Reports - about targets or about children?

I am currently writing my first set of full class reports and have liaised with four to five different teachers about what they need to include, how to write them and what to focus on. At first I struggled with what I needed to incorporate to meet the school's standards of report writing, but after sitting down with my PLG leader it became clear that the most difficult part of writing reports was going to be ensuring that my spelling, grammar and punctuation were dotted and crossed. In terms of what was included in reports we simply needed to record each thing that each specific child has achieved that aligns with what the MOE determines to be the national standard for each age level. In essence, what 'targets' has the child achieved in the first half of the year. Next steps for each child simply were transferred from the target that child had set and ways to help at home aligned easy teaching points with the next steps.

Discussions that I have had with parents in my class and discussions that I have had with teachers leave me wondering who we are reporting for, are we writing reports because it is a MOE requirement and we are trying to successfully tick boxes or are we writing reports to genuinely celebrate and express concerns about children who are placed in our care each day. I know that the majority of teachers I have had this discussion with would prefer it to be the second one but they find that with what and how we write being so prescriptive it is hard to do just that. I know that the parents that have come in to discuss their child thus far this year have not queried about what numeracy strategies and reading comprehension strategies their children are applying to their learning but rather about the Hauora and total wellbeing of their child each day. They want answers to questions such as is their child happy? Does their child contribute in class? Are they confident when working with others? Are they engaged in authentic learning? Is their voice heard? Are they making progress in their learning? Questions that I am able to answer without looking in their child's book because I have formed relationships with that child, work closely and conference with that child about their learning each and every single day and because I care.

I care about education, I care about children and I care about each and every child in my class reaching their utmost potential throughout their year with me. I care about engaging parents with their child and their child's learning and encouraging parents to support their learning at home. I care about supporting what is happening in each child's home in my classroom.

I care but at times I question whether with the reports that we write and the multitude of targets that we have to meet for board and Ministry requirements children are able to see and feel that care. A child in my class the other day was hit in the eye at lunch time, I was on release and so only saw this child after school, but between lunch time and home time this child came across five other teachers. I asked him how he was feeling and whether he had informed any other teachers and iced his eye and he replied that he had not as they all looked too busy and he did not want to stop them from achieving what they had to have done that afternoon. Their target for the afternoon so to speak. At what expense are we setting and reporting on targets?

A question that I ponder each day is if my students were to report on me as a teacher, as I report on them, would they be reporting on whether or not I was setting them targets and analysing their results of these targets within a week or would they report on me as a person? I can only hope that they would report on me as a person and recognise that I care for and love these children. I feel it my duty to report on these children in the same way I hope that they would report on me at this time of the year, not against targets but against progress that they are making as a person. The small box at the bottom of the report with the smallest text is the most important box on the whole report in my opinion and I can only hope that I can use those five lines to share with parents their child's successes as a person and any concerns I have.