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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

Teacher kids seem to outperform - insights?

129 replies

waddauthink · 24/03/2025 11:06

I'm intrigued by the fact that most of the kids we know who have either teachers as parents or in the family - or were home educated - seem to outperform and go on to achieve the highest at A-level and beyond.

Many are very bright in their own right but if I were to plot a graph, I would assume that a normal bell curve would be still hold for kids/grandkids of teachers so there must be something else than just intelligence.

From my very large network (still anecdotal, I know), these kids seem to be the one that wins academic, all-round prizes and essay competitions. Although, I have to say, when I've read some of the essays (they were shared by school), I would question how much of that was down to the kids themselves - they were like written by an academic professor!

I do know from a friend whose mother helps with her kids - ex grammar school teacher; this grandmother definitely 'helps' her grandkids with homework more than most parents, I'd say.

Of course, being a teacher probably means you are able to instil a love of learning but I think there is something else that is also at play. Obviously I'm aware of the 'growth mindset' and try to instil this but it's only a small part.

These kids are often extremely hard working and diligent so that must play a significant part. Some of them are definitely the naturally most bright (I know it's difficult to judge but you can form an opinion) but still seem to get the very high marks.

I can imagine knowing your way around mark schemes and the AO1 or whatever they are called, and schemes of work and topics/topic tests must help but is there anything else?

Genuinely, it would be very helpful for non-teacher parents to know and I wonder whether it shouldn't be the main focus of education - to find and share the 'magic juice'/behaviours that leads to these types of mindsets.

So, if you are a teacher or have a teacher relative who spends time with your children - what do they do to help i.e. how do they discuss homework, what to focus on, how to approach tests/exams and coursework?

Would love to know too if perhaps kids of school teachers (or interaction with a grandparent etc who is a teacher) is correlated with a larger proportion going to top 10 universities than the general population?

TIA.

OP posts:
FromTheFirstOldFashionedWeWereCursed · 24/03/2025 13:12

My parents were both teachers, and I would say that I was a "school-shaped" child - loved almost everything about it, felt comfortable from the off, succeeded pretty easily. They were able to give me great support which helped. My sister has exactly the same parents and got exactly the same support, yet found it all awfully hard.

FWIW, I'm now a lawyer and SOOOOO many lawyers have teacher parents. It's super-common.

HundredMilesAnHour · 24/03/2025 13:08

My teacher mother gave me zero help with homework or revision or anything else school related. I was expected to be independent and get good results and behave well. If my school report and/or exam results demonstrated any deviation from that, there would have been hell to pay.

However, a respect for the value and importance of education was certainly instilled in me and I’m aware that some parents don’t seem to do that, these days at least. There seems to be far too much focus on taking kids out of school during term time for holidays etc. And how kids can’t possibly do chores at him or have a part time job because ‘they need to study’. I did my homework, I did my chores and as soon as I was old enough, I got a part time job (as a waitress). It was non-negotiable. Was this because my mother was a teacher? I suspect not.

Fridgetapas · 24/03/2025 12:51

I am primary and take a great interest in the eyfs and learning through play. I’ve read books to my children every day, practised fine and gross motor skills through play and tried to provide a range of sensory experiences.

I know how to teach phonics and reading, I know exactly what skills they need starting school, I know the primary curriculum and the methods used to teach maths etc nowadays. So I would say DS has had a good start to school and enjoys learning.

As he moves up towards secondary my knowledge is much less so I do worry I won’t be able to help him as much with the actual content especially in essay based subjects like English (I have a-levels in maths and economics and business studies). However I do intend to try to help him set up good routines with homework, check it’s been done and take an active interest in his school work.

MojoMoon · 24/03/2025 12:33

Having educated parents engaged with education is one of the most significant variables that predict educational outcomes. So it's it a surprise that the children of teachers tend to perform better than average - so do the children of doctors, dentists and lawyers.

You seem to be implying that teachers are busy doing their children's homework for them so they can win prizes?

  1. No one outside your school gives school prizes a second thought. The parent isn't sitting their GCSE and A-level exams for them which is ultimately the only thing that really counts.
  1. It's also in my experience unlikely teachers would bother doing their children's homework for them since they know full well that this doesn't actually help a child learn. They are much more likely to encourage their child to take responsibility for their own work and their own improvement since they know this is the biggest factor in success in later life. They also know that school prizes don't mean anything in life.
They help with homework by making the habits of success part of normal life - providing time and space to sit down and focus and the discipline to sit there and finish the work to the best for the child's abilities.

My head teacher mother would have hauled me over the coals if I'd ever not completed my homework to the best of my abilities and probably killed me if I'd just not done it at all.
She didn't do it for me but she looked at it and would make me redo it if my handwriting was dreadful for example. So I learnt to do it properly first time round!