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!

I would like to give one piece of advice to parents who may read this that consider tutoring in the future - 11+, GCSE or even A Levels.

There can be value in using a university student or an A Level student who did well. However, this is only if money is tight and you’d like a cheaper option. I would always recommend a Qualified Teacher, and I also think for year 5 upwards, you should use a secondary teacher.

I agree that bad parenting and lack of parental support is the main influencer of poor behaviour and achievement.

How did we get here? You can't blame COVID for that. Current parents were brought up in the 80's and 90's.

What always leaves an impression on me is looking at third world countries, really desperately poor and impoverished people. The main aspirations for whom it is to get their children in school, and the children's aspirations are the same.

What happened here to change the mindset that a good education is paramount to achievement in life?

I see the main issue being lack of funding to schools.

Funding has zero effect on parental support and aspirations. You think poor countries have high levels of funding?

Where did you get the information that parental support and aspirations are better in poor countries?

I am not sure that it is zero, I think well funded schools would raise the standards in the community in general and perhaps if kids were engaged at school, this would rub off positively on parents.
My point was that I think that lack of funding at school is a bigger issue in schools than poor parenting.
Which countries in particular do you think have good parental support? I don't deny that it does seem to be an issue in England.

We have it easy. In some countries an exam at 11 condemns you to poverty or otherwise. It’s do or die. Learning is seen as dull, it has to all be fun. Arts/culture/inspiration, reading only for love. Not in vogue. Teachers in UK under too much pressure. Little freedom.

I taught for a year in a global south country, in a very deprived area along the lines of a refugee camp. Horrendous living conditions, dire poverty and deprivation, high birth rate. Most children had no school placement and no one to one parental support in terms of individual time, reading etc. EVERYONE wanted to go to university. It was literally 'in the air' that education was the way forward. Teen girls would gather groups of young children and do 'school' by writing letters or sums on cardboard, slabs of stone, anything they could get their hands on. Education was a valued blessing and something to really aspire to.
Fast forward and I'm part of an initiative that helps asylum seeker/refugee children with school work. Most of them end up in not so great comps. One of the things that really struck me is that the parents say that within a few years of being in these schools the children become totally apathetic towards education, and they can't understand why. One of the mums was literally crying to me saying that all her son cares about now is having the latest clothes and computer games. I think it can only come down to the general learning atmosphere around them from their peers in the schools. Boys of that age in particular see education as a waste of time (which may come from their own families).

That's interesting, and also depressing.
I wonder if a good education and degree isn't seen so much as a passport to success now because you still can't necessarily afford a home and a good lifestyle in many areas. Or maybe kids don't have an appreciation of house prices yet!

This is exactly it. In the UK a degree in itself doesn't give that much social mobility, especially in the early years post graduating. I think it's in year 10 PG that the salaries are considerably higher. In the global south the standard of living between those with a degree and without is very significant.
Re having everything. The above mum told me they came here with literally nothing and now her ds "had everything he isn't interested to work anymore". If you look at Scandinavia, they have one of the best 'equalising' social welfare systems in the world, the benefits are very generous. The difference between there and the UK is that there is a very strong societal obligation to work. The idea of sitting on benefits because "I'd lose too much by working" does not seem to be a reason not to work.

To give you an idea of how true it is above about different ethnic backgrounds - every single tutor we work with will say black and Asian families are easy - if they call home, they know it’ll be taken serious and things will improve. White families? The most difficult. Arguing back. Convinced the teacher is lying because the child said they “got a detention for drinking water”. There is such a dislike of the rules and parents will say “why is wearing lipgloss such a big deal” BECAUSE OF THE RULES.

Listening and abiding to rules is a skill learned at school. In real life you can wear what you want mostly, go to the toilet when you need etc. but also there’s times when you can’t or when it’s inappropriate. There’s also rules to follow in workplaces, they may be different rules but the ability to understand them and process them starts young.

DH is currently working in one of the top grammars in the country. The area demographically is 99% white according the last census. The school has a catchment area but you must pass the minimum entry or those catchment places go to OOC. His class is 30% white, 40% Asian (predominantly Indian and Pakistani) and 30% Black African.

Why? Parents are hard on them, education is a privilege and they are aspirational. They respect their elders. No one wants detention. Everyone wants to succeed.

We’ve seen a rise in the number of applicants from Eastern Europe for the grammars. One of the reasonings is that they are the latest immigrants wanting the “better life”, once the generations continue, that desire weakens.

Something in our education system is failing but I do believe it’s the reflection on society and those your children spend time with, including on the internet and what they see / witness.

Stricter households continue to have children desiring to be better. You don’t have to be “smart” but you do need to be respectful and engaged. There are many respectful and good kids who just don’t really try hard outside of school but they’re a pleasure in the classroom. They’re not the problem. It’s the disengaged, disruptive, difficult children who are encouraged to be like this at home / with their tiktok account.

Thanks OP, indeed food for thought!
Cannot agree more with respect, discipline and aspirations.

Parental support / parents’ attitudes to education make huge difference - much more important than school funding. Schools in “nicer” areas have less funding than those in deprived areas (PP get additional funding), and grammars receive the same or less funding than comp

This is very interesting. I feel a bit like that - I have tried to instil the value of education into my kids, and they were very interested until they weren't.

Peer pressure is massive with teens, so if there are enough of them who don't value education, they can take down some of those who do.
So blame parents in a wider sense for maybe the ethos at the school.

Touching on a comment above though, the school in the "nicer" area near me relies heavily on parent donations, keeps down the number of kids per class to 28 and manages out special needs where they can. That's not ideal either.

Dear Educationexpert，

I have one question:

Are you familiar with IB? What do you think of it, in terms of Uni admissions and future prospects?

It seems a well-rounded education and is recognized globally. It is still a minority here, and I have heard that IB students may be "disadvantaged" by UK universities because they are not very familiar with the qualifications yet (eg. The condition scores for IB may be higher than the equivalent of Alevel)

Hello! All the top unis are well aware of IB as are the top companies that offer grad schemes, there are plenty of universities that take international students and are used to it.

IB is seen by some as “easier” because you never delve fully into the subject. It’s also not uncommon to have 100% in the IB (I’ve seen many applications with such when I worked at a Magic Circle firm). I think that the direction of education is changing so much already (see latymer no longer doing standard GCSEs) that it is important to choose the correct path for you. I personally still prefer A Levels over IB, but if you are looking at international opportunities, which you should, IB can be preferential.