To think at a private school, it’s not the teachers that are better...

[Caitlin555]

....it’s just you are less likely to get the bad behaviour, and more likely to have smaller class sizes?

It drives me mad that there’s this perception that the teachers at private schools are so much better than at state. They are not. In fact, you don’t even need a teaching qualification to teach at a private school.

It is obviously easier to get good results and control a class when you’ve got a smaller class of (probably) better behaved, more affluent kids whose parents want them to be there and to not have the social problems that some schools contend with.

I wish parents would just be honest about why they are sending their kids to x private school - it might be the small class sizes, it might be the facilities, it might be that it is super selective - but don’t make it about the teachers as that’s an insult to those amazing teachers who work hard every day to make a difference at state schools.

And no, I’m not a teacher.

I don't think ive ever heard anyone say that about private schools, it's almost always about facilities and class sizes. I have dc at a private school and dc at a state school in a small town and the teachers actually often seem to switch jobs between the schools so the teaching is likely to be the same!

I don’t know anyone who thinks that about private schools. Everyone thinks it’s about class size, peer group, extracurricular activities and facilities. No-one I have ever - over many years - thinks the teachers are better; at all.

Small class sizes
Smaller school
Better facilities (sometimes not always)
Affluent families
More privileged children
Better access to extra curricular activities (Music/sport)
More homework

Absolutely spot on. You are buying a way out of mixing with chavs and any parent saying otherwise is lying through their teeth.

What funny is the earnest group insistent that their child’s private school is “more diverse” than the state option 😁. Pull the other one. Tbh I would respect them more if they were honest about it.

Apart from the odd professor of this that and the other, the teachers are no better IMHO.
Some don’t even have a teaching qualification.

You're not buying better teachers. Quite the opposite in some cases. You're buying a "better" calibre of students (including behaviour, atittude to learning etc but mostly as a by product of professional parents and privilege) and a future contacts book for your child.

I say that as someone who was privately educated and now teaches in the state secondary sector.

i sent dd2 to private secondary for the small class sizes not really anything else. she has adhd and the less distractions made a massive difference. the calmer environment really helped. can’t say the actual teaching was a lot different although they were able to cover more and in more detail. local secondary for example stopped students doing science experiments due to some pupils burning each other with bunsen burners😳

Most teachers I know, wouldn’t work in a private school as they think it would be very dull!!

Well I find your assumption that private school teachers are likely unqualified softies pretty offensive. I've worked in both, am perfectly capable of coping with a shit y9 class on a wet Friday afternoon and have post grad degrees in the 2 subjects I teach to A level. Just like state schools, we occasionally take on students or unqualified newbies who work for their QTS alongside an almost full timetable but it's been years since I worked with any of the genuinely unqualified old guard. Modern private schools simply can't afford to carry people like that. We're inspected and reported on and scrutinised too and if we're shit, we get fired far more easily than in the state sector. You're post is a lazy and out of date generalisation.

Ive never herd anyone say that about Private school

What you say is fact, but I've never come across anyone expressing what you seem to be complaining about.

I felt that the atmosphere at the private school I got a scholarship to was completely different. In my case the teachers were better but maybe had more resources to ensure doing their job was manageable and it was better funded. The classes weren't smaller but the expectations of parents were higher, which led to the teachers pushing for results and listing more with parents.

I went to my local schools for 8 years and moved to private school in year 9 so have a good handle on both. My parents weren't like the other parents and I was gobsmacked at the levels of support other people received.

@MsTSwift oh yes i agree. Diversity in private schools means mixing with children of Asian doctors. People are less keen on diversity when it involves mothers fighting in the playground and calling each other slags and worse.

I was once a supply TA in a private school and overheard the teacher telling the 4 year olds that doctors should be men and nurses women!!! Ffs!

I don’t think anyone suggests the teaching is better! If anything people focus on facilities and class sizes when one of the main drivers is filtering out the ‘undesirables’ or those with SN.

Maybe it’s just my local area but I’ve recently seen a local Facebook thread about the merits of the state and private schools nearby and the reference to better teaching/teachers was quite frequent!

I think most people don’t do it for teachers but peers and small class sizes. Plus extra curriculum

@HugeAckmansWife

Well I find your assumption that private school teachers are likely unqualified softies pretty offensive. I've worked in both, am perfectly capable of coping with a shit y9 class on a wet Friday afternoon and have post grad degrees in the 2 subjects I teach to A level. Just like state schools, we occasionally take on students or unqualified newbies who work for their QTS alongside an almost full timetable but it's been years since I worked with any of the genuinely unqualified old guard. Modern private schools simply can't afford to carry people like that. We're inspected and reported on and scrutinised too and if we're shit, we get fired far more easily than in the state sector. You're post is a lazy and out of date generalisation.

I don’t think I said that private school teachers are soft and unqualified, but it is true that a qualification isn’t essential. I also think surely if you’re applying to a private school job you know you’re likely to face less of the behavioural, social and SEN challenges you’d have in a state school. That surely must be a bit of a draw to work at certain schools?

SIL is head of science in a private secondary school. I don't think she'd get a job at the same level in state. CPD is almost non existent, well behind on safe guarding, eventually ends up using the same resources as state eg. Seneca, mymaths, but slow to adopt.

She cares about the pupils but has got more cynical over the years about parents buying results and opting out of actual parenting. Sad really.

@MsTSwift

Absolutely spot on. You are buying a way out of mixing with chavs and any parent saying otherwise is lying through their teeth.

What funny is the earnest group insistent that their child’s private school is “more diverse” than the state option 😁. Pull the other one. Tbh I would respect them more if they were honest about it.

Completely agree with you about the OP, but not the diversity bit.

In my area there’s a huge, well regarded and apparently outstanding comprehensive with a very small minority of BAME children. I don’t know the percentage, it can’t be big, and while they will have a fair range of children from different socio economic backgrounds, it’s predominantly white or aspiring middle class.

The closest private school has children from all over the world attend, and a large proportion of children from mixed British backgrounds. Culturally, it’s a fact that there is far more diversity at the private school.

At the independent school I went to there was no such thing as detention because nothing really happened. No fights, talking back, stealing or anything like that...worst offence was late homework.

We didn't cause the teachers any real stress other than a bit of chatting. Also, many teachers had a real passion for their subject which was almost infectious and at times when we went off on a slight tangent because a pupil asked an interesting question, you really could tell they enjoyed teaching. Not all but I'd say the majority were like that.

I have never heard anyone say the teaching is better in a private school. It’s more common to hear comments about private schoolteachers being unqualified or not being able to hack it in a state school.

@rhowton

We send our DD for the small class sizes, better ratios, children who are similar (language, manners etc tends to be better), no disruption, no SEN, no awful families (snobby, but I don't really care). Private schools are just better.

Are your children happier?

I’m just interested as some of my friends who went to private schools ended up crumbling under a pressure cooker environment and their A level results etc were shocking - probably would have been better off at state. Their parents probably would have said the same about class sizes and better families!

@Caitlin555

Maybe it’s just my local area but I’ve recently seen a local Facebook thread about the merits of the state and private schools nearby and the reference to better teaching/teachers was quite frequent!

I’d guess on public FB groups it’s easier to say that it’s about the teaching rather than the calibre of the other families and the significantly better surroundings without sounding rude.