DC’s teacher didn’t go to university.

You get what you pay for but with private schools that doesn't necessarily mean qualified teachers.

I do think teachers should have degrees and QTS status but the reality is neither of these ensure that someone is good at teaching, alrhough the current ECT system does mean rhey get closely monitored for two years post qualification, which works if the school is prepared to put the time in ( and to be honest about their weaknesses, if any). And some TAs are better at teaching than some teachers. You learn on the job mainly.

Nope, if she's good, she's good. I mentored a guy with a PhD in Shakespeare studies, fully qualified teacher..... absolutely terrible. Be delighted this woman is doing a bloody good job and maybe send in some praise to the school rather than complain for absolutely no reason!

No requirement in the state sector either. Lots of "unqualified" teachers about.

I’m surprised you didn’t know private school teachers don’t have to be qualified. I thought this was common knowledge. YABU.

My Uncle has a history degree but teaches PE to gsce and Maths to A level and has done so for years. Indeed often takes top set maths. Is that really any different?

I have a degree and a PGCE.

Neither of them made me a good teacher, especially my degree.

What made me a good teacher (apart from really wanting to do it), was hands on experience.

As a PP said, she basically did an apprenticeship and learnt on the job.

The fact that she worked as a TA to begin with and worked her way up, would make me admire her more.

She is probably better than a lot of the teachers with degrees.

She genuinely wants to be there and has obviously worked hard.

Many teachers, especially NQTs, don’t actually want to teach.

I had no idea that you could work in a private school though.
I assumed they would require a degree.

There aren't many jobs that genuinely require a degree to do well. A long apprenticeship would almost always be superior to a degree study programme because four years of learning and observing in the actual working environment, while working in the environment itself surrounded by people actually doing the job you are training for is nearly always going to give you a better result than the sterile environment of a university being taught by someone who may never have done the actual job or not for a long time.

The reason we have gravitated to degrees being the preferred option for the majority of young people now is that it's easier to equalise standards across professions and quickly assess whether a candidate has passed a certain bar. It's mass production, and a business in itself.

Also setting up and maintaining good apprenticeships is a lot of work so they have fallen out of fashion.

If you have a teacher who knows the subject material and is skilled at being able to teach that material, whose teaching style gets good results and happy pupils - does it really matter how they were trained?

What does a degree in philosophy have to do with someone's ability to teach GCSE or A Level English?

Sounds like the teacher got As and A*s in the subject and the level she's teaching, and as well as having that knowledge, can actually manage her pupils and is well liked.

I don't see a problem here, except with snobby parents.

And yes, I have a degree, but I still don't see why it's relevant here. It's not as if the teacher is a university lecturer and teaching above her own qualifications...

It's also great that she can explain that university isn't for everyone. Is that what the OP is really afraid of? The teacher explaining that there are other routes after school such as apprenticeships?

To all those also saying that lots of private school teachers are shit because they're unqualified - this is a myth and belongs to a bygone age.

In the current educational climate, working in a state school is untenable for many teachers due to the workload. Teachers don't leave state for private because, as another poster has suggested, they can't hack it professionally - they leave because teaching in state schools is often entirely unfulfilling and takes over your life to the point where you are exhausted and unwell most of the time.

As such, due to the huge numbers of teachers desperate to leave state, private schools can pick and choose their employees and recruitment is incredibly competitive. I have worked in independent schools as a head of department for many years and I always have 50+ applicants for teaching vacancies - compared to my friends in state, who are lucky if they get five. I can choose the best qualified people - my friends in state usually just have to accept a warm body in the room. The calibre of teachers entering the profession is declining year on year and many state schools are struggling to have people in front of classes with any kind of qualification in their subject at all.

Working in a private school is a fabulous deal. I get about 5 weeks' more holiday than my state school colleagues, as well as about 20k more per year. I also get a very good pension. However, the main reason why I work in private education is for the smaller class sizes and correspondingly reduced workload, which means I can have a life outside of work.

The reason I am able to work in an independent school is because I am incredibly highly qualified - I have a BA and two MAs in my subject from top universities - and I am, if I do say so myself, a very good teacher who can teach two subjects to university standard, as well as a further two to GCSE. When I went for my current job, I was up against thirty other candidates with similar qualifications. Most of my colleagues are similarly qualified to me, if not more so - I have many colleagues with PhDs. This is the norm in most top private schools. That is the standard of intellectual and teaching ability most private school teachers are working at. It is a total myth that private schools are full of bumbling unqualified fools who can't hack the real world of teaching. Maybe 20+ years ago, that might have been the case, but nowadays, no - they are looking to hire the elite of the profession, and they are very easily able to do so as they offer working conditions far superior to state schools.

This is pretty standard amongst Teachers in private education and TAs in all education

Other countries pay more and have “minimum requirements” for these roles. ☺️

If she’s good then she’s good! What’s the issue?

Yes, I supported private schools who were accessing early years funding. Part of the work was to look at transition from reception to Y1.

The Y1 teacher was 23 and wanted to know if I could help her. She was teaching her class from a text book ( kind of Maths Teaching book 1) as she had no teaching experience or degree subject at all.

Private schools can do what they like.

years ago my (fully qualified) mum taught at a private school. The school employed the headmistress’s 18yo Dd as a teacher post A levels. 🙈

Yeah, you don’t always get what you pay for, as others have said, teachers in the private sector don’t have to be qualified. A teacher friend of mine does supply at one of the local private schools and you would be surprised at the number of unqualified teachers.

TBH even a degree in English is no guarantee nowadays that anyone can spell, or knows where to put an apostrophe.
If the teacher is popular with the children and gets good results, I’d leave it.

OTOH if she was making basic mistakes in her own writing, I would most certainly take it up with the school.

I think people are getting a bit confused here tbh.

It is fairly common knowledge that you don’t require a teaching qualification to teach at private school. This is so they can have people with PHDs or 1sts from Cambridge teaching without making them do a PGCE.

However I have never heard of someone with no degree at all working in a private school and I’d be pretty horrified if my daughter was taught English by someone who had barely studied past GCSE level while I paid vast amounts for it.

Incidentally the two people who dropped out of the PGCE I did 20 years ago both went straight into private school jobs. I always thought it was mad that the failures were teaching where parents were paying and those who had succeeded on the course had all gone into inner city comps.

That's right a close family member became a teacher via training college. My aunt became a solicitor without attending university. On her retirement she had a 'Head of' job title.

The op has said the teacher is a good, well regarded teacher, so clearly she is perfectly capable of doing her job without a degree.

On a broader note, requirements for degrees in job outlines can rule out older workers. I have some perfectly capable (again mainly older) colleagues who don't have GCSE equivalent.

As a teacher in state education I find this hilarious! People automatically assume private education is best and that’s not always the case. You know that teachers in private schools don’t always need to have QTS, you just assumed she’d been to university. Your making a massive investment and didn’t even check out something l that clearly would bother you. Why on earth would you raise it with the school? They know, they employe her.

Additionally, I’ve known many TAs who can teach and control a classroom far better than some teachers. It’s not always about a degree and I personally think this a shallow viewpoint.

OP - you haven't actually said what is wrong about the teacher?

Can Mrs Jones control the classroom? teach the kids effectively? know about the subject? get good results?

What exactly is your beef with Mrs Jones?

Would you raise this with the school in my position

Don't be ridiculous. She's explained the school promoted her so they know. Its not like she lied about her qualifications. What exactly do you propose to raise with them. What would be your aim?? To get her fired? Sent to uni???

Well, it obviously shows you don't need a degree to teach if you look at test results of a private school vs state. You sound very snobby and hope your child doesn't reflect your your bias.

If you're not happy with the teaching, you can try elsewhere. Complaining is highly unlikely to get you anywhere. You could try another private school, after vetting the qualifications of the staff, or just use the fees you would have paid to get into the catchment of a good state school, all the teachers there will have degrees. It seems madness to pay all that money and be unhappy with the product you're getting. That is if you are actually unhappy, but if she's a decent teacher it seems a bit ridiculous to either complain or move schools.

This is similar to what I’ve just said - I’d much rather a teacher with years of knowledge and an understanding on how to impart it rather than going through the uni motions.

My brother is head of year in his state school
and doesn’t have a degree. If they can do the job what is there to complain about?

I have Primary QTS. Taught for 6 years in a junior school. I've taught GCSE maths for 18 years - I don't have a maths degree and fell into it accidentally. My students have had the top results in my department for years.

I keep thinking I'll get sacked 1 day- even though my employer knows - we'll see 🤐

The best teacher my school was a qualified engineer, with decades of experience in industry, and no teaching qualifications. Since his subject was design & tech, he was in some ways much better qualified to teach what is basically entry-level engineering (electronics, pneumatics, hydraulics, materials, structure, etc) than many people who qualified as science teachers and were asked to teach Tech because of the shortage of STEM teachers. His results were excellent.