News
Don't blame teachers when it's parents who are failing
3 Apr 2009
According to Bousted, teachers are becoming increasingly concerned that they are being held responsible for aspects of children and young people's lives that are completely beyond their control. She cites a need to rebalance the equation, to have a serious and sensible debate about the roles and responsibilities of parents and the support that they can reasonably expect of schools and teachers.
One of the key reasons why five to seven-year-olds are not achieving good levels of reading and writing skills is that children are coming to school with poor skills in speaking and listening. Bousted asks: "Just what is happening in the homes of these children? Why are they coming to school developmentally delayed?" Children will not learn how to behave as social beings if they are stuck in front of the TV for hours on end. They need their parents to show an interest in them and to spend time with them, helping them to play with their peers and to learn the rules of social behaviour. She says: These children will not be living in absolute poverty. What too many of them do not have are adults who are prepared to give their time and energy doing that difficult, but most essential of jobs: raising their children properly.
(The Observer, 3 April 2009)
