DD finding maths not challenging enough

[ToadMum]

No offence taken!! What I said did look a bit odd - but I was just referring to the BSc this teacher has from what sounds like a good uni. I'm just thinking that if the school is supportive and she's keen for all children to progress, it should be possible - even if she doesn't have a teaching qualification.

The school could always pay for her to get a teaching qualification...

[Guest55]

The teacher is qualified, they went to a London university it says on staff list.

Mystery - this is what the OP said - no subect stated and no name of the university. Having a degree is not enough, in my experience, to make someone a good teacher. Knowledge does not imply the ability to support children to learn effectively.

[mystery]

Ah ok - a London uni not London university - thanks for looking back.

Yep, being able to teach is different from knowing stuff. what the readers of this thread do not know is if she can teach the class new things or not. We only have been given examples of her boring students with things they should have done years ago.

[mike1880]

I was taught maths to O-level by a teacher without a degree. The school intended us to be taught by a guy with a masters in Maths but he was completely useless so we protested (and, unusually, were listened to). I had to put up with the MSc for A-level and he really was rubbish. A couple of the worst teachers I've come across in more recent years were PhDs in their teaching subject, neither had any detectable teaching skills and both had quite obvious personality traits which imo should have ruled them out of holding any position of authority over young people.

[mystery]

Ditto. REcently experienced a teacher ( not maths) with a doctorate - and a teaching qualification. Completely and utterly unable to communicate their subject, imho. Moved on at the end of the year to my relief. Was nothing to do with being beyond the pupils either as I showed some of the material to a strong graduate in that subject and they thought it was dreadful at any level.

that particular teacher could have learned to teach well if they wanted to. Some people just can't and others don't want to.

[Amber]

Expect to see more of it. There is a massive recruitment crisis in teaching and the government in the form of the marvellous Mr Gibb seems to have two strategies for dealing with it.

One is to lower the standards needed to enter the profession and allow prospective teachers multiple attempts to pass the basic maths and English tests needed. This will ensure that the baseline requirement for the profession drops, with the corresponding issues for schools and pupils this is likely to bring.

The other is to boost up the Teach First route, whereby very bright graduates are parachuted into schools with no experience or teaching qualifications and are expected to teach with 'support' from the schools. I know several such teachers, all really bright and enthusiastic when they started; all are planning to leave the profession at the earliest opportunity. I also know several teachers who are required to 'support' TF graduates and all do so with varying degrees of resentment and resignation as it is just one more burden for them on top of an already huge workload.

It is time that the Government overhauled the whole process of entry into, and ongoing support for, teaching, imho, but sadly with a Government committed to saving money at every opportunity and with a traditional scepticism towards teachers which arose out of the Education Black Papers in the early 1970s and has never really gone away, it isn't going to happen any time soon.

[tiffinboys]

Can Education be taken out of government’s hand and given to some independent organisation? Like Bank of England, some autonomous body to deal with Education, out of politician’s hand.

There is incentive for politicians in this too. They wouldn’t get blamed for poor performance.