Parents' Evening

Joey came back from school with a form about Parents’ Evening yesterday. You know the type of thing: You had to mark down which day you wanted to see the teacher and an ideal time. We’d already filled one in for Lily the previous evening, so I was about to tick the same boxes when I noticed that the teacher had marked a box saying that he didn’t need to see us. And it really pissed me off!

We were hoping to meet the teacher, see some of Joey’s work, chat about his progress, and clear up a few questions. It would certainly be a hell of a lot more useful and personalised than the copy-and-paste report card we would get at the end of term.

I suppose for the school, it’s their way of trying to reduce the workload for the teachers and to focus the available time on those children who need it most. That way, they only see the parents of children with particular learning difficulties or behaviour problems.

Joey is a bright boy who generally does well at school and is motivated, and my guess is that they don’t want to see us because he’s doing well enough. The problem is that this way of thinking doesn’t take account of the progress Joey’s making, whether he is improving in relation to his past achievements and what he could do better. It just says "Joey’s doing OK compared to the rest of the class. He’s no problem to us, so we don’t really need to worry about him."

It seems to me there are so many potential benefits to parent/teacher meetings that it astounds me they don’t want to see us. At the very least, they could have used it as a way of celebrating Joey’s successes, telling us how well he’s doing so that we could reinforce the message and let Joey know we’re proud of him. It would also be a way of getting to know a little more about the child, like finding out about his outside-school activities and interests and getting some feedback about homework activities and his attitude to school. It also ensures that everyone is singing from the same song sheet and know what the teacher’s expectations are. As a teacher, I’ve had several occasions at parents’ evenings when some parents and I have discovered that a child has been playing us off against each other. It’s a great chance not only to clarify things, but also to build up a relationship with parents.

Of course we will be seeing Joey’s teacher, even if it’s after school one day. But it seems a shame that the school didn’t want to see us, and it has sent out a very lethargic and negative message about Joey’s education and the lack of value placed on the partnership between home and school.