NSW school principals blast pushy parents over 2021 teacher requests

School principals across the state have blasted pushy parents who want to select their child’s favourite teacher for next year.

School principals across the state have blasted pushy ‘Karen-style’ parents who want to select their child’s favourite teacher next year.

But experts say rather than complaining about teachers, parents should encourage their children to see getting a less than inspirational teacher as a life lesson in resilience.

Kensington Public School principal Louise Stone warned parents not to submit requests for their child but gave the green light to requests to keep good friends together.

“Please feel free to write a letter or send an email discussing your child’s learning needs for next year, you are welcome to discuss friendship groups and teaching styles but please do not ask for specific teachers,” she said.

Some principals say keeping friends together is okay but picking teachers crosses the line.

Kellyville Public School principal Jenny Walker also warned parents about wanting to pick teachers. “Please do not ask for individual teachers,” she said.

At Burraneer Public School principal Victoria Pantelis also said parents choosing teachers and seeking to have other students removed from their child’s class would not be tolerated.

“It is not appropriate to make specific requests that involve other people’s children or for a particular teacher to teach or not teach your child’s class,” she told parents this term.

Primary Principals Association president Robyn Evans said every school across the state had misbehaving students but said parents still had to understand they had a right to be there.

“It is public education and everyone is included, in every school there is someone whose behaviour might be atypical for a number of reasons and we respect and work with the parents of that child so that we maximise the learning not only for them but for every child,” she said.

Education experts say not getting their child’s favourite teacher is a good lesson in resilience.

While some parents would escalate their complaints about a principal’s class choices to the Education Minister, she said most parents were understanding when principals explained their rationale behind the decision.

“There will always be people who are disgruntled with decisions but we never make a decision quickly and we are solutions focused,” she said.

“There are a million considerations like the number of students in a cohort, individualised learning plans, whether we stream or have comprehensive classes.”

She also explained while in decades gone past the “Miss Honey” archetype of a teacher would always been confined to Kindergarten and stricter teachers assigned to the higher grades, principals now tried to move teachers around every year of primary schooling to keep their skills fresh.

NSW Parents Council president Rose Cantali warned parents against objecting to a specific teacher because their children would be less likely to respect them and ultimately their learning would suffer if they were eventually allocated to their class.

“Parents can perceive one teacher is better than the other,” she said.

“But sometimes you have to suck it in and take the good with the bad and deal with it, it will help build a child’s resilience.”

A Department of Education spokeswoman said principals took into account a number of factors when assigning classes.

“School principals allocate teachers and groups of students to a specific class based on a range of criteria, including professional and practical considerations,” she said.