Bad Behaviour (Parents, Not Children)

Background

One of the reasons often cited by parents who opt to send their children to independent schools is the smaller class sizes which such schools usually offer. What underpins this advantage, in the parents' mind, is that teachers will know the pupils well and have time to give personal attention to each of them.

Alongside this, parents expect ease of access to those teachers and to the school's leadership if they have any concerns about their child's progress. When this works well, it can be a very positive relationship – the school operating as a community, and the parents and staff working in collaboration to ensure the children's wellbeing and positive progress.

But there is an increasing trend, much more noticeable in schools in recent years, for this parent/school relationship to be regarded as quite transactional in nature, at least so far as the parents are concerned.