To expect my child to be taught by a teacher with a degree in that subject?

[northlundunmum]

My child is in year 8 and in their school
has “Humanities” which is history and geography combined rather than taught separately- not great in my view but ok. However, this year they are being taught by a music teacher. No doubt a very talented musician but according to my child they admit not being very good at teaching history or geography.

I do understand there are teacher shortages and sometimes some teachers will have to cover for others but this seems to be a permanent arrangement at least for this year.

Does anybody know what the DfE / Ofsted rules / guidance are on this? I understand you have to have a degree in a subject in order to train to teach it at secondary level (or at least used to) - does that not extend to actually teaching the subject in school?

Grateful for advice from anyone who knows the law / regulations here as want to approach the school about it and want to be clear what’s reasonable to expect and what they should in fact be doing according to govt policy.

Thank you!

The first thing that came to my mind was Russian - at any level.

😂😂 off you go then. Because my PowerPoint on s,p,d levels is quite basic. Lots of drawing required by me (or you, if you're teaching it).

I have A level maths but couldn't explain most of it ! And as for any MFL 🤓.

I have A level maths but couldn't explain most of it!

Which goes to show how important the skills of a good teacher are. I'd be shocked if anyone with Maths A level and good teaching skills couldn't teach / explain GCSE level work.

@Zonder I can do GCSE maths (I have to as we don't have enough maths teachers). But A level is a whole different ball game. All A levels are. I teach A level chemistry but would struggle to do Physics.

Still couldn't teach year 7 Spanish. Unless they want to know how to order a glass of wine

I have a maths A level and good teaching skills.
I got the A level over 30 years ago and teach a literacy based subject. Still think I'd do a good job teaching your dc maths?

I got my A in A level maths in 1985. It's not exactly fresh in my memory 😂.

If you refreshed your knowledge. You clearly had the knowledge and skills once. Would you be happy with someone who got a maths degree 30 years ago and did nothing with it since if they were teaching your children?

@Zonder when do you suggest I refresh my nearly 40 year old maths skills ? Before or after teaching/planning/marking etc for 60 hours a week ? I already teach Chemistry and GCSE maths. A level maths needs teaching by people who can easily do any problem and explain why. Same as A level chemistry.
Anyone with my A level fancy teaching it ? Because most schools will welcome you with open arms.

Actually @mumsneedwine I'm quite happy for you not to teach my children.

Someone with a maths degree from 30 years ago wouldn't be teaching my children without doing the teacher training course, and that would involve time and content that would refresh their skills. Also, presumably, they would actually want to teach that subject. We're not talking here about people with a burning desire to teach some other subject, it's teachers with a space on their timetable being given it.

And no need to be so rude Zonder to other posters

😂😂😂 and people wonder why their kids are not being taught be subject specialists. Rude parents being one of the main factors.

My ALPS have been 1 for the last 2 years so I'll just carry on if its ok with you 😂

‘I can honestly say (no hyperbole here) that I'd be confident walking into any secondary classroom, at any level or subject, and as long as the lesson had been left for me by the teacher, I would have no problem delivering it and dealing with all the very many nuances of teaching.’

Ha ha.

Well you might be able to read out the slides and manage behaviour. But of course you could not teach any subject properly. Could you answer further maths questions or answer pupils without googling when they ask what the German or Russian word for computer is? Could you answer the questions about musical composition? Demonstrate an art techinique?

I am not a teacher but this is so off the scale of hyperbole that I don’t think there is a word for it. Or maybe you are also an A Level English teacher and can supply the right word?! For now, ‘nonsense’ will do!

I am an A Level English teacher and "nonsense" is a great word!
I'm teaching the start of book 10 of Paradise Lost tomorrow. I'd like to see someone do that on the fly (because that is "the lesson")

I'm a science HLTA that has permanent year 7 classes and covers other science department lessons teaching due to recruitment crisis.

It's that or permanent cover teachers who are not subject specific for them. I am the lesser of two evils

There's been quite a lot of rudeness on here - I'm merely adding to the list of people various posters don't want teaching their children.

We how have I been rude ? Please explain with a nice PEEL paragraph
(See, I could teach English 😂)

I used to teach GCSE English and my degree is in Dance and Drama.

Lucky you! I adore teaching Paradise Lost.

Me too!

@MrsHamlet you have my total admiration. How you do all that marking is beyond me.

@mumsneedwine you get used to it! And if they've done me the courtesy of doing the work, it's only fair that I read it.

@MrsHamlet 😊 I'm currently marking year 13 mocks and trying to decipher some of the writing is the hardest part. Handwriting lessons might be implemented next week 😂.

@mumsneedwine have you tried closing one eye? If that doesn't work, a generous application of wine will help.

@MrsHamlet 😂 I'll be very glad to see the back of dry January. Stupid idea.