Something EVERY parent of a child in a UK State school should know about

[QualifiedTeacher]

The UK Government has new proposals to allow non qualified teachers to teach in UK schools. This means our children?s education may be placed in the hands of teachers without basic qualifications such as English and Maths GSCE let alone a Bachelors degree. This policy will mainly be affecting children from the lower economic backgrounds and the reasoning behind employing unqualified teachers is simply because it costs less.

I have attached an epetition which gives more information and is asking for signatures to oppose the use of unqualified teachers in UK State schools. If the numbers signing this petition is large enough, we can get the debate discussed in the UK Parliament. Please help and protect the education of all UK children in State schools.

Thanks

My PgCE is the first part of a Masters qualification

I think Feenie studied a 4 year teaching degree so didn't need to do a PGCE (as did I.)

MTPP, very eloquently expressed.
QT has made unwarranted assumptions about the circumstances of people on this thread, and having failed to convince has now turned to a wider point - still though - all about money.
The benefits have only been around for a short while, and those who are now old enough to be high court judges from humble background would not have been recipients. I am not making a point that there isi correlation, by the way, only that it is lazy 'logic' to assume that throwing money around is the answer. The answer is in more creative thinking and co-operation.

Mrz. Sorry I'm being dim again. In what way? Obviously I understand the cuts that will affect education but the others will have no bearing will they?

MTPP said
'Feenie/BoneyBack
Do you think your teaching practice would have been any better for gaining a PGCE/PgCE? I am glad I did it for personal reasons but I don't think it made me a better teacher, or indeed made any difference at all as to how I taught.'

And

The difference between a PgCE and PGCE has ALREADY been explained.
The fact that it is possible to have QTS i.e. qualified teachers status without doing a PGCE or PgCE has ALREADY been explained.

No this is what I call repetitive. Anyone watch the movie, Groundhog Day?

Flexybex. Wow. I am sorry and agree teachers have a difficult job at times, but imo thats so much money for a teacher. I know the holidays aren't what many outsiders envisage but they are still long breaks.
I look at these wages and think about the poor teaching standards my dc have had over the years and find it hard to believe anybody could justify such large pay. I'm sorry if some teachers don't like that but its how I feel.

So a family loses FSM and the child is hungry they can't focus in class and it has an effect on their progress

So a family has a cut in JSA they have to make cuts the child comes to school hungry (it can also cause friction in the home which upsets the child)

A family lose HB have to make savings or end up homeless ...

A family have a cut in or lose DLA ...

Everything that is going on in a child's life at home has an impact on how well they can learn in school and as teachers we have to deal with that and ensure they learn.

That's the reality of teaching ...

MTPP, those on benefits, having their housing benefits cut and not being able to pay the rent and being evicted o having to move to a cheaper borough, probably won't affect the education of the children who will be made homeless or the children in the cheaper boroughs who have more children entering their schools. Having children and parents coming into schools and crying because they have no been made homeless won't affect the teachers as we know it has absolutely nothing to do with us. We will just refer them to the LA Homeless Person's Unit. We may even give them some cardboard boxes from the reprographics room to help them in the meantime.

Having children with SEN having their DLA cut, will not affect their education because the DLA cuts (for their care needs) supported their SEN funding (for their educational needs). So not having any additional funding for their SEN needs for care or at home, such as a TA or occupational theraphy etc. will not affect their education.

No it is not related.

Qualified teacher.
Yes the difference had been explained, but not which was which.
Also, I can't remeber asking those questions to people before. Unless of course I hit the button twice.
I'm not in the habit of asking questions I already know the answer to. How bizarre!

"I look at these wages and think about the poor teaching standards my dc have had over the years and find it hard to believe anybody could justify such large pay. I'm sorry if some teachers don't like that but its how I feel."
morethanpotatoprints - can you not see that you are arguing that teachers should be paid less because you don't think their standards are very good????? Wouldn't you rather your children were well taught????

When a child tells you with a huge smile how great it is in the homeless hotel because he has a real bed and the lady gave him sausage for breakfast you might understand.

And the cuts to the LEA funding will not affect education because if your child's SEN funding is cut you CAN NOT complain to the LEA because they wouldn't have had the responsibliity for doing it see, and you can not get any legal aid to make a claim against the decision because that's been cut. You will have to self fund to make a legal claim and if you are on benefits, you can not afford to self fund because you haven't got any money.

So, to get back to the point of the thread, deprived children,with a chaotic home life will benefit more than the privileged from having an influx of teachers with skills and experience from the world of industry and commerce, maybe older, part-time, who can help them to move outside the negativity loop the teachers on this thread appear to be immersed in. The more diverse thei teachers, the better for the children.

I am grateful to QT, because until I saw this thread, I was not aware that my DC and, more importantly, those less fortunate, will in the future benefit from a wider pool of adults teaching in schools, in those schools where the HT is open to more creative staff planning and management. So I will write to my MP to ask him/her to support this measure as being a positive move towards more diversity and innovation.

Yes Mrs G

'So, to get back to the point of the thread, deprived children,with a chaotic home life will benefit more than the privileged from having an influx of teachers with skills and experience from the world of industry and commerce, maybe older, part-time, who can help them to move outside the negativity loop the teachers on this thread appear to be immersed in. The more diverse thei teachers, the better for the children.'

Bankers earning in excess of £250,000 a year plus bonuses will give up their jobs to work as unqualified teachers on TAs' salaries of £10,000 a year and all the problems we are talking about will be solved. Some might even contribute the homes they have in their property portfolios to the homeless. I can see it working now.

MRZ, would you rather the child had no bed an no breakfast - why is everything negative - poor kid, if he gets a reaction like that to something that has made him happy. his paretns could not or would not give him breakfast - the state is providing it, and you still find something to moan about...

MrsG I'm a teacher with skills and experience from the world of industry - definitely older. Did my skills and experience equip me to teach children? ...no most definitely not. Were my skills and experience beneficial to me as a teacher? ...most definitely yes.

Ah, yes the bankers - of course they have to be thrown into it - hilarious how that always comes up. Bingo! Maybe there will be some retiring early who might sign up, to put something back, like many other redundant or retiring professionals - where's the gripe? If they fail miserably you can be triumphant - vindicated, back to the same-old. If they succeed, you can rejoice kids are getting more diverse input.... er no, don't suppose you will, somehow

"MTPP"

My degree was on top of industrial experience and had teaching placements in every year.

A PGCE wasn't required, nor would it have helped.

The information gained through the BAHons in education + specialism + KS + QTS was of great help. Not to belittle the PGCE but most of those that where in my cohort did as little as possible to get through it. As soon as they realised that it wasn't going to be an easy life they left.

MrsG

I suspect the bankers are mentioned because they (the ones that where fired) where going to be the ones to lead one of Gove's many get people in to teaching programs.

If they fail miserably you can be triumphant - vindicated, back to the same-old.

That's children you're talking about so glibly. They are not experiments. I'm happy for all the retired bankers in the world to come and teach children - what I object to is them stepping off the street with no training to do it.

For want of repeating myself:

A student on a teaching degree/in-house GTP/one year PGCE will have, (amongst other things) :
varied classroom experience in* the presence of a mentor, who will assess their teaching against standards. All student teachers have to evaluate each of their lessons in depth, so that they can make improvements. Students will have work experience in different schools and in different year groups.

• tuition in the progression of skills within the curriculum, and how to optimise pupils' learning through planning, marking and assessment
• an introduction to different teaching strategies, so that they can address different learning styles
• lessons in child development and learning
• experience of behaviour management and SEN

These are vital lessons in how to teach.

Both the theoretical and practical training prepares the student for their first year, which, at the moment, is also mentored rigorously. The students carry targets from their final teaching practices into their first job. They are observed by their mentor and HT during the induction year, they attend courses to discuss and evaluate their teaching, and reports are written about them against standards.

You are saying that all this is not necessary - that any Tom Dick or Harry can come in from the street and be aware of how to optimise the performance of each child in a class......without any awareness of how to teach, just their subject knowledge.

OP. I think you are maybe quite young and not lived through much of this before so will pardon your naivity in taking to heart sensentionalised headlines. I don't really much remember asking for your opinion. I'm sure my post responded to mrz. Such rude teachers we have nowadays.

Mrz, I suppose I underestimated the consquences to teachers in terms of the cuts. However, I don't think doom, gloom, despondency and such do anything to help the situation. I had 2 dcs at school during a previous recession and conservative government cut backs. It was bad but thank goodness homelessness was not a problem as even a conservative gov couldn't see children on the street. Still it doesn't do to be complacent it could happen I guess.

Fleybex.
I wasn't trying to be difficult when I said I gained more from practice than PgCE. What you describe above was not what I experienced at all. I did have the theory but the experience was different. I saw my mentor for 2 observations she was obliged to conduct. Basically she told me unless the building was on fire I was to handle everything by myself. Nobody taught me how to plan, assess, mark, conduct parents evenings. I devised my own schemes of work and in one case completely wrote a new course, all before I qualified. I was not paid and was not already an employee.
So with this in mind I assumed this was the same experience for every PgCE, hence my questions/assumptions about their relevance in terms of teaching.

morethanpotatoprints you may consider it doom, gloom, despondency and such but that was day to day reality for many of children I work with before the recession and as you can imagine will only get worse.