To think asking a teacher how many passed GCSEs isn’t rude?

[Indoorvoicesbluey]

Dd15 is currently sitting mock GCSEs and is anxious about her future as everyone is atm.

she asked her English teacher how many of her students passed their GCSEs and she was told to stay behind class and was told off for asking it as the teacher found it rude and disrespectful. She said she didn’t mean it to be rude she was genuinely wondering.

They were discussing previously how many people in the class will pass with certain grades.

she also asked her science teacher who said a percentage that passed.

shes worrying she won’t pass and it will ruin her future plans, she was genuinely wondering, not the fact the teacher is rubbish because isn’t and she enjoys English. She’s actually taking it for a levels. She clearly doesn’t take after me 😂

Without tone and context, no one can tell if the teacher is unreasonable or not. Seeing as teachers often have to give up their own time to supervise detentions, it’s unlikely it was given for a clumsy question or general curiosity. My hunch is the question was asked in an insolent way in order to question the teacher’s competence in front of the entire class.

I think it could be taken as rude - why would she be wondering unless she thought the teacher wasn't much good? but if the teacher was confident in her abilities I'd have thought she should be easily able handle it.

She was clearly just trying to assuage her anxiety. Teacher took umbrage which I think was quite silly.

Is the teacher aware that your DD is anxious?

I find that hard to believe.

We used to ask our teachers. None of them had an issue.

I think the teacher is overly sensitive OP.

My DCs school advertise on the school’s website the percentage of students passing their GCSEs in each subject every year so anyone in the world can see it!

The teacher is weird. What’s the secret? It’s basic stats

I think it can also be taken as a child trying to see how many have passed, as a weird guage of what their chances are of passing.

Again, without tone, you wont know. But its a perfectly valid question if asked without rude intentions.

If you wanted to, you could email the teacher and explain that your DD's question came about because of her own anxiety and worry about getting the grade she needs to continue to A level and beyond. At this point in year 11, your DD should have some idea what ability she's working at and know roughly what grade she's likely to be able to get. Perhaps you could ask the teacher to let you know what grade your DD is currently working at and whether she has any cause for concern.

They don't list it per teacher though.

They can see the overall school results anytime they like. I honestly had no kids ever ask about my individual classes.

That's a perfectly valid question. Percentages that pass in a school are published each year, and the teacher could simply have said... 70% (or whatever it was) in this school got A* to C last year in this subject.

@pinkstripeycat Asking how many in a whole year group passed, or what did most students who got Grade X in the mocks ended up with in the real thing, is not the same as asking how many students in Mrs Bloggs' class passed the exam because it suggests she is asking about her particular abilities as a teacher.

It's one of those things that could be pointed, or could be an attempt to seek reassurance - if you went to a Dr because you had a symptom that could be cancer (for example) or something benign, you might ask "how many of your patients with this symptom had X and not cancer???"

That wasn't the question.
There will be more than one subject teacher in the vast majority of schools.

Exactly this. Why could she not just have answered? Her reaction was way over the top and ridiculous. The girl only asked a simple question for goodness sake. Totally OTT reaction. Poor girl. If I were you @Indoorvoicesbluey I would be having a word with this teacher to ask her to explain why she was so rude and brusque to your daughter, who was asking a perfectly valid question. I do wonder why this teacher got so snappy. Would be interesting to know.

I don’t think it was a rude question at all, kids can be inquisitive. Also she needs to get a thicker skin, a lot of teachers are intentionally rude to children, judging them on their whole future life potential based on the few years they know them as children. Respect towards adults is also earned we don’t live in Victorian times anymore.

This.

The teacher handled it badly. Rather than help a nervous pupil and give them the reassurance they were obviously looking for they have punished them and no doubt made them feel worse.

Not sure they are suited to the profession based on this example.

Really not strange or rude at all - clearly asked looking for reassurance. Insecure of the teacher to interpret it as rude or undermining, in my opinion.

It doesn't give any useful information though does it? The teacher may have had a bottom set last year, so none of them may have "passed" (if we are thinking of 4/5 as a pass) even if the teacher was excellent and helped them all meet or exceed their targets?

Or, she might have had a top set and everyone in it might have got 6s and 7s and "passed" even tho the teacher is shit, and they all should have got 8s and 9s.

I just can't see how any stats of this kind could be of any help to your daughter. Possibly asking "what did students who were getting the same marks as me in assessments go on to get at GCSE?" would be a helpful question. Just about.

Anyway, clearly the teacher felt her teaching ability was being questioned, and you can obviously understand how the question COULD be asked in an offensive way, even if your daughter didn't mean it like that.

So surely in the chat after the end of the lesson your daughter politely explained what she actually meant? End of problem?

Or did she not?

I expected to be asked by parents and students at Open Evenings. I had the results for both GCSE and A level analysed A*-U plastered on the walls for the last 5 years. The only teachers who wouldn't want to be asked are ones who have rubbish results.

Your daughter clearly delivered the question in a tone that came across as if she were questioning the teacher's ability to teach the course properly.

It's fine for a student to ask this kind of question for reassurance, but there is a way of asking it.

For the teacher to have been so upset, your daughter must have worded the question in a very pointed way, or used a tone that was disrespectful. Or the teacher might just have been having a bad day and took the comment the wrong way.

Regardless, perhaps a chat tomorrow with the teacher to clear the air is in order.

I wouldn’t be impressed if my child asked it tbh because I can’t see why else they would other than to intimate that they aren’t a good teacher. I think it’d be a bit different if the tone was curious during a conversation about average grades at the school or in the country or something, such as after class or in the playground at lunch time. I think it’s rude. Your daughter isn’t interviewing her or doing her appraisal, not that it’s even asked then. It’s the sort of comment which would be followed up with a big “Oooooooooooooh!” from the rest of the class. If my daughter tried feigning innocence I would be extremely dubious and probably not have any of it.

I'd say if the school are cagey about this information, which should be publicly available, then they are not proud of it.

Forgot to add: I’d remind her that’s it’s irrelevant anyway as she will sit her papers and get the grade she deserves. So just focus on asking questions about the lesson content. 😁

If she meant - how many kids in the school passed last year, it would be fine (and that info is probably available anyway). If she made it sound as though she was asking about her particular class it be inappropriate for all the reasons given previously - but maybe she didn't mean it that way and just worded it badly?

I imagine she was just looking for reassurance - if the teacher said 'ooh 90% or more pass every year' she would have felt happy. (But of course that may not be the case, so asking for stats is always risky....)