
With four children and a few years of schooling under my belt, I have spent the equivalent of a full 24 hours in parent-teacher interviews.
That’s a full day without sleep listening to people tell me about my kids in 5 to 10 minute increments while someone else huffs nearby because everyone is running late.
And as I pressed ‘book time’ on my next round of interviews as we reach the middle of the school year, I found myself thinking: But whyyyyyyyyy?!?
Watch: Teachers Translated. Post continues below.
Don’t get me wrong, I adore my kids’ teachers and am totally appreciative of all the hard work they put into preparing for parent-teacher days. But that’s exactly the point.
WHY are we demanding more of these already under-resourced and underpaid superhumans whose job is to teach my kids?
Teach them. I trust you to do your job.
I don’t need teachers doing excess paperwork outside of school hours so they can have just the right art folio at just the right time to display my kids’ work just as the five minute timer counts down.
I don’t need to create an excess workload for teachers when I would rather they spend their time, you know, teaching.
‘But what if there is an issue?’ I hear you say. 'Wouldn’t I want to hear about it?'
Yes. Absolutely.
But if there is an issue with my child’s learning, I don’t want to wait until the end of term to hear about it.
If there are behavioural problems that need addressing, a conflict with another student, handwriting that may require help, a concept that isn’t being picked up (the list goes on) and I am hearing about it at parent-teachers for the first time, that is going to sh*t me.
I don’t want to know about it after the fact, I want to know about it at the time, when we can work together to find a solution.
Top Comments