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

DecentLivingWage

peachyprice wrote: »

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?

Bubble still in tact cos I'm a qualified teacher with recently qualified son teaching so I know my stuff (sorry about that lol) Private schools can choose highly qualified Phd or BEd or PGCE students straight from Oxford Cambridge St Andrews Edinburgh etc - and they can afford them.

Yes, canny middle class parents know how to pick the top-rated state schools which represent excellent value for no money (and when slide down into bargain bucket academies..... they move house!)

peachyprice

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

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 !

Firstly just because they CAN employ the same unqualified teachers as private schools doesn't mean they WILL.

Secondly, if they do so, and as you predict, children who attend academy status schools will not get good GCSE results they are rather shooting themselves in the foot.

They need bums on seats for funding, if they run the school into the ground they get no funds, can you see why they wouldn't want this to happen? Or perhaps the conspiracy is to get rid of as many schools as possible?

peachyprice

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

Private schools can choose highly qualified Phd or BEd or PGCE students straight from Oxford Cambridge St Andrews Edinburgh etc - and they can afford them.

There you go again with that word 'can'.

DecentLivingWage

Let's all ask shall we? Best way to find out at the end of the day.... let's get as many parents as possible asking the tough questions.... we wouldn't want such an item of prime importance glossed over cos of the olympics now would we? After all, the views that count the most are those of the mums and dads, not only when choosing schools but also when choosing new governments.

Acc72

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

Bubble still in tact cos I'm a qualified teacher with recently qualified son teaching so I know my stuff (sorry about that lol)

Yikes, and you are worried about unqualified teachers (lol)

puddy

firstly, I always thought that maths and music had a lot in common, music can be very mathematical, so maybe thats why someone with a degree in music would make a good maths teacher

secondly, i thought one of the complaints about academies was that they seemed to spring up in quite middle class areas, which seems to be the opposite of what many are saying on here

thirdly, im have mixed views about the teaching qualification, or even a degree. am i right that johnny ball did not have a maths degree when he was making his tv programmes? my dad is the same, left school at 15 with no qualifications but has an excellent mechanical mind, was an engineer for his career and can make anything he puts his mind to, surely we need people who can teach and enthuse and engage pupils, thats the first criteria, if they have a degree or teaching qualification then that is an added bonus

however, we need people to know what sort of standards they need to stick to, how to understand how humans learn, different learning and teaching styles, child development and to know how to do the paperwork stuff

having said all that, im still not really sure how academies work or what their main difference is from other schools

ViolaLass

puddy wrote: »

firstly, I always thought that maths and music had a lot in common, music can be very mathematical, so maybe thats why someone with a degree in music would make a good maths teacher

I've heard this a lot this last year (seems I'm the only person who doesn't think it's true). Yes, there's maths in music - there's maths in everything! It's our way (one way) of describing, understanding and categorising the world.

If the link were so important, many more musicians would be good at maths. As it is, some are, some aren't, much as in other areas of life.

/rant over/

DecentLivingWage

They can hire cheap unqualified staff and don't have to adhere to the same high standards as other schools (often hidden under the label 'red tape')

peachyprice

suki1001 wrote: »

I'm pretty certain degrees being essential to teaching have only become a relatively recent phenomenon.

Yes, you're right. I have family members who became teachers back in the 70's and 80's when a degree wasn't essential.

It makes you wonder how me managed to pass our O Levels being taught by such teachers if children today aren't even expected to get decent GCSE grades being taught by the same 'unqualified' teachers.

peachyprice

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

They can hire cheap unqualified staff and don't have to adhere to the same high standards as other schools (often hidden under the label 'red tape')

You just don't get it do you. Just because they can, it doesn't mean they will.

You still haven't answered. Why would a school deliberately employ shoddy teachers that produce poor grades?