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.

When I trained as a teacher only two people dropped out of my course, they both had jobs at Private schools within the year. My sister in law also regularly does long term supply at a fee paying school. She also has no teaching qualification.

lion I don’t think anyone was suggesting that private school teachers didn’t have a degree but certainly in the past it was common for them not to have a teaching qualification.

There are good and bad teachers at all schools but the idea that private school teachers are on the whole better is definitely promoted and is nonsensical. It is supportive parents who invest both financially and practically in their child’s educations who make the difference as well as the ability to easily exclude unruly pupils.

Why deal with shit you don't have to deal with?

Old school - STATE - one black family - we had moved from a very cosmopolitan city and I was shocked...

It's ridiculous in a country that is 87% white that you would be shocked. If a class of 30 pupils were statistically representative of the UK population, you do realise that there would only be 1 or 2 black pupils in it? Only about 4 in 30 non-white?

@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.

I think that depends on where you live. Where I live there's a handful of pupils that's aren't White British in the local Primary school. Yet at my daughters school, which is private, it's the other way round. So stop jumping to conclusions and thinking everyone that sends their kids to private school is posh and snobby, they aren't. Just like some families with kids at state school are rich and they do look down at poor kids.

My DD is in a class of 12. She goes to a state school.

She was offered a place at private, the class sizes were 17.

I’m very happy that she’s in a small class and yes, that was a huge factor in our decision to look at private school.

We made the right decision, clearly, to send her to the state school we chose.

I think you probably need a slightly different set of skills in private compared to state schools.

In most private schools students will be more similar. So a teacher who would flounder at a comprehensive with a whole gamut of SEN, behavioural and academic needs may soar in a less diverse classroom. Especially if he only had 18 students instead of 30(+).

But, for those who choose private to get a better academic education, I don't think it's an expectation that teachers are superior that influences them. It's more that the other children (and their parents) will have the same expectations about learning and the importance of education. That when you tell little George that he has to finish his homework before he can play online you won't believe it when he tells you that nobody else's parents make them do that. That they won't get bullied for excelling at math or for wanting to pursue academic interests beyond the classroom. It's about having them grow up in a culture where education is valued as much at school as it is in your home.

The irony that there are several posters on this thread, with dc whose needs were not met in the state sector and are thriving at private s.

It's sad that people feel they need to justify why they sent their dc private. My own dd has undiagnosed sen but is very bright.
Her school has badly let us down, over lock down we got diddly squat, but also with her sen we get diddly squat.

If I could get her into one of the many little private schools round us I would in a flash.

OhTheRoses

@Caitlin555 I really don't think that applies to the top London day schools: KCS, StPauls, LEH, Alleyns, G&L, WHS, PHS, etc

I really think it does apply to those schools, and other even more academically prestigious independent schools too.

You can not argue that private schools are diverse but then say that they do well because they are all extremely bright, hardworking and well behaved.

Diverse to me is people from all walks of life, different cultures, different home life, single parents, the boy who lives in the 3 bed house on the corner sitting next to the girl who shares a room with her 3 siblings in a tower block. The good the bad the ugly. Sure I know people who sacrifice lots for their DC but most send them there because they can afford to and want the opposite of diversity = not to mix with the peasant families that dont live up to their standards.

Greengreengrass
Are you going to answer my question about why your daughter took scholarships to schools you both disapproved of?
I can only assume you must have liked the idea of the schools if your daughter sat entrance exams for them

CoronaBollox it is complete and utter bollox to say that all indie kids are extremely bright!

I would send my DC to private school BTW so not bashing just being realistic.

To answer the OP question it's not always better teachers like others have said. Less kids, more resources, pushy parents and lots of opportunities.

Bangs head against brick wall. Even if more families non white it is NOT diverse due to the massive barrier to entrance of £££. Very small incredibly privileged group able to access - that is not diverse. State has to take whoever happens to be in catchment

There is racial diversity - my Ds's top 10 public school is over 40% Asian. There is a very uniform approach to the importance of education and the expectation that they must do well.

It is supportive parents who invest both financially and practically in their child’s educations who make the difference as well as the ability to easily exclude unruly pupils.

Yup. And the children have been taught to behave in a reasonably respectful and disciplined fashion at school. It's just not very tactful to talk about sieving out the types of kids who hamper others' progress so the overt discussion will be about other things.

tbf, the academic bar for Eton is pretty high.

Unless you’re a member of the royal family obv.

The teachers are not better ..... but the teaching is often better. The smaller class sizes, higher discipline expectations, selected student population, fewer syllabus constraints, lesser paperwork requirements and longer holidays so teachers are better rested, and greater resources all enable better teaching to happen, with fewer distractions.... which simply can't happen in many state schools - regardless of the basic quality of the teacher.

There is not diversity anyone arguing there is is frankly embarrassing themselves.

CoronaBollox it is complete and utter bollox to say that all indie kids are extremely bright!

Well obviously, was pointing out the contradiction of previous posters.

It’s a shame there’s an implicit suggestion that those sending their children to state school are not as bothered about education, don’t have the same values etc. State schools do have plenty of ‘nice’ kids too who could be at private school if their parents decided that that was the only way they’d get a good education.

Yes the word diversity is used rather thinly these days. Plenty of schools out there that are diverse by skin colour but all the kids are rich.

MsTSwift
Exactly. It’s not diverse just because the children of doctors, solicitors and bank managers are from varied races.

Quite

I teach in a selective private school. Some amazing teachers, some poor ones... Just like any state school. More teachers who are genuine experts in their field (lots of PhDs) but that doesn't necessarily make a good teacher. Class sizes and work ethic, plus a tough entrance exam, is what churns out those high grades, not the teaching. Value added is a better indicator of teaching quality anyway.

@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.

And I choose to work in a state school so that I don't have to deal with people like you.