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Original poster

Dd doesn't have a maths teacher

82 replies

dingit · 09/10/2014 20:56

Yr11, 10 of class got GCSE last year, now doing additional maths. They sit in with the class doing GCSE work, with one teacher, who naturally take up most of the teachers time. They don't seem to do a lot during the lesson, they do some self study, but are still just getting used to this way of working. They then have a lesson after school once a week with the teacher.
I keep emailing in to complain, but no one really seems concerned, dd seems to be wasting her year. Anyone got any idea what to do?

OP posts:
Original poster
dingit · 09/10/2014 22:39

Yes I do mean additional maths and dd actually got an A, was 3 marks off an A which she passed in year 9. They spent all last year doing additional ( yr 10), with the same teaching arrangement, they put them in for the exam, and surprise surprise she got a U. It knocked her confidence for six ( happily the next week she picked up A for double science with very high marks)
Her grades have improved this year, but I'm of the view, what's the point in doing the exam?
And yes there is a shortage of maths teaches, one yr 8 class have 60 in a class with one teacher.
The academy's results weren't great last year, they have high hopes for this year, as they have a lot of potential.

OP posts:
duhgldiuhfdsli · 09/10/2014 21:45

If the OP actually means additional maths, in the shape of the OCR FSMQ "Additional Maths", then it's a cut-down version of C1 and bits of C2 and S1 from A Level, with some more subtle and tricky stuff from GCSE taken a step further. The idea is that it can be delivered in a year (say 120 hours) in schools, usually grammars or very large comps, that can put whole class sized groups through GCSE a year early, get 100% A* (otherwise what's the point in doing it a year early) and get on with the run-in to A Level. Some serious people think it's something between a waste of time and an actively bad thing, because it can put off children who would do A Level perfectly well a year later.

It's notionally a level above GCSE so that it attract a (tiny number of) UCAS points, but the subset of children who are doing it and the subset of children who are applying to universities that admit by UCAS points are non-intersecting.

For what it's worth, children who get straight A* at GCSE and go on to get A or above in A2 maths and further maths often don't get A (the top grade) in the FSMQ, even when it's taught well in a full-sized GCSE block. it's a challenging syllabus and a very challenging paper (the C boundary can be as low as 35%, the A boundary is rarely above 65%) and the idea that people can self-teach it at the back of the room seems dubious. OP, what results is the school getting?

CrazyHorse · 09/10/2014 21:15

What is additional maths?

duhgldiuhfdsli · 09/10/2014 21:10

Did she get an A* by doing it early?

PenelopePitstops · 09/10/2014 21:05

Agree with oh you bad. Maths teachers are few and far between so school are probably compromising. It's a shit situation but what happens when the education system is as it is.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 09/10/2014 21:00

There's a huge shortage of maths teachers in some areas and schools are having to compromise. It's not right but the schools themselves are stuck.

JeanSeberg · 09/10/2014 20:57

Don't emails, make an appointment to go in and speak to someone.

Has your daughter already got her gcse?