Teachers

Detention …at my grandkids school has to be approved by parents …my grandson (15) has to bring younger sister (10) home ….she is released from class earlier so has to go into what she calls ‘ the sheep pen’ until bro picks her up! This detention lark does not work for modern age of kids! Also my daughter ( a child psychologist ) does not approve of homework …as she thinks kids being at school six hours is punitive enough …so her kids just dont ‘do it’ . Never got into trouble for it …. get good enough marks and are progressing quite happily …in fact the ten year old is ‘flying’ …her headmasters words not mine. Anyway. , I think the thought of doing battle with my daughter who also lecture heads/teachers/school governors on how to keep kids ‘bums on seats’ rather than excluding them because they are too ‘challenging’ is daunting to most people who meet her!!

All seems very odd. As a retired head - I can’t personally see the point in doing a ‘quiz’ again and again until you get 100%! What an incredibly boring and mind numbing exercise in box ticking - doesn’t sound like education to me- what ARE they doing to the next generation? I used to be an inspector and would rate this as outstandingly dull. You need to investigate this ridiculous state of affairs - ASAP.

I don’t like to accuse anyone of not saying the exact truth but as a teacher of many years I did find that children/ young people don’t always report situations accurately but naturally parents don’t want to think that. It causes so many problems.

Sorry ...parents comments the next time...

I'd make a point in parents' vomments, the best time Ofsted arrive, about unreasonable expectations of students and cite this incident. Can I hazard a guess that this school is part of an academy chain? The thin end of the privatisation of education wedge in my (and so many others) opinion!

I am a teacher, ok not this age group I teach in a collage and this is unacceptable. I would never punish a not reaching a certain grade, full stop.
I think you need to speak to the head and ask for the policy regarding grading and support. This sort of thing is what is causing anxiety in young people. If this is the policy then there needs to be more flexibility and consideration of the situation not a one fits all solution.
My college doesn’t give detentions after hours as it can isolated students and mean they are leaving school alone and our student are not 8.

I think you need to remember that unless the teacher was observed by OFSTED herself, it was the school in general that achieved an outstanding grade not her, or maybe not even her department, is she acting accordance to general policy? You need to find out if this is the school policy or just hers and go from there.

The poor child. School should be a journey not a race.... this draconian attitude by the teacher is going to cause unnecessary distress and trauma to young children who have enough worries already... without being stressed during school time, which should be safe and nourishing, adding to their worries...
I think that you and your family should make very loud complaints...

I was a secondary teacher and this is appalling. Students need encouragement not detentions, especially when the student was not even there. Unbelievable. Not all students can get 100 per cent.

I too am a retired secondary school teacher. This needs challenging. Very draconian. Interested to hear outcome.

eazybee

I just cannot believe the fuss that is being made about a twelve year old pupil receiving a detention.

It's not just that, though.

It's a discussion about teaching methods, appropriate punishments for something which was an error not a misdemeanor and:
A certain Michael Gove loved it and it's been introduced into many schools should politicians interfere so minutely in how educators teach children.

I just cannot believe the fuss that is being made about a twelve year old pupil receiving a detention.

Generally he is happy at his school. He is a hard worker and in the top set so there is no plan to change schools. I am involved because he, his mother and siblings live with me so I haven't gone behind anyones back seeking others opinions. I felt the policy of 100% to he very harsh! Even though the quiz can be taken 3 times mistakes can be made and providing a child is doing the work and can evidence it surely punishing them for not achieving a perfect score sends out the wrong message! ie that results matter more than effort!

I don’t like the idea of detention for this. I wonder if any of the parents with children at school to do this are on Twitter? That certainly be an outcry on Twitter if they are.

nanna8

Change schools and complain to the education authority.

If there's only one school within miles it's not so easy.

PPS. Personally, I think a detention is harsh, but I would expect most pupils to achieve 100% most of the time on this kind of quiz.

I agree but I did a GCSE biology one as well and got 90% - because I accidentally hit the wrong answer with the stylus as I scrolled down! It's not possible to change anything unless you start again on another device.

I don't like the idea of detention for this.

nanna8

Change schools and complain to the education authority.

Other schools probably use the same methodology.

This way of teaching with very concise information followed by self-quizzing (which is really just a way of consolidating the information) is the latest trend in teaching. A certain Michael Gove loved it and it's been introduced into many schools. The quizzing isn't testing - copying some information and/or questions followed by easily answerable questions is supposed to embed the information in the brain. It's a sort of version of "look, cover, write, check", which I expect many people know from learning spellings.

PS. Anybody who does Duolingo will be familiar with the style of teaching.

PPS. Personally, I think a detention is harsh, but I would expect most pupils to achieve 100% most of the time on this kind of quiz.

Change schools and complain to the education authority.

Has the boy received a detention, and if he did, how long was it, when was it and what did he do during it?

jenpax

Nothing is missing from my story. The geography teacher has a blanket policy of detention for less than 100% we have checked.

Sounds very rigid.
Not the best way to encourage learning, I would have thought.

It's up to his parents to sort out though and perhaps they should question this policy with the school.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to change it if you hit a wrong answer by mistake in the online quiz. It's easy to do that when scrolling down!

eazybee

Did he have three attempts at doing the quiz?
Did he explain to the teacher about missing lessons?
Has the boy received a detention, despite the email making no mention of one?

It would be advisable for his parents to discuss this matter with the teacher before allowing you to post rather personal information concerning your grandson and his school.

I havent given details of my DGS or his school or even which part of the UK he lives in

Nothing is missing from my story. The geography teacher has a blanket policy of detention for less than 100% we have checked.

Thanks Gagajo

It did seem quite a simple exercise for KS3 as the quiz consisted of multi-choice answers and all the information was on the factsheet provided with it.
Rather like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, with detention for giving the wrong answer.

Callistemon21

it must be difficult to get less than 100% as the answers are all provided on the factsheet.

It does seem a very strange way to teach and not a good way to help pupils remember information beyond the time when they do the quiz.

It is probably not to get them to remember all the information, but given that they need to get 100%, to check their ability to retrieve information. Quite a few of GCSEs rely on giving students extracts or information in some shape or form, and the students have to be able to retrieve it and then do something else with it (reformat it, analyse it, interpret it). So maybe it was part of an ongoing process to build exam skills.

Luckygirl3

Awards for good attendance annoy me too. No-one chooses to be sick.

The idea is to discourage casual absences, but it’s a punishment for those who are genuinely ill.