I run a national Education Consultancy - AMA

[Educationexpert]

My DH and I own a company that is one of the main providers of tuition, support, mock exams and papers. Our main market is 11+.

If your child has studied for the 7+, 11+, 13+ it is highly likely you’ve used our products. I won’t name us at all because I don’t want to advertise in any way.

We also are contracted by some of the exam boards for independent statistical analysis to apply age standardisation for 11+.

So ask me anything: I can speak about private v state, private tuition, costs, the inner workings of education and the experience we’ve had with DfE who we have a close relationship with.

No idea if anyone will find this interesting but education is a hot topic right now on Mumsnet!

PS I have lots of follow up questions so I don't mind a quiet thread @Welshcheddar 😂

Goodjob.

most of our tutors still teach full time (all our tutors must be qualified teachers, this is personal to us and important) so I can say, with certainty, it is getting worse.

Sorry to say, but it is almost always the parent’s fault. Yes, there are cases where SEN needs are not being met, but this is usually quite a minute number of children.

COVID also entirely damaged a generation. I am also a governor of a Boys’ school. You have 6ft male bodies with personalities of someone 5-6 years younger. It is bizarre. Children KNOW teachers have no power and if a call home isn’t much of a threat, behaviour challenging becomes a pointless exercise. My BIGGEST concern as a parent would be what the behaviour is like of other children.

Behaviour is also worse in lower sets, usually children in these classes struggle with understanding and have a defeatist “what’s the point” attitude. Top sets are almost always well behaved, from great schools to poor schools.

The biggest driver to us for external tuition is often 1) the teacher is “bad” - this is common for Maths especially. 2) Lack of consistency in teachers usually due to shortages in school.

Real life maths is always an amazing way to teach and get kids to grasp it. Implementation of this is entirely different. Primary school teachers are not maths experts, of course they’re intelligent people, but will they understand how currency exchanges work? (It’s a GCSE topic you begin in y7) Will compound interest be accessible? Football league tables begins to segregate children based on interests.

I personally think the implementation will be difficult because the level of maths knowledge needed for a Primary Teacher compared to a Secondary Maths teacher is very different.

I hope it does work though! An easy example is we teach negatives (secondary children struggle with this the most - it’s bizarre) using temperature as this is so easily accessible, real world scenarios make sense.

DH always uses football as examples for teaching topics because he’s football mad but he would change the real-life approach dependent on the student (no point if they hate football!)

That seems a step beyond what I see is needed in my child's year 6 class - he has SEN and poor working memory and number sense and has been given no support by school to catch up.

I think effort is needed to upskill primary school teachers in teaching maths to children who can't move at the pace of the curriculum in ks1 and early ks2. But that is just my view as a parent, I might be wrong.

I agree with you.

It just won’t happen without a severe amount of extra funding.

Do some top public schools have a special relationship with ‘top’ universities?

It seems odd that some students with ace predicted grades at A levels & all 9s at GCSE get rejected outright for some universities & others get low offers with weaker grades at GCSE & worse A level predictions? Our school queried this & was told ‘the course is competitive’.

How important are personal statements? It seems vanishingly rare for students to complete completely independently.

Are you more likely to get to Oxbridge etc from a Grammar than anywhere else?

Yes, but so do some grammars. The relationship is simply for experiences. My local comp has a relationship with Oxford for the G&T classes. Relationships don’t go much further than that. However, many publics have easy access to the summer programs (which are expensive) - these increase chances at Oxbridge.

But no, not a special relationship in terms of favouritism.

Regarding the selection process, I always find it very straight forward. I got into Cambridge myself, but chose to go to a different RG on a scholarship since money was the biggest issue for me growing up.

Firstly, A Levels are grouped in tiers. A subject like Law will never be treated like History, it’s a second tier subject. Your traditional subjects are where your chances are higher. You then have combinations - take two students applying to an oversubscribed course like History, both have A*AA predictions. One does History, Religious Studies and Maths, the other does History, RS, and English Language. The Maths student is more likely to get interview.

Then it’s about interview process- this is why so many privates get in. It is about confidence and love of the subject, being fully immersed in it and preparing well.

Personal Statements are very important, if they are especially good, lower offers can and do get made for top universities.

Oxbridge - you’re still more likely to get in if you go to a public school, statistically. However, if you’re from a very deprived postcode, even if wealthy, and you attend a state school, then you have much better chances. Grammars help in preparation but aren’t treated as better/favourable to comps.

That’s interesting, Do the Ivys ‘rank’ A levels in same way? Are those who write PS without the input of anyone else then at a disadvantage?

How are language A levels ‘ranked’ if not relevant to subject applied for?

In our case, our school, A levels were not ‘soft’ yet those receiving offers elsewhere, by your yardstick at same Uni, were. If no bias otherwise, PS the culprit?

I know a top indep that rejected a brill student (English) whose exam showed exceptional promise & prodigious writing abiloty,as school themselves reported, but they ran out of time on one section so that was that, bottom of waitlist. From State primary where so often all won or lost in English it seems…

Felt a bit arbitrary to me & if Eng Dept & other exams a good pass, they were, I’d have campaigned to teach & accept such a student. It’s super popular though, so no need.

A great selective comp I know requires kids to have the vocab of a professor it seemed to me & to write a couple of pages in style of Little Lord Faunterloy & continue the story. I am not sure an ‘imaginative’ response would have passed muster & I’d have had to drill my boys. Really best way?

Great thread, thanks OP. You said you are having your first dc. What advice would you give to anyone with a small child that will benefit them the most educationally?

Read read read. It is the most important skill lacking in schools now.

Additionally, be firm. Discipline is essential. Strict boundaries are also helpful. The shocking correlations between “soft parenting” and poorly behaved children will be a study soon, the defiance is the issue and the lack of ambition. Education should be seen as a gift, not a chore.

I also strongly believe in openness. So yes, be disciplined and have strict boundaries. But equally encourage open communication. Obviously only relevant when a child is much older and god knows what the state of things will be then!

This is really interesting thank you.

Do you have any tips on choosing a secondary school for a child who is very smart but could potentially have behavioural issues, particularly when bored? Part of me thinks a private school would be better for challenging him and modelling good behaviour, but ideally I'd rather stick with state. We are in inner London so don't have grammars nearby.

I tutor - what do you think are the most important things tutors should be working on with students at home? How many hours a week do you seem is most impactful with a student?

Found this thread really interesting and will share with my families!

Not education related but what do you consider to be soft parenting and is there any information online about the link between this and poor behaviour?
I would put myself on the softer end of things, I have no regrets about that but I do sometimes wonder what more I could have done to "help" my kids like school.

How much responsibility would you put on parents for their kids to see education as a gift and not a chore? I have tried my best but it's definitely a chore here.

Apologies for the delay.

Behaviour to me is the main difference between students that can fulfil their potential and ones who can’t. A school where behavioural policies are firm, it’s rare to have students act up/out would be better. In a school where poor behaviour is common, a child will ally with those students and rebel more. Aspiration can change approach to education and learning.

Some privates can be good for this but also, some have very little tolerance. It’s really important to find one with good pastoral care, on site therapy access, and strong systems in place for behaviour.

It depends what you tutor! The biggest issue we find with some tutoring companies is teaching for the exam only, rather than teaching for understanding. It is important children understand WHY a method works and this helps them adapt for to the type of questions coming up in exams these days.

English is very important as it’s in all subjects. Maths is harder now due to wording, so ensuring that they understand inference and deciphering key parts of information - that’s a skill needed all the way to degree level, so start young!

We usually say 1 hour of private tuition to balance cost and benefit. My max is 2 hours for a child still in school. You need to be doing work outside of the sessions to get the benefit and also need down time and hobbies or children burn out!

It’s a bit of a difficult one. But children should understand and get used to the term “no”.

Parents who openly say they didn’t like school / their GCSEs weren’t useful / maths is hard, always has detrimental effects. Children pick up on what the parent says and if it worked out ok for them, then they take things for granted. Education is a privilege.

I also am very against phones for children under 11/12. Even then, I don’t agree with access to social media apps like tiktok until 13 minimum, I also think too much screentime is given. There’s a huge “but they don’t want to be left out”, who cares? They can grow up. It’s detrimental and there’s enough studies to show the negative impact of short form videos on young brains (or even adult ones!)

The rhetoric around education is imperative. Some children will find it a chore, but that is just a fact of life for some peoples experience. The importance is hammering home why it’s important. For example, Maths is often argued to not be necessary for real like “when will I use Pythagoras” “when will I need to know the equation of a circle” “when will I need to know this chemical symbols”
Yes, ok, if you’re not going into science or maths as a field it may seem arbitrary. However, EVERY job requires skills in STEM. I can even sit here and argue why an OnlyFans model needs GCSE level Maths. Nail techs, the good ones, understand science. It’s making the association with the real world.

I’d introduce your children to real world situations - how much a house is, how mortgages work, how salaries and taxes work. Kids don’t realise how hard things can be, how expensive they are and just believe they’ll get it because XYZ dropped out of school. But actually, they dropped out of Harvard, not their local comp at 16.

I'd also like to see more information on what you consider 'soft' parenting- to me the big split is between positive parenting where you mean what you say, and negative-focused parenting without follow-through.

Do you think children who go to Sunday/Saturday religious schooling sessions are generally better off for more time in educational activities (whether it's learning the Quran, reading Torah, singing in a church choir or hearing Bible stories)? In my view the hours I spent in Sunday school or at church were a big loss to my son's education (still not prepared to do it more than a few times though).

This is absolutely fascinating, OP! As a primary teacher and parent of a soon to be secondary school child (partially selective schools or free schools options) who has just gone through the 11+ it is so good to hear that I am on the same wavelength as you!
You have articulated brilliantly everything that is wrong - and right - with education today.
Your most pertinent point is parenting approach. DH and I feel that we are the only people who can say no to their children sometimes! We’ve had our 11 year old tell us her friend’s parents think we’re really strict “but don’t say anything, I don’t want to cause an argument between you” 😂 we’re not bothered in the slightest. Their youngest can be really difficult to deal with because of their gentle approach - that’s their cross to bear!
We’re getting constantly hounded by one set of parents for play dates and sleepovers (male/female age 11! No way!) because their child is obsessed with ours and they can’t say no to them. It’s bonkers.

I am interested in what you consider "good" and "bad" teaching. Also any clues how to play the Ofsted game? Thank you

I'm not really sure what you mean by the second paragraph, but just want to point out learning Torah or Quran is very academic, it's really not comparable to going to Sunday school and listening to Bible stories (although I'm sure there is benefit in that too). Both involve the learning of (difficult) languages, in reading, writing and comprehension. There are so many studies that highlight the benefits of this on the brain.

I have been reflecting on this and coming back again to your opinion that it's the parents fault mainly for bad behaviour in schools and not the schools.
I can only judge from my own experience and from lots of nice parents I know. Some of these parents are really struggling with teenagers, from school refusal to eating disorders to drugs. My own (beautifully parented!) kids can't wait until they can leave school - they are not at all disruptive but they find so much of what they learn really out of touch with how they see the world.
The world is undoubtedly changing and while I agree with you about more reading, no phones in primary, etc. I think that schools are going to have a broader view to education in future, less exam based teaching and more wider skills to meet more modern challenges.

Where I get incredibly frustrated on this is that parents don’t see how much teachers are doing outside of the main curriculum / lessons on this. You have interventions - children don’t show up. National Tutoring Program - children don’t bother. Maths GCSE does use real world examples, yet there is still the argument of it not applying.

It took a student in DH’s special measures school to start as an apprentice in labouring to finally come, tail between legs, and say “I’m sorry, I need help. Turns out I need to understand maths to do the apprenticeship”.

School is about so much more than the bear bones of the teaching. It is punctuality, behaviour interaction, respect of others, application of technique.

Realistically, does knowing Mao’s five year plan benefit you personally if you don’t plan to study history / become a history teacher? Not if you look at it on a basic level. Be more perceptive and you realise that it’s the understanding of different culture, real world economics, emotions of the state and the leader, political tensions and also how to debate, argue and articulate information. A fundamental life skill for ANY job.

Sometimes we need to look beyond, if we can’t see it for our own children then we need to let them know that “ok sure it might not be clear why you’re doing this, but it will become clear. Do it before it’s too late”.

This is so very subjective. From my perspective, “bad” teachers get good results still, they’re heavily in grammars and privates especially. However, they know their subject, they understand the syllabus but they cannot interact well with or demonstrate well with a class of teenagers. They may be too passive and soft, they may take their personal feelings out on students/lesson. However 9/10 it’s whether they can control behaviour or whether they can create a bond with the students.

A good teacher is organised, knows the curriculum inside out, but can relate to the students, find ways to make lessons interesting.

OFSTED is not fit for purpose. However, behaviour should always be your key focus when looking at a school as well as staff retention. Schools might have seemingly good outcomes but if leadership is toxic, staff will and do leave. That’s not good when consistency is so key.

Thanks for your responses, this is very interesting. I agree behaviour is incredibly important, as is aspiration.

I find it quite upsetting how many kids in the primary I know don't seem to be exposed to much outside their local area by their parents. My kids are lucky to have parents and grandparents who engage with them on many subjects, take them to loads of interesting places and so on. I can already see the difference it makes by year 4 and it's very unfair really. Not all families have the same resources.