DaveO wrote:
At parents evenings we were repeatedly told he was "on target" and it took us a while to realise the "target" was pretty poor. He had been assessed, was deemed to be on to achieve certain grades and this was sold to us OK if he was on for those grades. He wasn't falling behind target so that was fine supposedly. I can't ever recall one parents evening where the discussion moved from talking about being "on target" to improving beyond that.
Generally speaking, schools don't know how to motivate lads. They seem to write them off rather than seeing their ability and trying to hook them with something that interests them.
My lad performed reasonably well at secondary school but because he wasn't compliant they did not expect him to do that well at GCSE. I realised that over the years that he had come top in every subject at least once but generally only did well in one or two subjects at any time. So I basically had a bet with him a couple of months the exams. Told him I'd give him £1,000 if he got 10 As but, say, 9 As and a B gets nothing. I added I thought he had no chance (when actually I thought he'd try to get one over me!). He got 10A's. Teachers assessments ended up looking as daft as they were. The school published the names an grades of those with top results in his year in the local 'paper but managed to omit his. I can only put that down to petty mindedness 'cos he'd made them look idiots.
Likewise at A level he didn't get the prize in his pet subject - in most subjects it went to the best student. He was by far the best in his but in his category they gave it to someone who they deemed "tried" the hardest! Small-minded teachers!
