Granddaughter is disengaged from schoolwork

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I wanted to post this from Facebook because, although a much younger person, it is something that is quite heart warming for a parent who is in this situation. The child concerned has ASD. I quote, "My 11 year old son tried homeschooling yesterday but I knew he wasn't listening to any of the zoom lessons, wasn't writing anything in his notebooks and certainly wasn't taking anything in. It was so frustrating to see but I decided to leave him alone because he was calm and happy just rolling tiny sausages out of different coloured plasticine all day. Through a maths class he was rolling, through a Spanish class he was rolling....humming and rolling all day. Never seen him so content. Eventually, in the evening, he showed me what he'd made with the tiny sausages. He'd stuck it on my chopping board. I'm so glad I stayed back and didn't make him stop."

I know it won't help with your Grandaughter's GCSE's but maybe encourage her to work on her portfolio in the subjects she loves so she is at least achieving something.

I would discuss how she thinks she can move forward with her work and what measures need to be put into place to facilitate that. I can empathise with her not wanting to engage with the camera on; I hate it. It is one thing with friends and family, another if you feel the person watching is judging you in any way at all.
My second born son would have been the same. He was mildly dyslexic and disengaged at this age and, quite frankly, I despaired. The educational psychologist suggested that we encourage him gently but safely so he didn't dig his heels in and just keep him on the safe and narrow until he realised the worth of having a decent wage. With much assistance from me, he walked away from his GCSE's with straight C's in far fewer subjects than his peers but he was the one with a good job, a house and family way before them.
Sometimes it takes maturity to overcome our anxieties about learning and we are rather fortunate in this country that there is a life long learning programme for people who were behind at school.

tanith - I would get into a conversation with your GD and ask for her thoughts. You probably have all the answers already but nobody is consulting this girl, she's been put into a home-schooling situation when her favourite subjects all require a different type of interaction, and when she has no supervisor at home to spur her motivation. Ask her what effect she thinks the new teacher assessment of student progress will have on her at the end of the year (is she in her GCSE year?). Ask if she would be happy with that, ask what she needs to get into a sixth form or to pursue her career, ask how best she could secure that. In the first instance I would have the conversation with her - she may feel totally defeated right now. That she won't put her camera on suggests she's disengaged with school and this is something the school can and should do - create the requirement for engagement by having both camera and mic on.

off!

Teenagers are often so frightened of not doing things 'properly / well enough, that they retreat from the challenge.

Have you thought that she may just be ashamed of her appearance or bedroom / study area compared with friends who are happy to show of their homes?

If she doesn't pass exams this or next year, she can always go to college when it's all over. Not the help you're looking for, but mental health is the main issue just now. Keep the lines of communication open and just have nice chats. Party when it's over and address her future then. ❤❤ Good luck

My twin grandson aged 14 are the same. Mum keeps an eye on them but they do the minimum. They are in Year 10 which is first year G S.E’s . They say hardly any of their friends are doing any work. They are taking Art and P.E , so I do t know how that will work.

Little GD aged 5, on the other hand, can’t get enough of school ‘work’ . Loves it all.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful input it doesn’t help when my daughter checked that she could log on when she was supposed to then got a message from someone called Emma who we have no idea who that is to say GD wasn’t logged into a class when she clearly was, a glitch probably but so annoying. They will do their best it’s all they can do.

My 16 year old granddaughter doesn't like being seen on Zoom either. She does do the work with assistance and lots of encouragement from both parents. Her mum works in a primary school and dad is working from home. She does find it difficult too at times.

Ellianne

^The cancellation of public exams makes it more important than ever that she impresses her teachers and goes along with what they ask her to do.^
My experience is mainly with teaching younger ones who are all like cute puppies and love to impress! When it comes to secondary exams growstuff could there possibly be an opening for sucking up to teachers at this stage to ensure higher assessment grades?

Not exactly sucking up, but making a good impression.

Schools haven't been given information about how to assess grades, but I would imagine it would be similar to last year. It's expected that grades will be submitted some time in April. It was hoped that pupils would be able to sit mock exams to provide evidence, but some pupils were expecting to do them at the beginning of this term and haven't. It's possible they might be able to sit them before the end of term, but not certain.

Without hard data, there is always a degree of subjectivity about assessed grades. Pupils are usually given "predicted grades" from the beginning of the GCSE course and those will be used as a basis. However, on the day when teachers are required to assess a grade, they will undoubtedly be influenced by pupils' most recent performance. If a pupil hasn't engaged, it will undoubtedly affect the prediction.

It's just that with the possibility of checking online login individual non-involvement stands out.
That's a good point crazygranny and I'm not sure being checked up on so obviously in one's own home/sanctuary is entirely helpful.

How many people on here used ther GCSE or O Level grades for the next 20/40/whatever years? In the grand scheme of things is someone who scraped a bare CSE better than someone who got a top O Level or an A*? I didn't do well in teenage exams but I'm pretty happy. I discovered a love of learning later and went on to degree and Masters study as an adult, but that was for fun and doesn't define me.
I have a child in Y11 who is going through GCSE palaver at the moment and is disengaged. My priority is to support her in the evenings with anything I can, but to make sure she is healthy, happy and sleeping as reasonably as possible, not isolated, scared, worried, sleeping reasonably and can make it through lockdown.
I think supporting our family, ourselves and each other is all that we can do right now. There's no info on how they will be measured but after 5 years of high school I very much doubt any teacher is going to mark someone down because they haven't been able to cope at home alone.

Above all else, Tanith, don't worry. Despite my nagging, all my three did the absolute bare minimum - my daughter tells me now that she truanted a lot! It's just that with the possibility of checking online login individual non-involvement stands out. All three went to university - my daughter to study Law! They have good well-paid jobs and are happily married. Your GD is just being a normal teenager.

There's too much pressure put on children to get the right grades. My son really struggled at school - it later turned out he had undiagnosed autism and the teaching methods were never going to work for him. He believed the teachers whose job is to tell the kids they'll never get a good job without 5 good GCSEs etc. Consequently when he failed all his GCSEs he thought his life was over. The good news is he now has a rewarding job and also got a degree through Open University.
Most of his fellow students from school who'd been written off at school are now running successful businesses.

posh paws, your journey through school, various different jobs and finally to University for a vocational (and academically demanding) qualification mirrors that of so many good social workers. Lots of varied life experience and moving into that area of work that needs exactly that

Hithere

Isn't this something her parents are supposed to manage?

Harsh. For example read my post, as a teacher myself I couldn’t sort out my own son. OP. Is not asking to take over from parents just asking how she can help. Or is that not allowed Under your regime?

Don't despair. Even if she keeps refusing to engage and do the work it's not a lifelong disaster. I absolutely hated school and skipped as many classes as I could, leaving school at 15 with no qualifications. I bumbled through jobs like being a shop assistant until I was 26, then decided to return to education and got A's in my O levels and Highers (not sure what those are called now). Then went on to do another course, and ended up a qualified Social Worker. So there's plenty of light at the end of her tunnel. (p.s. a good friend with dyslexia had a similar educational background to me, but decided to do F.E. - eventually she ended up with a 1st in Podiatry from a University here in Scotland.)

Dear Tanith, my son was exactly like this, made an awful mess of his A levels, scraped into the wrong university course and then dropped out of university to our despair. However, after a few months in an awful dead-end job he found his feet and now works really hard at a job he loves. So all is not lost of your DGD does not do well in her exams. She will find her way.

Hithere if you read all the posts you will understand the difficulties.

Isn't this something her parents are supposed to manage?

Helpfully, the Times today had a very short paragraph about this, the main points of which I will list. They called it GCSE/A-level deflation and suggested ways to address it.
1. Exams are a rite of passage and the culmination of the time spent preparing for them. Many students feel it's not worth it as the 'finishing line' has disappeared. However, not to finish with your cohort carries its problems too (my observation).
2. Validate their feelings and recognise it's hard at that age to maintain motivation. Ofen helping them with a plan and breaking the work up into small chunks helps. They can see an 'end'. Emphasis that grades achieved are still grades even if not delivered in the exam hall.
3. Try to focus on the fact that what is certain is that they will leave with grades and working for better grades is a good idea.

You are probably not able to be with your GD at this time but you could encourage via online conversations - e.g. you tackle that essay and I'll clear out that cupboard I meant to last lockdown. After 45 minutes we'll compare progress.

I'm a retired teacher, and my betting is that many of her friends are doing more than they say. They just want to follow the crowd.

If you know the subjects and exam boards you can look up online how they award the marks for each grade, what they expect in a piece of work. That can be a real motivator. They often haven't a clue, no matter how often you tell them in class. Be careful though, you do have to know Board, Syllabus number, units entered etc. For the Art and DT knowing what they expect would be useful.
If the school is doing what it should the work set by the exam teachers should reflect this. Many students were caught out last year but motivated schools set extra work to help them with grades.

Good luck with it. A hard task but worth the reward. And, as many have said, not the end of the road if grades do not reflect her true ability.

I feel so sorry for teenagers.. such a tough 'growing up 'time for them and so much emphasis os put on one off exams, rather than the concept of on-going education, that now GCSE/Alevels are cancelled it has taken purpose away from many. If the approach had been continuous assessment of work plus an exam score then it would feel less futie. However teachers will be using course work now to inform them of the grades they will submit to the exam boards. Howthose grades are used eventually is still unknown.

I would send her a treat of some sort , tell her you love her to pieces and how can you help her get the best outcome at the end of the school year?. Good luck

It’s all been said Chardy she seems quite resigned if she has to do resits so be it. She was given copious amounts of art stuff for Christmas I’m glad she has her art as a distraction. She really isn’t impressed with money offers so that won’t work. I’m going to do what I do best just be her Grandma.

She is 16. What does she want to do next year? Surely not re-sit her GCSEs. Presumably she wants to do to college/6th form to do something creative. The only other alternative is an apprenticeship. (If she doesn't get the right grades for English & Maths, she will have to re-sit them, regardless of what she does.) She will have to have an interview for any of those 3.

My honest opinion, as an experienced Y11 form tutor, is take out £50 cash. Write down how many pieces of work she is behind for each subject. Sit down (or Face Time) with her (Amazon open in front of you), and with the cash and the list of missing work in front of you. Ask her what Art stuff she'd like to buy. OK so what is she prepared to do for your £50?

Good luck.