DC’s teacher didn’t go to university.

Teachers do need subject knowledge but just like pilots and mechanics the relevant industry training would suffice. In fact both teachers and nurses were trained within there industry until a generation or so ago when it was decided they needed to go to uni. How on earth did the manage ?

Because she is good at the job?

Because there is a massive teacher shortage across the country?

Children across the whole country are being taught by TAs, some of whom don't even have GCSEs. At least she is being paid for the job she is doing, which is more than can be said for the position of many of these poor women (and it is mostly women)

What are you actually planning on doing if you do not get an acceptable response? Are you planning on moving your child? If not, it is difficult to see the point of this exercise.

What will you do if the response is along the lines of “We decided to hire Mrs Jones as a teacher because of her outstanding teaching and subject knowledge. We continue to have full trust on her teaching and subject knowledge. Kind regards”. Be happy? Or not be happy?

It is still very difficult to work out what you are worried about. You don’t seem to question her teaching. You just somehow think that because you are paying a lot of money she should have a degree. If having a degree is the most important thing to you, you can of course move your DC to a different school. That seems to be your only option. But you may end up with a worse educational experience. I guess you need to decide what is actually important to you and only you can do that.

Sorry @RabbitWedge but I’m trying to understand what you’re hoping for from the school? If you feel uncomfortable it sounds like you’re wanting to flag it with them but they already know of her qualifications…?

Subject knowledge (as appropriate for phase and subject) is needed. This does not mean that a degree is needed.

I imagine that GCSCE won't be a problem for her, but I would worry about her teaching "A" level.

I was a faculty head in a Scottish secondary school. (Many schools here now have faculty heads because it's cheaper than employing multiple heads of department. A false economy, in my view.)

I was dual qualified. However, we found ourselves without a teacher of German...and German is not one of my subjects. I am qualified to teach a modern language, but I only have German up to Higher level. (That's akin to an English AS Level.)

In the end, I had to organise the work for the class myself, teach it part of the time and set the mocks for German myself. The other person who covered the class also had Higher German. Fortunately, the class was only Standard Grade (our then equivalent of GCSE). I would not have been fit to teach above that standard.

The class all achieved their expected grades, but the school chose no longer to present German after that experience, given the difficulty in obtaining a properly qualified teacher.

Your phrasing “chose someone with the right pedigree” is weird. The school have chosen someone who appears to be an excellent teacher. That is what matters. Having a degree doesn’t matter. I find it odd that you are pretending this about “pedigree”.

Why are you implying that this teacher is not acceptable? She may be an outstanding teacher and it is weird that you are assuming she isn’t.

There are equally many people who don’t have a degree and who also DON’T have superior critical thinking, abstract reasoning, language and analytical capabilities.
Assuming that she does would be a massive stretch and giving her the benefit of doubt. Which is not acceptable when you are paying eye watering fees - you deserve complete assurance that the teacher has at least studied the field to basic BA level.

Having a degree doesn’t make you a good teacher. That’s the bonus of a private school, they can employ people based on their skill and performance and not some arbitrary measure. My kids have had a few terrible teachers, all of course with degrees. Further, you don’t have to be all that bright to scrape a pass at a degree.
I’m one of those without a degree, and I was offered a teaching position at a private school (also when I was still a teenager). I didn’t take the job, I’ve created several businesses and earned far more than I would have teaching.
Your view is rather narrow minded.

There are many many people who don't have a degree who have superior have critical thinking, abstract reasoning, language and analytical capabilities. Degrees are not actually a very good measure of intellectual capabilities. I think you need to ask yourself why this matters to you so much. She contributes to excellent results in the department and is known to be a very good teacher and children are considered lucky to be in her class. The child's experience and the outcomes are all that matters.

But the concern is not so much the teacher doesn’t have a teaching qualification. It’s more that the teacher doesn’t have a basic bachelors degree in the subject she is teaching - English. Which I totally agree with OP- should be a basic requirement especially in a private school of all places. I think some private schools are just shoddy money making scam businesses really. Apart from Eton, Harrow, Winchester and such.

Of course it has.

Do you really think that the quality of teaching in universities hasn't improved since the 80's?

Look at all the pedagogical research (and particular TEL), esp when it really started to snowball mid 90's onwards.

As someone with a recent (2017) First Class degree and as a HE lecturer for the last two years (plus the teaching I did on my Ph.D), I can attest to the rigor and quality of work required to obtain a First Class degree.

Your comments are incredibly insulting to recent graduates - you really don't have a clue.

All teachers in Scotland, including those in private schools, now have to be registered with the GTCS. This means that the modern PGDipEd (previously PGCE) is mandatory here.

When it was first suggested that it be made mandatory here, the private school HTs protested.

Tried to find the articles about the complaints made, but this is the first thing that came up. Now, I knew that new HTs had to have a masters...but I wasn't aware that an exception had been made for private schools.

"Why do the plans not apply to private schools?
They did at the beginning but the Scottish government backed off after independent schools protested."

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/need-know-mandatory-headteacher-qualification

A PhD itself doesn't involve teaching, it's an extra that a student may or may not do. If a student does help with the undergrad teaching then it's more likely to be as a demonstrator during practicals or seminars rather than delivering lectures. Plus delivering lectures is a different skill to teaching in a school - there's usually less interaction and larger class sizes, plus you're teaching at closer to your level and not to a curriculum.

Of course it hasn't.

Anyway, getting a degree is not about teaching. It is about independent research and thinking.

You can be taught to pass GCSEs and A Levels. You cannot be taught to get a First (I mean the types of Firsts that were achieved in the 1980s and prior, not the Firsts that anyone and their dog can get nowadays).

A Ph.D massively supersedes any teaching degree esp as a Ph.D will have some element of teaching - I taught 6 hrs per week for three years when I did my Ph.D (I do also have a PGCE but that's by the by).

Have you every thought the quality of teaching has improved therefore the percentage of firsts has also increased?

I think the risk is, a secondary school teacher without a degree in the subject will not be able to deal as effectively with the higher level questions as a good teacher with a degree. They might even give misleading responses without even realising it that lay the foundations for problems in the future. That said, GCSE English language and literature are depressingly formulaic, so at that level it shouldn’t be much of an issue in terms of exam results - you don’t need to study a subject at university to learn how to teach people to jump through formulaic hoops. I do know that for science subjects, though, a lot of the content is simplified to such an extent for GCSE that if someone asks a more detailed question about a broad topic you are studying, you would rapidly lose all credibility and flounder in front of them if you had not studied the subject to a considerably higher level than the child in front of you. You would forever have to be telling them you do not know the answer and would have to go away and look it up (and hope you could understand what you read).

You didn't find out "by accident" - she told you. Openly. It isn't a secret. I am sure lots of people know.

Exactly. A degree meant something 40 years ago, but now it means very little.

Just look at the proportion of Firsts handed out now. In my class of 30 in the 1980s there were around 3 Firsts, so 10%. Now it is over 30% as universities need to attract students.

Ask yourself, are your children doing well in her class? Are they engaged, and learning well? If so then she's a good teacher.

If not then by all means raise it with the school, but do it on the basis that she's not a good teacher rather than on her paper qualifications