How much responsibility lies with parents and teachers?

[Erin_25]

It believe & this is just IMO (coming from a teaching family)....it all starts at home. You teach your child yourself until the age at which they get sent to school. Some kids start school/kindy not even knowing what letter their name starts with. As parents we are supposed to guide & teach our children & frankly I get sick of all the blame being put on teachers & all of the responsibility...yet when it's something the "parent" doesn't agree with then all of a sudden it's "they shouldn't teach them that"!! It starts & continues at home. Teachers have guidlines etc that the follow & things that they teach...yes they need to teach properly & some may not be as good as others but it doesn't stop when the child gets home. We still need to read to our children, encourage learing & education. And teach them what we feel & believe so they grow knowing what it is we feel they should & grow into the adults we hope they will be - if that makes sense. Teachers do hold responsibility, but I dont believe as much as the parents...we had the children they are ours not the schools IYKWIM.

[MantaRay]

Well said Erin. I think learning is a partnership, but the primary responsibility lies with the parents. It is up to us as parents to ensure that our child is in the right learning environment, that their learning needs are being met, and to make up the shortfall from what they are learning outside the home (in some cases this might be academic, but will also cover a range of things like manners, morals, ettiquette, maybe religion, etc etc). You don't just send a child to school and wash your hands of them. You need to be communicating with the school to know what is being taught, how it is being taught and how your child is responding and learning.

[krysalyss]

I agree with what has already been said. It is a joint responsibility.
Additionally, how can you expect a teacher who has 30 something children to look after, to know your child and their needs better than you do? Personally, I love spending that time with my son and am actually looking forward to the whole formal learning process. I think learning whether in primary school or university is very similar. The school introduces the concepts, topics and the 'know how' - you need to go away and learn to use them in a variety of ways so they are relevant to you and your life. I think that is where the parent can play a huge,important role in the learning process.

[Pretty Butterfly]

Ditto what everyone has said, and that school is fab!!

And that mum needs a smack up the head!!

Taylah has always received extra help with reading, and always been a group thing with us and the teachers. She treis so hard, as do we, but it is taking some time, poor doll.

As she fell under the benchmark last year, she received a grant for $700 worth of tutoring, that I will also attend, at the school, after hours. And I am stoked!!!

How could anyone complain of someone helping YOU and your child...

[Nai]

This mother really needs a wake up call!! If she "knows all of this stuff already" then why the hell isn't she doing it with her child who is obviously struggling? The school can only do so much with limited resources.

As Erin said, I believe that teaching starts at home and I believe that it is my job to introduce my child to books, numbers, colours and the world around her. Of course she picks things up from childcare too but it is MY responsibility to make sure that she is interested in learning and enjoys learning.

Teachers do their best work when they are supported by the parents and the learning is reinforced at home.

[Lulu]

Geez, Nic what did you say to her when she was complaining?

got nothing more to add, you ladies said it all perfectly..

[Muppity]

Ditto with what everyone else has said.

How did you react - I would have been totally flumoxed and then wanted to tell her exactly what I thought.

The teacher is a trained professional but has probably about 30 kids in the class. She, on the other hand should be the EXPERT on her own children and I am guessing that she doesn't have 30 of them. How wonderful of the school to offer extra support - and seriously - if she has done it all before she obviously didn't learn anything because she couldn't identify the issue with her child.

Parents have a responsibility to do the very best that they can for each of their children and if that is spending 4 hours learning yourself how to help you child be the best that they can be how dare she complain about it. So many parents desperately want to be able to help their children and don't know how or where they can learn.