Phone calls home, why is it only a secondary policy?

[Boujichef]

Why is it secondary school teachers are expected to make phone calls home, in instances of both praise and concern, yet primary schools only seem to be expected to communicate a certificate or sticker?

With workload such a concern, does anyone else feel phone calls eat into a teachers time, reducing precious marking, planning and assessment time?

I feel a centralised approach would be much more efficient and just as impactful. How many of us are phoning the same parents regarding poor attitude or behaviour across multiple subjects?

That's ridiculously unfair to primary teachers! How much time do you spend out on the playground at the end of the day catching all these parents about their children? And of course we make phone calls home for those who aren't on the playground! At my school we also spend our time uploading photos onto an online platform to show what we have been up to in the classroom.

And do you seriously want to get into the workload debate? Because it always comes out that primary teachers work more hours than secondary.

Moan about making phone calls, but don't bring primary teachers into it. We both do a job. The job is different. We both work long hours for little recognition most of the time. It's not a competition! If primary is so easy, switch. I have the upmost respect for secondary teachers (normally!) because it's not a job I would be prepared to do. In the same way I understand why many of you don't want to be dealing with snotty 5 years olds. Don't make it a competition.

I'm secondary and tend to do emails for praise and also for minor sanctions. We're definitely not asked to do more phonecalls!

Jesus, I spend double the amount of time dealing with parents and phoning home in primary than I ever did in secondary. Every single thing has to be documented and called home about. Last week I made 15 phonecalls and held one before and one after school meeting with parents plus attended a TAF meeting. Plus all the grabbing at the school gates of which there is plenty. I am year 6 though and behaviour is appalling this year. I have to fill out a form for every single thing and it's SO time consuming but you have to cover your arse.

I think i've had one phonecall from my kids secondary in 4 years and that was to say my dd had been in a "scuffle" when actually she was concussed and had been assaulted. I do get 2 negative point emails every week though because she has steadfastly refused to wear the stupid pe skort ever since she set eyes on it. And a point for missed homeworks etc. But the only verbal or physical contact I have with the secondary teachers is instigated by me if I can chase them up enough. 18 emails to arrange a meeting whe dd returned to school.

I would ring the odd parent when I taught secondary but most of the behaviour past a certain point was channelled through the unlucky HOY. There was paperwork for it but the heavy lifting of conversation was down to them. Why is your HOY not on top of this? And surely there is a centralised log? Go4schools etc. I know my HOY would just pick up his file every night and do it. We just put slips in his file. I have been year 6 for ten years now though.

Primary teacher here and I spend sooooo much of my time talking to parents! Chats on the playground, uploading stuff onto the virtual learning platform for them to see, meetings with parents, uploading stuff, phonecalls, responding to comments about stuff I've uploaded, responding to emails, explaining why Precious Child hasn't had Star-of-the-day yet, coordinating parent-helpers, dealing with complaints when Precious Child has an injury on the playground, uploading more stuff, helping parents search the classroom for Thingy's (unnamed) cardigan, uploading stuff...

I think you get the idea.

SEN here, c. 20 uploads to the VLE per child per week, read and write lengthy comments in home/school book every day per child and phone calls every few days. Plus long chats with family of pupils who aren't on transport. It's actually one of favourite parts of the job as I get a rounded picture of my students. When I was in secondary the HOY and pastoral did the phone calls.

Primary deffo spend more time talking to parents, it’s every bloody day for them.
As a secondary teacher I have given up wasting my time ringing parents, they always, without exception, and without hearing the issue, support their kid ( nb this is in my school only, and only in the past few years)

Maybe things have changed since I retired as a Secondary teacher a few years ago, but I could count the number of times I phoned home over 30 years, if not on the fingers of two hands, then on fingers plus toes! (NB I wasn't a Head of Year)

And speaking as a parent of two who went through the state education system, I don't remember a phone call for the reasons the OP stated.

You lose all credibility for your argument when you show that you know absolutely nothing about primary schools. If you have an issue in your own school, deal with that. Don’t cheapen your argument with incorrect comparisons. 100% as a primary teacher I spend a lot longer each day talking to parents than any secondary teacher does.

😂 Anyone who has worked in KS1 knows that emails and phone calls about lost jumpers and water bottles are endless.

I work in KS2 now and most children are collected by their parent so instead of phoning up parents, they are spoken to in person at the end of the day. Usually about 20 mins per day is spent talking to parents in person. The ones I can't catch, I phone.

Yep primary and I'm forever calling parents too - certainly daily. In my last job there would often be parents speaking to me for 20 minutes before and after school too.

Primary here. I'd say communicating with parents takes 15-30 minutes a day every day. You're either out on the playground before school or after school with multiple emails on top.

We often make calls ...talk before or after school in playground or ask the parent to step inside for a moment etc etc