Tutors & Qe

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Yes
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by Yes »

It was kind of a joke.
But I really don't get this - boys at QE need to do the same GCSE and A-Levels as all the children at any other school. And these super-bright boys need tutors? :roll:
anotherdad
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by anotherdad »

From another thread on the subject it seems that they don't need tutors, it seems that some parents think they do. In some cases that may be because they're struggling to keep up but I suspect it's more to do with the scramble to ensure they achieve top grades in everything and the perception that any extra work is an advantage. There have been anecdotes of parents fearful of not applying to QE or choosing another school ahead of it, because of what family members and work colleagues will say. I can well imagine that pressure continuing throughout the school years. After all, how comfortable would those parents feel at family gatherings, dinner parties or in the workplace if their boy was one of the ones to get a grade 8 in something?
ToadMum
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by ToadMum »

anotherdad wrote:From another thread on the subject it seems that they don't need tutors, it seems that some parents think they do. In some cases that may be because they're struggling to keep up but I suspect it's more to do with the scramble to ensure they achieve top grades in everything and the perception that any extra work is an advantage. There have been anecdotes of parents fearful of not applying to QE or choosing another school ahead of it, because of what family members and work colleagues will say. I can well imagine that pressure continuing throughout the school years. After all, how comfortable would those parents feel at family gatherings, dinner parties or in the workplace if their boy was one of the ones to get a grade 8 in something?
8? Would they be able to admit to their DS only getting an 8?
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nyr
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by nyr »

Most QE parents are reporting that their boy is being taught sufficiently well within the school to not need extra tuition. In contrast, there is currently an active forumite reporting that his QE boy is being privately tutored and it's interesting to note the very heavy workload undertaken and assistance needed by a younger DS who has a borderline QE score and may well be in WGSB come September.

My guess is that the vast majority of candidates in the tests for super-selective places who receive the heaviest workloads and levels of assistance are unlikely to be at QE and HBS and are likely to disperse to other selective, partially-selective and non selective schools such as those in Hertfordshire, Bucks, Slough, Essex and so. An example of why I think it may be so is that it seems likely that a child who undertakes a journey from Gnats Hill to Colchester rather than to Barnet probably tried very hard and tapped into an array of resources (it seems education is very important for the family) but didn't quite reach the threshold for entry to QE.

Assuming that the degree of effort and assistance for success in 11+ tests can be linked to effort and assistance required to reach the minimum GCSE and A levels grades acceptable to the family would lead me to suggest that children at many other schools, of all types, receive tuition in the run-up to GCSEs and A levels.

Even though it's amusing to suggest that only QE and HBS league table positions are propped up by a network of tutors rather than the competence of the students and teachers, I suspect that the details could be somewhat more complex.
Amber
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by Amber »

All I can say to that is that I am shocked if children at a highly selective school need tutors like that. I have had 3 children go through GCSEs and 2 go through A levels and we had no tutoring for any of them. One was at a non-selective school and taught in mixed ability groups to GCSE and the other 2 were at a grammar school but not one of these 'top tier' ones. Their grades are all about as good as you can get. I wonder to be honest what is going on if tutoring is needed on anything other than a minor scale in one or 2 subjects and my money would be on a lack of drive from individual children who have not developed a work ethic of their own, perhaps because they have been over-parented (parents devising homework/revision timetables, for example, or getting heavily involved in homework etc) and have not learned the hard way what happens if you don't take responsibility for their own learning.

GCSEs are not difficult or complicated but they do require hard work and a degree of being able to knuckle down. My advice is to get children to take responsibility themselves for revision and homework from Y7 onwards and then if they don't, any failures to perform will come early on. There is nothing like doing badly in an exam for focusing the mind on the next one, but if parents are always hovering over them organising what needs to be done, this shock to the system never has chance to happen and you end up feeling the need to get another adult in on the act at GCSE time.
nyr
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by nyr »

I don't disagree with anything in your post, Amber. It's just a bit odd, or perhaps not so, that forumites are at pains to instill the notion that tutoring is a problem isolated to schools such QE and HBS.
fiate2000
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by fiate2000 »

I have two boys in QE (Y11 and Y9). They do not have any tutors and I am aware of only one boy from their friend circles being tutored. I do not recognise the notion of majority of QE boys being tutored.

My boys are not in the top set in their subjects and they usually have orange/red highlights on their report cards. But they know when to ask for parental help. Since neither parent went through school system in UK, this help generally involves visiting Wikipedia / youtube / BBC bitesize websites to research the topic together to resolve any query. For full disclosure, I received today DS1's report for A level subject choice, and he met the criteria for all subjects except the one he is not so keen. Apparently the level of support he recieved at school and home were adequate.
Guest55
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by Guest55 »

yoyo123 wrote:I dislike the assumption that you have to be a better teacher to teach bright children.

It takes a great deal of skill to teach someone who doesn’t learn easily.
I agree - some of the worst teaching I've seen has been in Private schools and Grammars ..
Amber
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by Amber »

Guest55 wrote:
yoyo123 wrote:I dislike the assumption that you have to be a better teacher to teach bright children.

It takes a great deal of skill to teach someone who doesn’t learn easily.
I agree - some of the worst teaching I've seen has been in Private schools and Grammars ..
It is my view that the more selective a school is, the better its results ought to be. This is not rocket science. Reading of some of the contortions schools in this area - both state and private - go to to cream off the 'top' children and grab them for their schools, it is quite shocking that parents really believe that the results these schools get are anything at all to do with the quality of teaching. If you take highly coached children from families who are clearly heavily invested in their children's education, and put them into an environment where they are surrounded by similar, ensuring a spirit of competition and a relentless work ethic, you are going to get good results. You could almost not have qualified teachers at all. :wink:
ritz667
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Re: Tutors & Qe

Post by ritz667 »

That's why there are selective schools.

To enable the more academically bright to be taught in a environment where their full potential is realised, than to be kept in a class with mixed abilities where no one wins.
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