Job Discussion Forums

[igorG]

In the high school, my director (FAO), a local that also teaches the program and I are going to see parents of our students individually. I told him it wasn't the best idea and that he could get in a fair amount of trouble for some of our inadequate students that also are not cooperative in the program. My offer to talk to all parents together has been considered although not approved yet.

Either way, there are some points to consider and the approach with local parents, in my professional opinion, should not be too confrontational for the semester has only been half way through. The issues are with more than half a class of students to be discouraged by the high requirement of them, and that they are stunned by L1 teaching techniques that most of them have had little or no experience with.

While I understand that in local public schools this may be the practice, I am adamant to accept such approach for a reason that the school has allowed the students enter the program based on some substandard entry tests/requirements, and that the school has got some poor management of the program as well as scheduling. This may as well turn to be a �boomerang� hitting our faces hard.

Would any of you with experiences meeting parents of high school kids share your approach here?

Thank you all in advance for your replies.

[Lobster]

I certainly understand your concern given the circumstances and how you feel about the basics of the program. It does sound like some of the students were set up to fail.

I guess the question is whether the students having difficulty due to low skills or poor attitude. The former won't be resolved by pressure on them, but the latter may be. When we had students who were goofing off, we'd certainly talk with their parents. If they were having academic problems, we'd speak to them directly. The program we have has very strict entrance requirements, so it's not really the same.

Perhaps the FAO realizes that they messed up and is trying to cover his butt by shifting blame to the students instead of the intake process, which was probably based only on making money. You haven't said why he wants to arrange these meetings or what he plans to say.

I suppose in the larger scheme of things, it doesn't matter much on your end. What does he want you to do or say? Do you think he's going to try to set you up?

RED

[igorG]

I agree with your assessment.