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At a recent Headteachers conference in Liverpool it was said that the 'back to work culture' in the UK is responsible for the neglect of children's education in primary schools.
As the government erg parents back to work after child birth, it is becoming more common that children are been put into childcare at a young age for large periods of time, and this continues into primary school where breakfast clubs are available and parents can drop the children off into school at earlier times. With this in mind and the obvious after school clubs that are pushed onto children it is seen that children only get a short amount of quality time with parents at home before its time for bed.
With the recent controversial pay disputes and strikes by teachers, it seems that teachers are now not only having to add more time to their school timetable but this has a knock on effect as to how much time they have left to do the prep work for lessons. Surely this effects the quality of teaching and life of a teacher as they continue to give up more of their personal time for the sake of the kids.
Im all up for parents getting back to work but should it be at the cost of the children's education? and if parents are working all day, do they have the time or energy to spend with their children in the evening to support home learning?
Beverley Hughes Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families seems to think that this is not the case and that there are only a small minority that abuse these services, although she was present at the conference and the concerns she received from the Headteachers seemed to be water of a ducks back, as her infinite wisdom dismisses the first hand experiences from schools.
In a recent discussion on another blog, it was argued that previous generations had better educations at home than they get now in school. This went on to blame the quality of teachers in school's. I have to say that today's generation of parents have less interest in education and knowledge of the subjects taught in schools, further to this parents have less time to spend with their children or are blatantly less interested and use school as a child minding service while they nip to the pub. As today's generation of parents become younger, so young in fact that they are barely out of education themselves let alone have the real life experiences to cope with parenthood, is it any wonder why education is in disarray. Education can only be effective if the children are getting equal support outside school, parents need to put in just as much effort and interest as teachers to ensure their child's successful education.