Why Your Child Isn’t Learning in School, Why It’s Not Their Fault, and What You Can Do About It!
A teacher in Saskatoon was in the news in January 2024, explaining why she quit teaching after 12 years. She described a scene in her classroom one day, when one of her students was being very violent to themself and to other kids so she had to hold the student and rock the student while she was trying to teach, while her other students who have intensive needs were maybe throwing desks or rolling around on the ground or arguing with other kids. Could you learn algebra in that classroom?
Could You Learn?
A teacher in Saskatoon was in the news in January 2024, explaining why she quit teaching after 12 years. There are numerous learning challenges in Canadian schools, as exemplified by the scene she described of one day in her classroom. One of her students was being very violent to themself and to other kids, so she had to hold the student and rock the student while she was trying to teach, while her other students who had intensive needs were maybe throwing desks or rolling around on the ground or arguing with other kids. Could you learn algebra in that classroom?
Public School Issues in Canada
Teachers are facing numerous challenges, including:
Behaviour Management Challenges: Up to 30% of students face challenges with behaviour impacting their academic performance.
Students For Whom English is Not a Fluent Language: In Winnipeg, 18% of students are identified as needing English as an additional language support (EAL), and in Edmonton and Ontario, 25% or more of the students are English Language Learners (ELL).
Students With Learning Disabilities: Approximately 10% of students have learning disabilities. (We help students who have learning disabilities, and you can read our article about dyscalculia.)
Violence Towards Teachers: Research on rates of violence towards teachers shows that 41% to 90% of teachers in Canada have experienced violence, and over 70% say that both rates and severity of violence in schools are increasing (https://www.csse-scee.ca/blog/2018/07/09/lack-of-resources-and-supports-for-students-among-key-factors-behind-increased-rates-of-violence-towards-teachers/). Death threats, head injuries, and even poisoning of teachers have occurred in Canada.
Students Who Are Not Ready For that Level of Learning: I have been the head of the math department at an online school. Some of the grade 10 math students had never done math before. You are likely wondering whether you read that wrong… how can they be in grade 10 math and have never done math before?
In many provinces, students are passed automatically from one grade to the next—even if they haven't mastered the material. They can reach grade 10 math without ever having successfully completed earlier math levels, because high school is the first time course failure is tracked for credit. Therefore, if they are in an online school and they never go to the online class, they never do any of the quizzes or assignments, etc., they still get passed from kindergarten to grade 1, to grade 2, to grade 3… to grade 10!
When I taught in a rural school, I had a student in grade 7 and another student in grade 8 who could not read. Their parents would constantly phone in and say that they would not be at school because they were sick, and the students would be riding their bikes around the town. I know what many of you are probably wondering next… where are social services? Do you have any idea by how much their budget has been cut? They can only deal with the most severe cases, and they do not get involved in cases where parents do not send their kids to school unless there is also severe abuse.
When Did I Start Teaching?
A question that I am often asked is when I started teaching. The answer is complicated enough already, being that I started tutoring when I was in grade 11, but I became a certified teacher after earning my Education degree at the University of Regina.
However, if the truth were really to be told, in detail, I would say that I started teaching in grade 10. I was not tutoring yet, and I had not volunteered or signed up to teach… I had a horrible math teacher.
When I was in grade 10, my math teacher would put one example on the chalkboard, with very little explanation, then he would sit in his chair, lean back, relax, and blast music.
Any student who dared ask him a question would be told, “If you are too stupid to understand, then I am not going to teach it to you.” The students started to figure out that I knew the math, so when they would be told that, they would come to my desk for help. Then, rather than being treated rudely first, they started coming directly to my desk. The teacher started to point at my desk while he leaned back and relaxed! (Yes, I should have been paid his salary, since I was the one teaching the class!)
When I was a first-year teacher, I stopped teaching in my classroom. Did I become like that teacher and lean back and relax and expect some bright student to teach the class for me? No! I became a disciplinarian rather than a teacher. I was in a rural school where students tried to light the school on fire, wherein students would throw desks if they got upset, and many other problems existed.
Could I teach? Like the teacher in the video, I tried to teach while dealing with the myriad of issues in my classroom, and I know that I did not accomplish much.
I started teaching in my classroom again the following year when I was at a different school, and there was one class in which the students behaved. It was wonderful! I could teach! I could focus on the content and not worry about a student throwing a desk! I could do what I was trained to do and not feel like I had studied education, but somehow wound up being a police officer!
That Teacher is a One-Off Case Who Was Coasting to Retirement, Right? All the Other Teachers Try Their Best In a System That Fails Them and Their Students?
That is not true. When I was in grade 8, my teacher had an anger management problem. He called two students in my class fat pigs in front of all the students, he pushed one student into the hallway brick wall, injuring the student, and finally was required to go on leave and take anger management classes.
I have had two students tell me within the last few months that they were bullied by THEIR TEACHERS! In a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health (https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(24)00292-1/fulltext), 40.3% of elementary school teachers reported that they had bullied a student at least once, and 32.5% indicated that they knew at least one teacher who had bullied students within the previous school year. Also, 2.7% of students in grades 7 and 8 reported being bullied by teachers/other school staff members.
Many parents search things like “Why is my child not learning in school?” or “How do I know if my child needs tutoring?” - and it is not always easy to find honest answers. Very few studies have explored teachers bullying students.
How Can You Help Your Child Succeed in School?
This is likely depressing, we get it! So, let’s turn our focus to what you can do to help your kids be ready for high school and life after high school.
You can book a consultation with us to have your students’ skills assessed. It is completely free of charge, and that way, you will know whether you need to be concerned.
Talk to your kids about what they are learning in school, what a typical day in school is like for them, etc. Tell them stories from your days in school - sometimes they are surprised to learn that their parents did not behave correctly 100% of the time, so they will learn that you are human too. Ask open-ended, specific, and engaging questions that cannot just be answered with “yes” or “no” or a head nod or head shake. Remember that you are a parent, not an investigative journalist! So, only ask them a question every day or two. Ask them questions such as:
What did you learn in science class today?
What was the best thing that happened at school today?
Who did you eat your lunch with?
What did you work on in art class today?
What made you feel happy today?
Was there anything that frustrated you today?
How well do you feel you are understanding math?
If you could change one thing about your school, what would it be?
What is something that you learned this school year that you will remember for a very long time?
Ask your kids whether they are experiencing any challenges in school so you can brainstorm solutions together - do they need some more conversation-starters to make more friends? If so, brainstorm some together or use AI to get some really good ones! Are they being bullied by a teacher, another student, or a school staff member? In that case, you might need to meet with their teacher. Are they struggling with any subject areas? If so, do they need tutoring, or can you help them, or can they use AI or the internet, in general, to learn more?
How We Can Help/Recent Positive Experiences We Have Had Turning Things Around
Case Study: How One Student Overcame Learning Gaps and Succeeded in Math
One of the students who is a student of Clever Minds Online Learning Centre had failed grade 9 math, with the teacher who was being very critical of her and bullying her. We recently completed filling in ALL of her math learning gaps this summer! We know, from her skills, that she should not have failed grade 9 math - she should have done very well in the course.
What changed? She stated, “I know that you are not judging me, so I can think much better than I could. I could not think clearly, knowing that my teacher was going to judge me very harshly!”
Case Study: How One Student Is Learning What She Needed to Know Before Her Standardized State Test
I taught a student today who is in New York and is reviewing grade 6 math. She is a good student. Also, she had not heard of dependent and independent variables until they showed up on her state’s standardized test, despite them being in the grade 6 curriculum.
Our goals for this summer are to review grade 6 math and preview grade 7 math. I honestly do not know if we will get to the previewing grade 7 math part of our plan this summer, because we are still reviewing grade 6 math since much of it is new to her, DESPITE her having completed grade 6 math. I asked her whether the students in her class had been struggling, but she did not know… but she said that her classmates just did not care about learning and did not behave well in class! No wonder the teacher did not have a chance to teach the entire grade 6 curriculum!
However, in an individual tutoring setting, we can teach a student the entire grade 6 math curriculum in approximately 10 hours! Yes, you read that correctly, 10 hours! So if your student did not learn enough during the previous class to be ready for the next one, it is best to book a consultation with us.
Case Study: How Students Are Staying in the Public School System While Benefiting From Extra Support and Resources
I have a couple of new students who are in the public school system. Their parents see the value in their children being in the public school system, despite the fact that they could afford to put them into private school. However, they will be our students because they heard very good feedback from other parents about our services, and we can supplement their education, enabling them to stay in the public school system, but with extra support and resources.
Signs Your Child May Need Tutoring
They…
make negative statements about their abilities.
avoid doing their homework - putting it off until the last minute, or not talking about it and not doing it.
have declining marks.
are increasingly frustrated with schoolwork.
have difficulty managing time or keeping track of their assignments.
display a sudden disinterest in school.
constantly ask for help with their homework, but you do not feel fully able to help them.
turn homework time into a stressful experience in the household.