Does Your Child Go To A Proper School Or An Academy?

peachyprice

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

But not now, apparently there's going to be a two layer education system - proper schools for rich families and 'academies' for the rest of us. Just might be worth asking on 4th September!

Erm, sorry to burst your bubble, but teachers in private schools where 'rich families' are more likely to send their children do not have to be qualified either.

The majority of academies are normal high schools that have chosen to adopt the academy status to give them greater flexibility with their budget, most have the same teachers they had in July when they closed for summer, most will have exactly the same demographic of pupils attending as they did in July.

I can't quite see how this equates to a two tier education system. Are you saying people can get their children into state schools out of their catchement that haven't chosen to be academies, just because they are rich?

luxor4t

Guardian article about unqualified teachers:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/27/academy-plan-untrained-teachers-outrage?newsfeed=true

Reduction of funding to academies:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jun/04/academy-status-incentive-cuts

No academies in Wales yet ...!

duchy

I've never understood how traing as a Physics teacher means you are qualified to teach (say) History at GCSE or A level. I've seen teachers without even a GCSE pass in the subject themselves do this and it ain't pretty but is fairly common. (I worked as a classroom assistant and my degree is in history -frankly I could have taught it better) It was one of the things that helped me decide I didn't want to do the PGCE.

I've seen fantastic teachers with just a degree and mediocre ones with BEd plus further qualifications -Basically you can only teach teachers to be average -if the fire and the will isn't there all the extra bits of paper in the world won't make a jot of difference.

duchy

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

Thanks for the Heads Up about this - I will also ask at Parent's Evening what qualifications the SEN teacher has - there is a new one coming!

Children who struggle hard need More experienced help - not less experienced !

I understand where you are coming from (my son is also AEN) however my personal experience is some of the best SENCOs are those with the real will to make a difference not the most pieces of paper. I removed my son from a school I was working at when I found out who the new SENCO was -On paper he had fantastic qualifications but he had taken the SENCO post purely because the school had reorganized and he had lost his head of year extra pay (school had changed it to key stage groups so fewer "heads" needed and the SENCO post made up the shortfall. He had no empathy or ability for kids with additional needs (as I'd discovered when taking issues that had arisen with kids in his year group who had additional needs to him).

The absolute BEST support my son had in his education was when he was first diagnosed and the head appointed a lady who was working as a dinner lady at the school as a classroom assistant for him. She had no qualifications but she had an absolute knack with kids with special needs and had already formed a relationship with him. She was no pushover -had endless patience and she was an absolute blessing and made the most incredible difference to his education and happiness at primary school. The Purley child who has Sarah as a classroom assistant now is a lucky child (just in case she reads this )

thegirlintheattic

ViolaLass wrote: »

That might be the ideal but it's not a requirement. I've been training to teach maths; my degree and masters were in music. I have A-level maths, no more. It's probably true that in subjects with more competition, you won't get onto the course without a related degree but it's still not a legal requirement.

I agree with the rest of your post though.

I did not say it was a legal requirement, but I don't know of a PGCE course where this is not an entry requirement, unless you undertake extra training such as a years subject knowledge enhancement course. I also know in my LEA you would never be allowed to teach KS4/KS5 without a degree in the subject.

Duchy I agree with you completely. Although in most schools timetabling means that some teacher take on less academic subjects at KS3 in their non-specialist subject. It's just how QTS works. I personally would not want my future children taught by someone without a degree in that subject.

ViolaLass

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

I did not say it was a legal requirement, but I don't know of a PGCE course where this is not an entry requirement, unless you undertake extra training such as a years subject knowledge enhancement course. I also know in my LEA you would never be allowed to teach KS4/KS5 without a degree in the subject.

I can only quote my experience, which is that I did not have to do a maths enhancement course (some others on my course did), nor did I have any issues from the LEA in getting my job (the school took a bit of persuading but I was there for my second placement. It helped that my competition (lad with a 1st in maths) was dire).

Maths is probably a special case though, as there are not enough of us.

balletshoes

I'm not entirely sure what your standpoint is on this issue OP? Are you saying that you think academies will be the lowest-performing schools?

Its just that, in our city, the 3 lowest-performing state secondary schools have been changed to academy status, and every single one, in the 2 years they have been changed, have totally transformed into much better schools, with much better management, much better resources, new buildings and resources, and most importantly, staff who work with the pupils to get them motivated and improving exam results year on year.

The Academy my daughter will go to from September used to be able to take whoever applied, this year its oversubscribed by 50, for an intake of 150.
Its a much better school than the old state secondary version, and the ethos now is "you chose us, so we expect you to do your best, and we'll help you all we can"

Lets put it this way, she wouldn't be going to that school if it wasn't an Academy.

The 3-lowest state secondary schools now in the city have awful reputations, and they are now in the state the previous ones were, with no money, problems with discipline and poor exam performance.

DecentLivingWage

Thank you for that - I agree - the previous academies over the last 10 years have been absolute Beacons Of Excellence (my daughter went to one before she went to Uni) However Academies no longer have to employ Proper Qualified Teachers so all that is about to change as they turn into Bargain Bucket Schools for the poorest with the most trusting least educated parents.

(I even heard one mum in the car park say 'don't buy a house in an academy catchment-the prices will fall !!!!) Was totally shocked, but stands to reason.... the 'posh' cleverest parents vote with their feet and evacuate ... which is sad and unfair on the poorest kids who can't !

Unsure what to do? Easy - just ask on Sept 4th (or when choosing)

Are any of your teachers going off on maternity leave?(cheap pretend teachers for supply?)
Are any of your teachers retiring? (who/what wil replace?)
Are any of your GCSE options being taken off?
How many 'student' teachers will you have in school and in which class/subject?

There are lots more - when i have time i will post! Our kids will not get good GCSEs with 'pretend teachers' babysitting them! But the better-off schools will !

balletshoes

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree at the moment. Your "will" statements are your opinion, to me they are not a statement of fact. There are many more aspects to consider, including the management stance of each Academy etc.

suki1001

I'm pretty certain degrees being essential to teaching have only become a relatively recent phenomenon. My father taught in a state school throughout the 70's, 80's and 90's and only got a degree later on in his teaching career. Although he had a teaching qualification - it wasn't a degree.

I think given the job market, with jobs like teaching it's unlikely you'll get someone who isn't degree educated. It might not be a requirement, but considering many teaching assistants have degrees (including my sister).

To be honest it wouldn't bother me as long as they were good at teaching. My oh doesn't have a degree he has a HND, but he is on a par with many experts in some areas of early English porcelain.