Council staff secretly recommending 11plus private tutoring

[wonderwoman]

The other day I was told by a council official in my area that his children would probably not have passed without extra coaching because it teaches them the techniques needed for success. He strongly recommended one hour a week of 11 plus tuition as "it is no longer a level playing field" because private schools do offer coaching per se. The same council is reforming the exam to make it supposedly tutor proof. Isn't it time that state primaries offered children more coaching/tuition for this tough exam than refusing on ideological grounds.

This is an outrageous suggestion by a council official - unless of course it was a private opinion said to a friend and not in any official capacity.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. In the 20+ years I have been teaching in a grammar county, there has been a positive explosion in coaching for 11+. Starting at an ever younger age. In those 20+ years I see no difference in the type of children that gain a qualifying mark and those that don't. The 11+ test has changed during the years and I still see no difference. Most pupils in the top 25% pass (and the appeals system works well, here, for those who do not qualify for whatever reason); many in the top 35% pass (appeals generally not successful for children between 25% and 35%); I have never known any child in the bottom 50% pass. I have known the odd child between the top 50% and top 35% pass.
I will admit that some familiarisation and exam technique does help - but you could certainly cover all that at home during the summer holidays.

[mystery]

The logic is missing Crashtestdummy, a bit like all the newspaper articles I keep on reading about "tutor-proof" exams ... poppycock. Let's say all primaries did provide practice with 11plus exams (not sure what the bottom 75% would be doing at this point but never mind) - let's say 2 hours per week. What should they drop teaching? And what's stopping an independent school offering 4 hours per week?

I'm sure private tutors have always existed in some shape or form - they certainly did when was a child many moons ago. There's nothing new under the sun. Lots of things have always undermined the dream of social mobility - always have, always will do - maybe especially so in Britain. I'm not sure that tutoring is a major factor - it's certainly a factor, but only one of many, and probably a relatively minor one.

[mystery]

Yes I agree Wonderwoman - I don't know what area you live in, but I've never seen an argument in Kent based on fact e.g. an analysis of whether the right children are passing the exam or not. It's all anecdotal tuttutting about tutoring and independent schools. Yes I'm sure that you see the vast majority of passes coming from children who teachers have always seen as being in the top 25%. However, you have to ask how those children got into the top 25% in the first place - it's both nature and nurture - a child from a lousy school and a family which has various negative factors which are barriers to education is less likely to be in the top 25% than a child with the same "inborn potential" from a wealthier, healthier family that has the time to support their child's education and sends them to a good school. Levelling the playing field completely is not possible ... and politicians who pretend they can are doing just that - pretending. You can close the gap a bit but not completely.

[Okanagan]

This is an outrageous suggestion by a council official - unless of course it was a private opinion said to a friend and not in any official capacity.

Let's not forget that there are a whole plethora of occupations which could come under the umbrella title of "council official", the vast majority of which will have nothing to do with education in general, let alone 11+ selection policy in particular. People who happen to work for local government organisations are just as entitled to private opinions/actions in areas unrelated to their work as anyone else in society.

[hobbit]

In Buckinghamshire (and elsewhere?) the headteachers have to undertake not to provide 11 plus help, so they are not allowed to do so.

I know of a school bordering to Bucks (with access to Bucks GS as out catchment) a state primary that is an Academy, who hire a 11+ tutor to teach in school time!!

[rerumcausas]

Really? Do parents have to pay for the tutoring, or does the Academy provide it for free?

[crashtestdummy]

Isn't part of the problem the fact that because so many children are getting tutored, either from a private tutor or in a private school that offers 11 plus coaching, that the pass mark has been pushed up and up. Now the only way to attain that pass mark is to have your child tutored? So you get these crazy notions of making exams tutor-proof. Impossible. Mine was tutored and benefited hugely from the extra work - and enjoyed it. It would have been money well spent irrespective of whether he had passed the exam. He did pass in the event. I gather some tutors offer discounts to parents who are on low incomes, which is praiseworthy.

[hobbit]

Really? Do parents have to pay for the tutoring, or does the Academy provide it for free?

I believe the Academy pay for the tutor, personally I disagree with this. Surely the school can't use public money in this manner?

[Guest55]

hobbit if they are a partner school then you must report them. The Headteacher has to sign a declaration ...

[mystery]

Crash test, every 11 plus area is different. Which one are you in?