Tutors & Qe
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Re: Tutors & Qe
Does sound oddAML wrote:A little bit off topic but relevant to QE. QE invited the heads from my son's prep school to come and see the school and have a chat - first time ever this has happened. Wondered what this new move is about? It's very common among Indies to do this but not known of state schools to try to forge links (prep school not even close to Barnet).
Re: Tutors & Qe
This thread makes me think about several different things;
- there probably is some tutoring at QE and other SS schools. Many of the families who send their children to these schools by nature value education and exam outcomes very highly and don't like to leave anything to chance - and a bit of extra tutoring or DIY work at home, whilst not necessary for success, might well be undertaken. It may well not be in large quantities.
- these children are generally very bright and don't need tutoring for success. When the Press or critics of these schools want a story or something to complain about, this is an easy one - to suggest the school itself cannot deliver the results without tutoring, or the kids themselves are not bright enough. Even if there might be a small handful for really do need some extra help, it doesn't equate to the kids or the school not being up to delivering great results for its selective intake without outside help - but those who dislike the school may like to make it look like this or to exaggerate the amount of tutoring or what it means.
- A question which occurs to me, is once the boys are in, how secure do they feel? Do they feel that they deserve their place, that the school will get them to the end and that if they work hard, that will be enough for success? I'd have thought these were key attitudes any school would wish it's students to have. I'd have thought most boys do feel like this and have confidence in themselves and the school. Having a sense of being on the verge of failing all the time is not a great place to be. As has been said on this forum a number of times, I wonder if the pressure comes from families most. Probably QE or other SS is fairly confident it can get its able cohort to great grades, but it's the parents who have the wobbles and fears, especially if their child is going through this kind of education for the first time in the family history and so much seems to be riding on exam grades. On this forum we often see a loss of perspective - either about getting in to begin with, or about an individual test result or the place within a top set or an indicator grade at GCSE. For some parents (and these are highly represented in such schools) who perhaps don't have such cultural capital or previous experience and confidence to know that actually things can work out just great even if you go to a different school or get a different grade, nothing can be left to chance in the journey to grades, uni and the aspirational career which is the root to a better life. I think often those parents knowingly or unknowingly heap on the pressure .....it's not always to have a tutor by any means, but it might be to work extra extra hard or to see only top performance as success.
The truth about tutoring is no doubt someone where in the middle of all the extreme stories and judgements we hear on here. No doubt a number if boys do have external tutors, but not always because they or the school can't get them to the top grades, but because of a sense that any risk cannot be taken. And no doubt such tutoring isn't endemic in the school but critics of the SS or the school itself love to leap on this as a way to bash the school or the system.
- there probably is some tutoring at QE and other SS schools. Many of the families who send their children to these schools by nature value education and exam outcomes very highly and don't like to leave anything to chance - and a bit of extra tutoring or DIY work at home, whilst not necessary for success, might well be undertaken. It may well not be in large quantities.
- these children are generally very bright and don't need tutoring for success. When the Press or critics of these schools want a story or something to complain about, this is an easy one - to suggest the school itself cannot deliver the results without tutoring, or the kids themselves are not bright enough. Even if there might be a small handful for really do need some extra help, it doesn't equate to the kids or the school not being up to delivering great results for its selective intake without outside help - but those who dislike the school may like to make it look like this or to exaggerate the amount of tutoring or what it means.
- A question which occurs to me, is once the boys are in, how secure do they feel? Do they feel that they deserve their place, that the school will get them to the end and that if they work hard, that will be enough for success? I'd have thought these were key attitudes any school would wish it's students to have. I'd have thought most boys do feel like this and have confidence in themselves and the school. Having a sense of being on the verge of failing all the time is not a great place to be. As has been said on this forum a number of times, I wonder if the pressure comes from families most. Probably QE or other SS is fairly confident it can get its able cohort to great grades, but it's the parents who have the wobbles and fears, especially if their child is going through this kind of education for the first time in the family history and so much seems to be riding on exam grades. On this forum we often see a loss of perspective - either about getting in to begin with, or about an individual test result or the place within a top set or an indicator grade at GCSE. For some parents (and these are highly represented in such schools) who perhaps don't have such cultural capital or previous experience and confidence to know that actually things can work out just great even if you go to a different school or get a different grade, nothing can be left to chance in the journey to grades, uni and the aspirational career which is the root to a better life. I think often those parents knowingly or unknowingly heap on the pressure .....it's not always to have a tutor by any means, but it might be to work extra extra hard or to see only top performance as success.
The truth about tutoring is no doubt someone where in the middle of all the extreme stories and judgements we hear on here. No doubt a number if boys do have external tutors, but not always because they or the school can't get them to the top grades, but because of a sense that any risk cannot be taken. And no doubt such tutoring isn't endemic in the school but critics of the SS or the school itself love to leap on this as a way to bash the school or the system.
Re: Tutors & Qe
Private school have supply staff too. I also know of people in a Private school teaching Physics without a degree and textiles being taught by someone with just a GCSE. Don't assume Private schools have good quality teachers.squareofthewicket wrote: My DD has mentioned in passing that their year (year 7) has had a few substitute teachers already. I know its only anecdotal evidence from 1 school, but maybe it kind of generates Chinese whispers, giving parent's with money to spare, another reason to look down on the state system?
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Daogroupie
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Re: Tutors & Qe
One of our local private schools lost their science teacher suddenly and one of the mums stepped in for six months. She was not a qualified teacher nor did she have a degree in Science.
She was not paid by the school. DG
She was not paid by the school. DG
Re: Tutors & Qe
Of course, if that had been a state school, folk would be queueing up to use it as an example of exactly why they couldn't possibly be expected to have little Tarquin and Esmeralda educated in the state sector.Daogroupie wrote:One of our local private schools lost their science teacher suddenly and one of the mums stepped in for six months. She was not a qualified teacher nor did she have a degree in Science.
She was not paid by the school. DG
I'm tempted to ask if the families concerned were given a refund, but I suppose the real question is, did she manage to facilitate an adequate level of achievement in the subject, or just fill what might otherwise have been a rather embarrassing gap in its staffing for the school to explain?
And why not pay her for her efforts? Indies aren't obliged to employ teaching staff who have a teaching qualification.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
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kenyancowgirl
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Re: Tutors & Qe
I'm not sure states schools are either, nowadays - certainly there are now "learning through the job" schemes where people train to be a teacher as they teach....
Re: Tutors & Qe
There is no requirement for any school now to employ qualified teachers. A Labour motion to propose that teachers must be at least 'working towards' QTS was defeated in Parliament in, I think, 2014. Before that it used only to be private schools that didn't have to employ qualified teachers.
QE Barnet has advertised many jobs recently and does not seem to require qualified teacher status of any of the applicants. Last month it was Physics and PE; this month head of Y7 and a language teacher.
QE Barnet has advertised many jobs recently and does not seem to require qualified teacher status of any of the applicants. Last month it was Physics and PE; this month head of Y7 and a language teacher.
(For teacher of Latin and German).Applications are welcome from experienced teachers, NQTs and those without a formal teaching qualification
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thisisnuts
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Re: Tutors & Qe
Current head of Y7 is a German teacher. Sounds like we might be saying goodbye to him.
Clearly there are subjects where it's hard enough to find people with the basic knowledge - let alone a teaching qualification.
But I would hope they'd work towards it once they got the job!
Clearly there are subjects where it's hard enough to find people with the basic knowledge - let alone a teaching qualification.
But I would hope they'd work towards it once they got the job!
Re: Tutors & Qe
That is because of the dreadful state of teacher education in this country and the gradual deprofessionalisation of the teacher workforce. I don't think there is any other country in the global north which does not require teachers to be qualified. Oh, maybe one...guess where? Clue: basic lessons on the science of climate change do not seem to have been understood by their leader.thisisnuts wrote: Clearly there are subjects where it's hard enough to find people with the basic knowledge - let alone a teaching qualification.
But I would hope they'd work towards it once they got the job!
Re: Tutors & Qe
I have a son in Y8 at QE and is currently being tutored. Quite honestly I’m not totally happy with the school. They emphatically express how they produce confident, articulate boys, all while they are crushing their confidence with their archaic and regimented rules.
My son is a nervous wreck. Always afraid of receiving a sanction for the most innocent of reasons. The staff have a no tolerance policy and will never give a child the benefit of the doubt, hence my son has said its easier to succumb to the teaching staff rather than be heard or stand up for yourself. As for the tuition. He said a very large percentage of his peers are being tutored in one or more subjects. What does this say about the school?
My son is a nervous wreck. Always afraid of receiving a sanction for the most innocent of reasons. The staff have a no tolerance policy and will never give a child the benefit of the doubt, hence my son has said its easier to succumb to the teaching staff rather than be heard or stand up for yourself. As for the tuition. He said a very large percentage of his peers are being tutored in one or more subjects. What does this say about the school?