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G4EBT > SCHOOL 02.08.08 16:19l 103 Lines 4200 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : E08725G4EBT
Read: GUEST DK3HG
Subj: What's a parent these days?
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<DB0ERF<DB0FBB<DB0IUZ<DB0OVN<DB0GOS<ON0AR<N9ZZK<N7YHE<
K7EK<GB7FCR
Sent: 080802/1413Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:11467 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:E08725G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : SCHOOL@WW
A teachers' union has asserted that parents lack the skills to bring up
children and the Government is palming off the responsibility to schools,
leading to teachers having to fulfil the role of social workers rather
than to focus more on their prime role - to teach.
Unions are often full of blather, but I think they have a point here.
Philip Parkin, general secretary of Voice - the union for education
professionals, said "there's been a downward spiral in the quality of
parenting and a disintegration of moral boundaries that will affect
generations of children to come".
Mr Parkin, a former primary school teacher, said:
"The shortening of many relationships, the creation of more step-families,
the emphasis on parents going out to work and the consequent perception of
the reduced worth of full-time parenting have changed the way we behave
and the character of childhood."
Speaking at the annual Voice conference recently, he said that Government
policies meant teachers were now responsible for children's weight and
diction as well as stopping them joining gangs, carrying weapons and
drinking alcohol.
He said many children live with "no functioning parent" in the home.
"There is no food in the house, no one washes their clothes, they don't
get taken to the GP, the dentist or the optician," he said.
Some believe that more male primary school teachers are needed, as many
children have no male influence in their lives. But hysteria about
paedophilia and extensive media coverage has deterred many men from
going into teaching younger children as a career option.
Those that do often attract questions which suggest they may have less
than honourable motives - "why do you want to be involved with little
kids?" (Errm, to teach them, and to play a part in their emotional
development
at a critical time in their lives?)
The Training and Development Agency is trying to redress the gender
imbalance in the profession at primary school level. It's carried out
research which suggests 83% of parents would like to see more men in
primary teaching.
Currently just 15.7% of all primary school teachers in England are men.
The TDA survey, which questioned 1000 parents of primary age children,
suggests one in four parents are concerned that their children do not
have enough interaction with male teachers.
And almost two thirds - 61% - said they believed male teachers had a
crucial role to play in helping children feel more confident with men.
More than a quarter of parents worry that their children will lack a male
perspective on life, according to the survey's findings, and 22% say they
are concerned their children do not have enough contact with positive male
figures of authority.
Almost half of pupils aged between 5 and 11 (47%) don't have any contact
with male teachers, the survey indicated.
Chief executive of the Teacher Support Network charity, Patrick Nash, said
the organisation often heard from men who were the only male teacher in
their school.
"These men feel a sense of isolation and find it hard to talk to female
colleagues about certain issues or admit they are having difficulties at
work," he said.
They may also face problems related to discipline, if they were always
deemed the best person to deal with badly-behaved boys, he added.
According to the Department for Education and Skills, 15.7% of primary
school teachers in England are male - 26,200 teachers, compared with
141,000 female primary teachers.
Quote of the day:
"Education"
"Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through
education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the
son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm
workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out
of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from
another."
(Nelson Mandela, First Democratically Elected President of South Africa).
Best wishes
David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 14:56 on 2008-Aug-02
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