Question

Hi
My son is in grade 4. I generally have been teaching him on my own since he was a toddler.

Now that his work is more structured I use it as a barometer to keep up with what he needs to know.

In so doing I assess his schoolwork and find now and then that things that are correct have been erroneously marked incorrect.

As I know that there is a continuous assesment process in school I bring this to the teacher's attention, I however think that the teacher does not appreciate this, please advice.

I also find that when marking tests the various teachers of the same grade are not consistent. For example the one teacher will give full marks to an answer which is correct even though the child may have not complied with certain requirements of how the question should be answered - whereas another teacher marks that same answer all wrong for not complying.

Do you think this is significant to bring to their attention or should I just ignore the matter.

Answer

PARENTING

I think you do need to be diplomatic regarding the teachers role and your role as parent. I am a Counsellor in a school and can see that marking can be very hard to do completely consistently - especially with the new outcomes based curriculum.Teachers look for more than just the actual answers. However, if you are genuinely concerned, you ought to make time to have a consultation with the teacher - and discuss your concerns. But do this very carefully - teachers feel very threatened when they feel that they are being questioned in areas which they believe are not really the parent's problem. However, in spite of this, you have every right to ensure that your child is being properly taught.

I hope you sort it out satisfactorily.

Regards

- Anne Cawood