Mark Palmer

They can’t handle the truth

Why today’s teachers pull their punches in school reports and at parents’ evenings

Every now and again I ask my daughter, who is a primary school teacher, if she is free for a curry after work. And almost always she replies that she can’t, as she has a ‘parents’ night’.

Now, either she has become lazy in her excuses for not wanting to see me, or her school organises a great number of parents’ nights. Hoping it might be the latter, I consulted a friend called Lucy, a teacher at a primary near Guildford in Surrey.

She said it was quite normal to have at least one parents’ night per term, plus two or even three ‘parents’ workshops’. These workshops are dedicated to specific themes such as ‘how to support your children’s homework’ or ‘how to support your child’s literacy development.’ These usually happen at 6 p.m. on a weeknight and are well attended, I am told. But I get the impression that they are enjoyed more by the parents than the teachers, and it does make me wonder whether they are strictly necessary. The emphasis, Lucy told me, is more on making sure the parents are supportive of the school than showing them how they can be more supportive of their children.

As with so many other professions, this means that expectations have to be managed as a kind of defence mechanism. In this case, it’s the expectations of parents who are desperate for their children to do well and, understandably, want a steer about their prospects. But, of course, there’s more to it than that.

For starters, parents aren’t keen to hear the truth, and even if they were given the hard facts about their child’s complete failure to show any interest in his or her sums, would they accept it? Lucy tells me that a slip is included with the reports that go out at the end of the summer term.

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