on a building site

They were both taken around the same amount of museums and NT places. They were both read to everynight, they both read to me most nights. They both did extra curricular activities, they both saw me working and studying.

I don't think it's all down to nurture.

[Tinkerblonde1]

I am a teacher.

My dd is literally the opposite of me. She is underachieving in set 3. 70 percent attendance. Serious mental health issues.
Hates the fact I work at her school. Though is used to it a bit more now.

Guess there are always outliers.

[VeryQuaintIrene]

I doubt that every teacher knows every bit of the curriculum. My mum certainly didn't know much about what I did in science. But she was very big on homework and effort and she read to me when I was in my cradle. I owe her everything academically for instilling all that into me.

[Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas]

@SnowWhitesSM

Do you really think it's to do with valuing education and visiting museums?

I have two dc.

One loved reading and could read before starting school. She's predicted top GCSE results and did the higher papers. She is involved with the youth Parliament, very engaged in learning. She brought home a library book a few days ago about Anglo saxon churches just because she found it interesting.

The other will barely scrape 5s. Doesn't like reading, hates school work, can't wait to finish work and work on a building site

They were both taken around the same amount of museums and NT places. They were both read to everynight, they both read to me most nights. They both did extra curricular activities, they both saw me working and studying.

I don't think it's all down to nurture.

No it’s not all down to nurture but the OP is talking about a general pattern.

[Woollenfox]

Nah,

I heard some awful things being said about a teachers children last week. They attend the school she teaches at.

it was some parents who were saying it in front of their children - who know the teachers children too.

I felt really sad for the kids. It isn’t their fault their mum works at the school. And yet they’ll obviously be struggling with teasing and bullying because of it.

Worst still - the teacher in question isn’t well liked by parents and children alike which probably makes life even more miserable for her children!

[teenagerinlove]

Basically what @whiteroseredrose and @Portonic said.

I'm the child of teachers and while we were not hot housed at home (I don't think my parents had a clue what homework I had for example or whether I'd done it) there was a very clear expectation that we would work hard at school and achieve to the best of our ability. Teachers and schooling were to be respected and valued. If you got in trouble there was pretty much no way my parents were siding with us (I can think of only one exception to this, when a teacher swore at me - then my mum went ballistic!). You never got a day off sick unless you were properly ill.

My mum is an early years teacher. All her games with us and her grandkids were educational!

Also agree that teachers kids are a tiny bit neglected due to the nature of the job and it can be disappointing that your parents can never be a daytime school events.

[SuperTea]

I work in a PRU and we get a surprising number of teachers' kids.

Most of the teachers I know admit parenting or even tutoring your own kids is nothing like teaching other people's. Teachers obviously know how to support their kids best with academic work when the children are compliant, but they face the same issues as the rest of us when it's not going so well. Which some find really hard to deal with because they're supposed to be experts..

[Phyllis321]

That's a humungous generalisation, OP. I've taught for 23 years, 17 in the same school and I've taught dozens of colleagues' kids. They are rarely poorly-behaved but academically they are as much of a mix as all the others.

[clary]

I am the daughter of teachers; in my house education was valued, it was assumed we would do our best and take A levels and probably go to university (at a time when fewer people did so). This may have had as much to do with my parents’ character as anything though. There was always space and time for us to do schoolwork, but a friend who was also daughter of teachers said there was nowhere quiet in her house and no “atmosphere of work” (her words) like at mine.

I was a teacher and I always expected my DC to do their best and work hard. Their academic abilities are varied but I feel that they all did the best they could.

A teacher by definition has a degree and most likely a postgraduate qualification; maternal level of education is a key factor in a child’s progression. And any teacher must surely value education and hopefully pass that view on. But lots of other parents are educated and value education. The highest-achieving friends of my DC are children of engineers, doctors, project managers, lab technicians, people who work in sales, comms or marketing. Equally some DC of teachers achieve less well in academic terms.

The reference to tests info baffles me – are you talking about parents who teach their own DC? That’s a nightmare in every way IMHO. OTOH knowledge of GCSEs is handy – but usually limited to one’s own subject. I can tell you all about how to pass a GCSE in MFL, but biology GCSE would be a closed book tbh. And any parent can access the GCSE spec and find out what is needed. That just takes the internet and the interest to do so. But if you are implying that teachers pass on the answers to their DC (pretty hard to imagine how, unless they were teaching them) then no, that does not happen. Teachers don;t know the advance content of GCSes any more than any parent does.

[MrsOwainGlyndŵr]

It was always a teacher's kid in primary who got to play Mary or Joseph in the annual Nativity play.
And who got starring roles in other school events.
And it carried on into secondary, where their parents weren't teachers - obviously due to the sense of confidence and experience from being the chosen ones in primary.

[SuperTea]

My mum is an early years teacher. All her games with us and her grandkids were educational!

My mum was a junior school teacher. Even our birthday parties were educational. She used to play a game where children were given a card with a country name on, for example and they had to find the matching capital city hidden somewhere in the house. I think she used old birthday cards cut in two, so you could also match the picture. Children seemed to like these games!

[ChocolateHippo]

Socially it's a nightmare for teachers' kids. I wonder if that contributes to them doing well academically... less distractions as well as parental expectations?

[Pippinbird]

@adriftabroad

I agree with this.

My sister is a teacher. 20+ years.

Agree.

[clary]

@MrsOwainGlyndŵr

It was always a teacher's kid in primary who got to play Mary or Joseph in the annual Nativity play.
And who got starring roles in other school events.
And it carried on into secondary, where their parents weren't teachers - obviously due to the sense of confidence and experience from being the chosen ones in primary.

I was never Mary. Nor were my DC. Not that that proves anything. Starring roles in my DCs' plays were spread about tho the same lad in DS2's year was always the main role. His dad was a car salesman so :)

[user1471530109]

From the other side, I always worry that when my DD does well, one of my colleagues thinks I've helped her or even worse, shown her the test! She is autistic (well likely-going through assessment now) and is obsessed with my subject. She knows more about some aspects than me. So does extremely well in 'my' subject. I haven't taught her. She's read it all herself.

Other subjects vary. But I am hyper aware of her struggles so do ask my colleagues what I can do to support her. So I do suppose she has an advantage in that respect.

Due to her challenges, it's helped having me in school. But she replies too heavily on me for support when she does have a bad day. So jury is out on whether I've made the right decision. I expect when my youngest starts in a couple of years, she will avoid me as much as possible!

[PurpleWisteria]

I'm the child of a teacher and I did very well at school, as did DSis. My parents valued education, obviously, and passed on a love of literature, history and other subjects to me. We used to talk about it at home. I grew up in a house full of books. They were always ready to help with homework if I was stuck - even if just to talk it through.

OH is also the son of teachers and he and his brother both did well at university. He isn't a teacher but I was and both DSs have PhDs now. They thrived at (comp) school and still have a love of reading. Our house was also full of books as are theirs now they have left home. They have a love of history from trips to NT places but both went the science and maths route at university.

DSis has a son who has autism. Because we are both teachers we identified this very early on and were able to support him and get the right sort of school for his needs.

Neither of my parents taught me and neither did I teach my DCs. Not a good idea. However, my parents knew a lot of my teachers so I was used to seeing them in a social setting. It also meant that I knew misbehaviour of the extreme kind would find its way back.

[summermode]

I don't think it necessarily relates to "teachers", but children of professionals are more likely to do better academically: value education, role model (work/study hard to earn a good living), good habits at home (eg. reading) etc.

[Butteryflakycrust83]

I follow a woman on IG who is a teacher, and her young toddler is massively ahead in terms of milestones, but that's because she spends all day teaching her (via play) exactly like she would at school. She has the infinite patience and knowledge to play educational games etc - therefore her child is incredibly verbal, can spell their own name, can count, dress themselves, feed themselves with little mess etc. They have a strict no TV/Screen too.

I always wondered if when they start school they aren't terrifically bored?

[AlexTheBird]

My husband is a primary school teacher and we have a 7-year-old summer born. She has always struggled academically and as much as my husband tries to engage, she wants him to be dad, not teacher.

So I would say that she has zero advantages to having a parent who is a teacher. He works long hours, sometimes an entire day is devoted to work over a weekend. He doesn't do homework with her - he's got 30+ books to mark. He rarely gets to come to school events and very rarely manages to do pick up and drop off. Homeschooling during the pandemic was a nightmare - he was at school teaching key-worker children and our daughter was stuck with me, trying to work a 9-5 job and teach her (badly) at the same time. The only advantage she gets is holidays with dad. They have a lovely bond, so much so that I've told him he's not allowed to leave the teaching profession until she's a teenager!

[Twizbe]

My mum was a maths teacher and taught at the secondary school both me and my brother went to (rural location)

Tbh it was shit! I suppose I did 'better' than some peers at school because I couldn't skip homework, school, muck about in class etc as it was immediately reported to my mum.

I was also bullied massively because of it. Maths wasn't a 'sexy' subject and that made me an easy target to the kids who didn't enjoy it / do well.

I would not call it an advantage at all.

[maddy68]

By definition I'd their parents are teachers they are academic and therefore likely to be the ones reading every day to their children , extending them musically they are likely to have more acadenic vocabulary etc.

[Fairislefandango]

No, OP, they don't have 'all the advantages'. They are probably more likely than average to be reasonably bright. They are more likely than average to have parents who value education and who are engaged with what their dc are doing at school. Than average. That's about it. Those advantages don't apply to all teachers' dc and apply to gazillions of kids whose parents aren't teachers. I've known lots of very averagely-achieving teachers' kids, and some with real issues at school.

One of my dc was fairly recently hassled quite a bit by older kids specifically about his dad, because dh worked at the same school our dc attend. So that's not an advantage.

[artisanbread]

I'm a primary teacher and DH is secondary. One DC is naturally very academic. The other less so but still fairly able. At primary school I would say the greater advantages came when they were younger. I know how to teach phonics so could support with that. I knew the sort of motor skills, number skills activities etc that benefit early learners. I know the methods that are used to teach maths at school currently so I could support with that. Same with grammar and reading comprehension. We do do a lot of "cultural capital" activities but not necessarily more than many other parents.

The advantage is less than secondary. DH's subject is not taught at KS3 so doesn't have a direct influence on learning. He does however know many colleagues who do tutoring so that is also helpful if we ever need it. Also he knows the right questions to ask if an issue ever comes up. The older they get, though, the more needs to be done under their own steam.

And PP is right that our DC were always the ones in after-school club every day and who never had anyone at class assembly/sports day/school play.

[MrsHamlet]

What is the reason for this? Is it because the teacher parents (or grandparents/relatives, for that matter), know how to teach or is it because they are able to find out about upcoming tests/similar tests or because they know the ins and outs of what is required to achieve certain grades (in line with the curriculum). Or both?

I've taught the children of several colleagues. None were exceptional. None were given the heads up about tests to a greater extent than anyone else I taught.

[CandyLeBonBon]

I was taught by my mum and hated it. People assumed I cheated/there was favouritism and bullied me for it and my mum did the actual opposite and refused to help me with anything even when I was struggling (I particularly struggled with maths and was left to utterly flounder) whereas my brother got tutoring for areas he struggled with.

Teachers (her friends) would also talk about me to her without talking to me first so if I'd got bad grades or something, I'd get a bollocking before I even knew about it.

I wasn't allowed to call her mum, she refused to give me lifts to school and ignored me in the corridors. All to avoid looking as if she favoured me. She also did teacher training at my nursery school and refused to play with me there too!!

I did ok at school but if discalculia was diagnosable back then, (and adhd, which I've since been diagnosed with) I reckon I'd have been a candidate so no, teachers kids don't get special treatment in my case!