While "no zero" policies or automatic promotion to the next grade can spark heated debates, one education professor says handing out a failing grade conveys more about the teacher and education system than it does about the student's capabilities.
Charles Pascal, a professor at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and Ontario's former deputy education minister, says, throughout the school year, teachers should be asking why a child is not performing well, rather than simply handing out a failing grade at the end.
"We spend a lot of time talking about getting kids ready for school in the earliest of their years, but we need to spend more time to ensure our schools are ready for kids," Pascal told CTV News Channel on Tuesday. "It's all about doing everything possible to ensure that kids are successful."
Pascal says there are a number of opportunities from early on in the school year to give students feedback about their performance, and for teachers to determine why students are not doing as well as possible.
"There are two kinds of attitudes regarding being a teacher," he said. "Some teachers believe it's their job to give the essential core knowledge to the kids and if they get it, fine, if they don’t that's fine and that's their problem.
"The other school of thought is that (teachers) co-chair the responsibility for success."
The emphasis in schools, he said, should be trying to do everything possible so teachers don't have to fail students.
"If you're finding out late that something has gone awry, that's bad," he said. "That's testimony to an education system that isn't adapting well."
The topic of failing students has made headlines in recent years after an Alberta teacher was fired for breaking the school's "no zero" policy and failing students who missed tests or didn't hand in assignments. An appeal board eventually found that the teacher was treated unfairly. The board was also critical of the school's no zero policy.
Pascal noted that students may not be doing well because of an undetected learning disability or an issue that's related to the home environment.
"It could be a particular student doesn’t see any connection between going to school and a future with some hope. When a teacher gets to know these circumstances, magical things happen," he said. "You can adapt to the student rather than just waiting mid-term or at the end of the year and assigning a grade, of any level, when it's too late."
