Teachers with DC in the same school..

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loobylou
Posts: 2032
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by loobylou »

I agree that it can be stressful. I imagine that can be greater in a large secondary school, trying to make budgetary decisions etc.
There were stressful times even in our tiny primary - the inability to recruit teachers and the subsequent anger from parents, the decision making about poorly-performing teachers whom nonetheless we knew and liked, sudden long-term illnesses of staff members and the effects of that on the budget (as well as the morale of the school and concern for the person involved), multiple meetings scheduled around work commitments, having to go in and monitor lessons/teaching around work commitments.... None of this is individually especially stressful but can all add up.
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by Amber »

At my children's primary school the parent governors carried out periodic classroom observations, where they would spend a day in a particular class and then write up a report about it. I had occasion to read a couple of these and was fairly horrified. I felt this was not good practice and that it overstepped the role the governors were playing. Not only were they unqualified to comment on classroom practice (things like, 'the children were all sitting quietly engaged in work' etc) but I was uncomfortable that other parents were having an opportunity to look so closely at what my children were doing. In fact one of them, who was also a friend of mine, came and commented at length to me about one of my children, which made me very uncomfortable, even though it was a positive report.
loobylou
Posts: 2032
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by loobylou »

Amber wrote:At my children's primary school the parent governors carried out periodic classroom observations, where they would spend a day in a particular class and then write up a report about it. I had occasion to read a couple of these and was fairly horrified. I felt this was not good practice and that it overstepped the role the governors were playing. Not only were they unqualified to comment on classroom practice (things like, 'the children were all sitting quietly engaged in work' etc) but I was uncomfortable that other parents were having an opportunity to look so closely at what my children were doing. In fact one of them, who was also a friend of mine, came and commented at length to me about one of my children, which made me very uncomfortable, even though it was a positive report.
I also felt very uncomfortable though the school made sure that we were observing classes at the other end of the age spectrum from our own children (we only had 2 parent governors so this was relatively easy). But my reports always included the fact that I did not feel I was qualified to comment on teaching methods or results. This meant that I only commented on things that I felt were positive (for example, children feeling happy to ask for help or the teacher asking a range of children for suggestions rather than just the very loud ones) and declined to add any negatives because I did not feel that I had any ability to do so.
But I believe Ofsted consider these things important and what Ofsted says, happens :roll:
anotherdad
Posts: 1763
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by anotherdad »

I'm a primary governor, but not at a school my daughter attends or even attended in the past. I wouldn't be a governor at my child's school for the reasons people have been giving. It would be far too awkward and have the potential for conflicts of interest.

I conduct classroom visits and it's a fine line to tread to get it right. Although I have a (lower level) teaching qualification and some teaching experience, I am far from a qualified teaching professional so cannot judge the quality of teaching and learning and wouldn't presume to assess those much more qualified than me. What I do is comment on the general things such as availability of resources, the extent of classroom support, condition of equipment, etc. rather than add my opinions of what the teacher is doing or how well the children are learning.

I am not surprised that there is an apparent shortage of governors across the country. As Reading Mum says, it is an awful lot of work and responsibility for what is a voluntary role. When I go to training sessions I am usually the youngest by some way (apart from the few parent governors of course, and I'm sad to say that their attendance at training sessions is patchy). Once all those older, wiser governors retire from the role, where is the next generation of governors going to come from because I don't see many of my generation being involved at the moment.
RedPanda
Posts: 283
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:56 am

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by RedPanda »

Reading Mum wrote:I would try the role of Governor and then you would understand where the stress comes from.
Got the t-shirt. :)

On a serious note (I was teasing RE: caffeine), it does require carving out some time in one's life and that is perhaps where some suffer. Those who are feeling stressed are probably already too busy. I guess some people suffer stress easily as well. The actual role isn't stressful. Joint decisions, committees, interviews, oversight... Hardly a recipe for stress. I wouldn't belittle those who experience stress though, in some ways they are giving more than others.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by Guest55 »

Governors should NOT be judging lessons or teaching - that is totally inappropriate. I'm surprised that teachers allowed it; I think unions would, rightly, object.

There is a very fine line to tread in being clear why Governors are in a classroom.
Reading Mum
Posts: 1841
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:44 am
Location: Reading

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by Reading Mum »

I agree - I have always avoided doing that as I have no skills in that area.
loobylou
Posts: 2032
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by loobylou »

Guest55 wrote:Governors should NOT be judging lessons or teaching - that is totally inappropriate. I'm surprised that teachers allowed it; I think unions would, rightly, object.

There is a very fine line to tread in being clear why Governors are in a classroom.
I would have agreed but it appears that this is an expectation across the board in primary schools. I made it very clear to the teachers that I was making no judgments as I did not feel that was within my competence but that I was merely observing and recording my observations, all of which I showed to the teacher before giving it to the head.
However I think the teachers did feel worried about it in advance and I suspect other governors were happier to "judge", particularly the ex-headteachers on our governing body.
It is not one of the things I miss now that I am no longer a governor!
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by Guest55 »

Even ex-teachers should not be judging lessons - that is not the job of a Governor.

When I was helping a school I constructed a special observation sheet for Governors focused on thing they could comment on. I also wrote a sample visit form and a format of the Ofsted criteria where the could contribute - Governors are supposed to know the 'big picture' of data, behaviour, etc
buzzybee
Posts: 163
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:29 am

Re: Teachers with DC in the same school..

Post by buzzybee »

Youngest dd who started Secondary School last September, has a girl in her class who comes from a Primary School where her mother is Headteacher. The girl was chosen to play the lead in the end of Year 6 school production :roll: A few months back, the girl's mother applied to be a Parent Governor at Secondary School. Reading her reasons why she wanted to be a Governor, it seemed the reasons why she would make a School Governor were more for the benefit of her Primary School rather than the interests of the Secondary School. Needless to say she was not selected by the parents!
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