Parent Apathy
As I mentioned a while ago, the Head is leaving us. I've now been elected to the panel which will recruit a new Head. I'm rather excited about this, but it's quite a responsibility. I'm assured that the Education Authority will guide us through it.
Anyway - I will of course be very limited in what I can discuss; I'll talk about the process, but there will be so much that is confidential. Also, I plan to write about it a little while after the event rather than while the process is ongoing, so please bear with me on that.
What is bothering me today is parent apathy. We recently wrote to parents inviting them to a parent meeting, and agreed that we needed a set number of replies in order for the meeting to go ahead. However, what we got was just a handful of responses - one reply per 75 children. Needless to say, the meeting was cancelled.
Now, I can't imagine my own mother not having an interest in my education and wanting to learn more; mind you, she was a governor too. But the apathy really struck me, and it seems that is actually a fairly typical response.
We also have vacancies for parent governors...
I wonder whether parents genuinely don't have much interest in their childrens' education, or whether they are just too busy to attend. Without the support of their parents, how are the children supposed to develop?
Anyway - I will of course be very limited in what I can discuss; I'll talk about the process, but there will be so much that is confidential. Also, I plan to write about it a little while after the event rather than while the process is ongoing, so please bear with me on that.
What is bothering me today is parent apathy. We recently wrote to parents inviting them to a parent meeting, and agreed that we needed a set number of replies in order for the meeting to go ahead. However, what we got was just a handful of responses - one reply per 75 children. Needless to say, the meeting was cancelled.
Now, I can't imagine my own mother not having an interest in my education and wanting to learn more; mind you, she was a governor too. But the apathy really struck me, and it seems that is actually a fairly typical response.
We also have vacancies for parent governors...
I wonder whether parents genuinely don't have much interest in their childrens' education, or whether they are just too busy to attend. Without the support of their parents, how are the children supposed to develop?
posted by An inner-city school governor at
Thursday, April 07, 2005
1 Comments:
The apathy is frustrating. I don't have kids, but if I did I know I'd be interested. I've been a governor, on and off, since I was 22, and it's quite depressing that someone who has no connection with the school other than being a governor is more interested than the parents who send their children there!
By
zoe hopkins, at April 11, 2005
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