Chalkface: Reporting Progress

There is a legal requirement that state schools report to parents at least annually and offer an interview (live or online) with staff, typically called 'Parents' Evening'. Writing a school report at the end of the academic year might be satisfying if a child has done well, but is too late to implement intervention if things were amiss. Parents would quite rightly feel cross if a report given in July suggested that X was struggling and needed to spend more time on his homework, and that was the first they knew of it. I was employed by a school which boasted about academic progress, so the policy was to write to parents thrice yearly, each subject offering an assessment of a child’s progress and attainment. So far so good.

As Head of Year though, whose job it was to read every single report and offer comment ahead of the Headmaster, I noticed discrepancies. A child would score highly in one subject, but not another, even though it was a related discipline. Was it an uninspiring teacher? A colleague with higher standards, harder to please? Was the child a little choosy in allocating his effort? It turned out that some teachers were assessing where a pupil was at the point of the report, whereas others were assessing where the child was likely to be at the year’s end. The first were seeing what a pupil had actually attained, the second were looking ahead and describing the potential, end result. Clearly, a consensus had to be reached, and it was ironed out in due course.

When I assess my spiritual state I am looking at where I am, right now. The self-righteous prig is impressed with his attainment, wondering why others cannot share his zeal and dedication. The real child of God, however, is invariably disappointed, echoing the apostle’s cry: “O wretched man that I am”! If I am dissatisfied with my poor progress of sanctification, how much more must God be grieved, who observes those sinful impulses which even I cannot detect? Yet God has the advantage over us; being timeless and omniscient, He can see our future state, our heavenly perfection, our eternal conclusions. I look at my attainment and wonder if I am truly a child of God or if Christ did not die in vain; He beholds my future in which He sees the reward of His Passion. We must certainly not justify present compromise on the basis of future glory, but neither must we look only at the present and our own failures and conclude accordingly. The Holy Spirit knows what He is doing and will accomplish the task which He has begun.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6