«It hurt to see how our son suffered in part»

"We had very different experiences with our children's teachers. Two teachers paid particular attention to fostering our children's strengths and de-emphasising their weaknesses. We realise how much this approach helps the children to deal with their own shortcomings.

In our son's case, for example, his social skills were used in such a way that he was able to take responsibility for the younger or very young children in the mixed-age class. The teacher always gave him the feeling that she liked him and accepted him for who he was. We firmly believe that it is precisely this openness and appreciation that makes learning possible.

We would have liked the teacher to see our child's «conspicuous» behaviour as an expression of the fact that he doesn't feel comfortable in her lessons.

Unfortunately, from our point of view, another of our son's teachers did not succeed in doing this. The two of them simply couldn't build a good relationship with each other. We suspect that he was probably outside her idea of a «normal» pupil and that she was unable to deal with this. It was painful to see how our son's self-esteem suffered to some extent and he no longer wanted to go to school. We had the feeling that our perception was not being taken seriously.

We are also aware that the collaboration was probably not always easy for both sides.

We would have liked the teacher to see our child's «conspicuous» behaviour as an expression of the fact that he doesn't feel comfortable in her lessons. Perhaps this would have made it possible to understand him better and react differently to him, to accept him as an individual person.

However, we are also aware that the collaboration was probably not always easy for both sides, that this is our perception and that it does not necessarily correspond to the «truth» - if there is any truth at all.

Apart from that, we as parents are happy about all the wonderful moments that our children were able to experience at school: unbridled joy playing with other children, successfully mastered presentations in which the children surpassed themselves, moments in which the children were made aware of what they are already capable of and how much they contribute to the well-being of everyone in the class.

We are also grateful for all the moments in which the teachers saw, encouraged and teased out the good and positive in our children."