Teachers

There’s lots of different sources, but according to www.gov.uk/school-discipline-exclusions
Detention
Schools don’t have to give parents notice of after-school detentions or tell them why a detention has been given.
Doesn’t make it right to give a detention for 80%, but I can’t believe that this is the first time it’s happened to any pupil in that class and that no complaints from parents have been made before.

Gabrielle56

Tbh this so named teacher's grammar and general wording is appalling!! Lack of punctuation renders the instructions a tad ambivalent too. I'd be giving her a big red "SEE ME!!!" for that appalling note! I take it she's either kid free herself or is a bit of a Joan Crawford??

This was exactly my point last week Gabrielle.
Not SO outstanding!

Detentions are regulated by law, one of the restrictions is that the offence must be proportionate to the punishment. It would appear that this isn't. You can Google "Law about school detention in UK" and read the regulations.

Reported futkuuu's post.
Spam.

And all the bits need piecing together to assemble the full picture.

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Sticky.

I teach in a collage and this is unacceptable

I hope you don’t…..

Scotsmum

Poor lad. I have never ever got 100% in anything, ever!

A bit off-topic but here's an anecdote for you. This poor little lad brings back memories of my life at boarding school when, after the day girls had all been collected by their parents, we were herded back to a classroom to do our prep, no talking allowed, until supper. I would silently cry through the maths homework because I never understood it, it might as well have been greek.

I knew that I would score too low in the next test, which automatically meant being awarded a black mark. Three black marks meant an automatic detention, too many detentions and you lost the next exeat. Detention wasn't too bad really: it usually comprised copying out the 23rd Psalm 100 times or some such thing. Boring but better than being caned. It was the loss of the half day that stung. And all the extra work sent home with me in the long holidays.

Forty years later I was tested and found to have Dyscalculia, the psychologist was laughing when he showed me the chart: my language was up in the top 2%, numeracy was down in special needs. It explained a lot!

How cruel some schools were.

Your mentioning of maths being a block makes me think of one of my DDs who was/is utterly 100% useless at maths. She has an MA, so no shortage of marbles there. But whichever bit of her brain deals with figures is totally off beam. She used to make us smile when doing maths "problems" where you had to decide whether to multiply/divide etc. - she would just make some random calculation - and every now and again the laws of chance would mean she got it right - she was so chuffed!!

Back on topic: my DDIL has never scored less than 98% in anything. My late FIL was the same. They both were awarded medals at university and all that sort of thing. It's a good job they were/are such nice people or it would be difficult to like them. My first DGS is going the same way, fails nothing.

What concerns me is that if people have never learned to deal with failure - and more importantly, to find their way back from it - will they not be totally un-masted when it does eventually come their way?

I'm all for a school encouraging children to put in the effort and have pleasure from the achievements, but doesn't this binary approach of 'it has to be 100%' right or you've failed', risk dis-incentivising those who struggle?

Poor lad. I have never ever got 100% in anything, ever!

A bit off-topic but here's an anecdote for you. This poor little lad brings back memories of my life at boarding school when, after the day girls had all been collected by their parents, we were herded back to a classroom to do our prep, no talking allowed, until supper. I would silently cry through the maths homework because I never understood it, it might as well have been greek.

I knew that I would score too low in the next test, which automatically meant being awarded a black mark. Three black marks meant an automatic detention, too many detentions and you lost the next exeat. Detention wasn't too bad really: it usually comprised copying out the 23rd Psalm 100 times or some such thing. Boring but better than being caned. It was the loss of the half day that stung. And all the extra work sent home with me in the long holidays.

Forty years later I was tested and found to have Dyscalculia, the psychologist was laughing when he showed me the chart: my language was up in the top 2%, numeracy was down in special needs. It explained a lot!

Eloethan I totally agree.
I’m still unconvinced about whether every child with that teacher gets 100% every test. I’ve taught some very clever children, but never a had a class where every child gets top marks.
I’m puzzled why parents haven’t complained before. Surely they would notice if their child was detained at school for a long time at the end of the day.
How can the child or any of them still be happy at that school knowing what awaits them if they make a mistake?

He gets detention for scoring less than 100%. I'm all for expecting high standards but that, to my mind, is absolutely ridiculous.

Detention is probably necessary in some cases but I think it is totally wrong to penalise children for getting low marks. In my view, detention should be used very sparingly.

I was given detention twice in school. Once for the occasion mentioned upthread when the entire class was given it for "chattering". On another occasion a group of us were given it for being in the classroom at break time. On both occasions I just sloped off. I was quite prepared to tell the teacher that I was far more scared of getting a whalloping from my father for coming home late than I was of them. However on the second occasion my absence was not noticed.

I agree with the posters who state that draconian punishments for petty offences or mistakes are futile. Where do you go to when you have "fired off all your big guns"

jenpax

He had his work, wasn't asked to show it just straight to detention

Maybe she should be looking inwards instead? What did she do WRONG that resulted in a less than 100% attainment? She sounds as if she's a failing teacher rather than overseeing a failing pupil don't we think?

Tbh this so named teacher's grammar and general wording is appalling!! Lack of punctuation renders the instructions a tad ambivalent too. I'd be giving her a big red "SEE ME!!!" for that appalling note! I take it she's either kid free herself or is a bit of a Joan Crawford??

I've never had children but I think this sounds like a type of Child abuse. That child will grow up thinking whatever he does is never good enough. I would have been over the moon if I had attained 80% in comprehensive school. Due to bullying, I can't even remember anything much about those last four years.

It's ridiculous and I would definitely contact first the headteacher and then, if necessary, the Education Authority if it was my child. Then, if something wasn't done about it,I would remove said child and take her to another school. Schools in the UK aren't that far apart.

Re the OP,
I’d have been into school before now about the expectation that children had to get 100%.
The more I see this, the more I wonder am I the only teacher /parent on here who finds it unlikely that all the children in any class get 100% in every test.
How many in that class must be regularly in detention? Would any child continue to be happy at school in those circumstances and are there never complaints from parents?

This detention sounds on a par to the one my daughter was given this week - totally unfair which, in her case, was given out due to circumstances beyond her control and which was given before the teacher had even had the opportunity to speak to her about it. Bloomin crazy and totally demoralising.

As a retired teacher/lecturer, I am appalled at this for many reasons ( I see no reason to think the OP has misrepresented or misunderstood the events). Learners need encouragement and good quality teaching, not threats of punishment for getting less than 100%. It is fine for young people to learn that disrespect, breaking rules, and so on may have consequences, and detention may have its place in this. Punishing children based solely on test results is, in my opinion, a form of abuse and could have long lasting adverse effects. There is also the danger that such an approach could be particularly detrimental to those with (perhaps undiagnosed) dyslexia or dyscalculia or who have challenges due to some level of neurodiversity. As a parent or guardian, I would seek to talk to school management and submit a formal complaint if necessary. In Scotland, local authorities are responsible for the state schools in their area , so complaints can be submitted to them and, if necessary, escalated to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. There are around 79 independent schools in Scotland and the Registrar of Independent Schools has a role in handling complaints. I understand with academies and trusts in England, the governance and complaints processes may be different. (excuse my ignorance of this). A wee personal note - I remember being ridiculed by a teacher in primary school because we had moved to a different area and, unlike the rest of the class I was placed in, I had not been taught long division. The teacher also refused to show me how to do it! I did manage to put this bizarre situation behind me and actually went on to teach maths.

My neice missed many days of school as she was being investigated for a health condition which meant numerous hospital visits, days when she could not attend due to extreme pain and heavy bleeding from her bottom (she was 7 and 8. Eventually at 11 she was offered a colostomy bag.
The school were informed every step along the way. The school reported the mum for non attendance and she had to go to court while waiting for results of a biopsy ( possible cancer) It turned out to be a necrotising problem of the bowel.
I know this isn't in same context but I feel that the authorities have lost their way with education as a whole.

As teacher I have always objected to the very idea of quizzes, as these in my opinion often mean the American style quiz where the pupil ticks of the most appropriate answer of three or four possiblities. This has in my opinion no value at all in helping me, the teacher, gain an insight into what, if anything, a pupil has understood and remembered in my classes.

Not having seen this particular quizz, I don't know if it was of this type, but I suspect it was, as such a paper can be corrected quickly and the results easily converted into percentages that look good, teachers hope, in reports to the educational authorities.

Which explains why they are increasingly being used.

There is nothing educational about them, and the very thought of a teacher giving detention for a mark of 80% is disgusting. A child who has been off sick and still gets 80% deserves praise, not punishment.

No child should be punished for doing less well than he or she could, or others in the class do, unless the teacher knows and can prove (which you rarely can) that the mistakes were not due to incomprehension of the subject, but made deliberately out of sheer naughtiness and a desire to be provoking. This CAN happen, but is rare.

I am also shocked at a teacher who makes no allowances for children being off school sick. After all this can and does happen to us all.

Unless you are the child's guardian, you should not try to discuss this with the school, but in your place, I would advise his parents to complain about this unfair and frankly quite wrong way of treating a child.