How much difference does a good teacher make

May be there s difference between good and likeable. Not all teachers are both likeable as well as good some are neither.

Hi OP, We are in a similar position. DD1 loves Art and wants to do it at A Level. she just started Y10 and found out, she will have a teacher who she doesn't get on well with. She had this teacher in Y7 and during all year her level stayed between 4b/4a. Move to Y8, with a different teacher and her levels went from 4a to 6a. Move to Y9 and she has the teacher that she had in Y7 and her level went fro 6a to 7c. She started Y10 yesterday, and she found out that she will have the same teacher of Y9 for Y10/11. She is very worried that her work won't be graded well. She was expecting to have her Y8, who is the head of Art, after a chat with her at the end of Y9 about her grades in Art. She is not happy, and I am not happy either. I am not a parent that blames the teacher for bad grades and my DD know she cannot choose teachers just because she doesn't like them, but she and I are worried about how this teacher will grade her work. She will be talking with a member of Senior Leadership Team about it. We know, she won't be able to change classes as timetables are set, but she would like to have second opinions on her work/ course work grades as she doesn't trust the teacher.

I think teaching style makes more of a massive difference as our DS has discovered. Despite "liking" most of his teachers, his year end test results have swung up and down from year to year without any reason other than the teacher!

In year 7, he constantly got A and A* grades for Physics and English homework but only got 50-60% in the year end tests which was a massive surprise. In year 8 with different teachers, he got 90%+ for the year end tests in Physics and English, despite not actually trying any harder. Opposite happened with maths where he got 90%+ in year 7 but only 67% in year 8 due to the teacher not setting homework and not giving any practice questions for the class to do themselves. In Biology and Chemistry, he's had the same teacher and the year end test results were remarkably similar - just a couple of percentage points different!

In fact, in both years, he absolutely hated his French teacher, but got 89% in year 7 and 86% in year 8 end of year tests, so not liking a teacher doesn't necessarily mean a poor result.

Unlikely, Cricketballs - he's the HoD and has been there for years, I should imagine it's very improbable he'll leave before retirement.

we currently have a very long standing HoD on long term sick leave, another who none of the staff would never have imagined leaving is going at Xmas not that we aren't jealous as he's going to a very leafy private school without the pressures we face

This together with timetabling/number of classes etc is why both I and Foxyloxy1plus1 have pointed out it is advised at school not to base choices on current teachers

My dd liked her primary school maths teachers alot but she didnt do very well at the subject. She only got 4c at ks2. Despite she didnt like her yr7 maths teacher but she went up by 4 sublevels in one year. So as a parent i know which teacher i like best.

I agree with others... If it is a case of poor teaching this can have a huge impact on how well children do. If it is a case of just not liking the teacher then the impact it has depends on the attitude of the child. There is a French teacher at my school that is almost universally disliked by the students... She gets amazing results, I've never seen better marking in exercise books and she is actually a real softy at heart. The kids she teaches find her crotchety, strict, unreasonable and are convinced she hates them... But they do really well in French. We had another member of staff who was disliked strongly; her classes were chaotic, her books unmarked, she would sit texting on her phone whilst the TAs dealt with the kids and she left loads of work including coursework unmarked (She didn't even last a year). If the teacher is like my first example your DD will probably be fine... If she's like the second then I'd make sure the HT knows about it. Good HTs will be quick to deal with staff like that if they get enough reports of such poor teaching.

I think liking / not liking a teacher makes a HUGE difference - probably to most of us, but particularly to teens.
However you can't ask to be moved to a different set because you don't like, or don't get on with the teacher.
It's more a case of what you can say to help her or to motivate her now.

If you felt he was a poor teacher, or lacked discipline, or didn't explain things well enough or there were some actual issue with the way he taught, then by all means speak to the HoD, but just having a bit of a personality clash, or 'not finding him interesting' or whatever, just happens sometimes - as it does throughout life... you get bosses you love, bosses you don't particularly like but you respect, and, bosses that are unfair or unkind or rude. Often though, it's just a case of not particularly getting on with them, you just have to get on with it.

In my experience, there are children at 14 who are perfectly capable of rationalising why they have a problem with someone and then trying to find a solution when guidance is offered.

But of course she is immatureMillymollymandy, she is 14!

If you cannot say, OP, why your DD hates the teacher and would also hate to have a meeting with them to sort out how they can get on better this year, I think, sadly, she is immature and probably her "hatred" is an immature response but also manipulative to get what she wants. I would try and get her to be more positive. I don't expect the teacher will be thrilled to see her again this year either!

Bad teachers can make a huge difference. DD has completely lost confidence when she had a bad teacher at subjects she later thrived at when she had a good or merely ordinary teacher.

I guess bad teacher = poor empathy, low patience, unhelpful examples & not interested in explaining more.

I'd agree about generally liking the good teachers - unsurprisingly, dd likes the lovely smiley energetic young teachers, but she also likes the strict, organised older teachers who make sure work gets done in their class & that there's no mucking around.

Having 2 DC at secondary school, I now realise just how important a good teacher is. And I disagree about it not being important that they like the teacher - both have always done much better with teachers they like, and they generally like the good ones. DD (just done GCSE's ) got the best results with teachers who were good (and she liked!)

Unlikely, Cricketballs - he's the HoD and has been there for years, I should imagine it's very improbable he'll leave before retirement. The thing is, she's going to end up with effectively only one free option choice after the things she's 100% certain about, and there's four subjects she'd like to take just about equally - so why not take the current state of play with teachers into account.

Sadik - the teacher your DD has based her limited options on could leave at Christmas; what will your DD think then?

We advise students not to pick subjects on the basis of the teacher rather than interest in the subject because they may not get the teacher they are hoping for, or that teacher may leave. Then they will be stuck with a subject they aren't that bothered about.

"As teachers, we always reminded the students to choose exam options on the basis of their interest in the subject and not because of their response to the teacher."
Only up to a point, I'd say. DD almost certainly won't take geography because of the teacher. She likes him, but says she learns very little in his classes, because so much time is taken up with chat about rugby, watching tangentially relevant videos etc. The other subject she's considering has one very dynamic (and stricter) teacher, and she thinks she'll learn much more. I think that's perfectly sensible given she has limited option spaces available.

I read a paper saying a good teacher vs an average one can make two grades difference I.E an E to a C or a C to an A. So, considerable, but not infinite.

On the other hand, if a pupil or set takes against a teacher, they can easily destroy their own learning, regardless of a teacher's ability. I am sure most of us can remember doing badly on purpose just to annoy a teacher at some point in our school careers.

Troutius,

I would say Maths is the least 'factual' subject and is very dependent on application of knowledge. It is far easier to learn History or Geography from the internet. Having said that, some students do like internet learning as they can control the pace of the lesson. It is behind the (much talked about but little used) concept of the 'flipped' classroom.

Agree with previous posters that a good teacher is not necessarily the same as a teacher you like. However, a child will work better with a teacher they feel comfortable with, the same way we as adults find it easier to.
What is she like at Maths generally?
Is it one of those chicken/egg situations where she isn't confident in the subject, and is anxious about the teacher as well which is getting in the way of her learning?

Sadly I think liking or not liking the teacher has a huge impact on learning. You like them, you suck every word they say. You hate them, you spend the hour saying "I hate you, I hate you or bla bla bla".
Luckily there are nowadays tons of resources on the internet

In all subjects other than maths and science, I would suggest that having a good teacher is paramount to success. However, given the factual nature of these subjects, it is more than possible for a child to learn them from the internet, such examsolutions and youtube.

I think if your child responds well to a teacher, it is positive. My son did better than expected in Maths because he really liked the teacher and worked hard for him. My daughter had an English teacher to whom she responded well in Year 10 and was on course for A at GCSE. He left at the end of Year 10 and she didn't like the replacement. A drop in grade was the result. However, she should have tried to ignore the fact that she didn't like the second teacher and maintained the work ethic. Her choice not to.

As teachers, we always reminded the students to choose exam options on the basis of their interest in the subject and not because of their response to the teacher.

Everyone will have to deal with people they don't particularly get on well with, at some point.

I agree that the school can't move individual students on the grounds of a presumed animosity. I can't see how that could possibly work.

However, why does she hate the teacher? It seems a strong reaction. What's behind it?

The teacher who destroyed my confidence was being managed out of the school while I was there. I wasn't the first, or the last. There were issues (far larger than her relationship with me or the other students she targeted,) that the school were very aware of.

Or could it be that she is dealing with self-esteem issues by disliking the teacher? In that case, a tutor really could help. A different relationship through which to negotiate a subject she lacks confidence in, plus some one to one attention bring about a real change for her.