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

And Novak

If the private schools are so brilliant and their unQTs are so amazing, and the state schools are so appalling and QTs are all idiots, it shouldn't be a real problem for the children in private schools or in affluent areas being expected to get 4 straight A* should it?

It's all about fairness.

Cameron talks a lot about fairness.

Would you really rather have a 'poor children left behind' policy, novack?

Sorry to disappoint you all but not outraged about anything. Au contraire it's the op who has her knickers in a tizz and wants to start a petition.

noblegiraffe sorry but I can never be bothered replying to ad hominem statements like yours.

Universities are funded by government but if the Russell group can afford to fund poorer students as Eton and the like do with Kings Scholars and Bursaries from endowments then that is a good thing. The old Poly's should have stuck at what they were good at.

As for the public schools and their, as you put it, unQT's as opposed to the state school QT's. AT Least the unQT's do have a history of getting very good results and are there to support there children day in day out and don't moan about Saturday mornings for sports teams etc, or after school clubs which is why we have so many wonderful results at the olympics as opposed to the state school, golden pensioned, entitled bunch who don't give too hoots about the kids, will strike at the drop of a hat and know more about their rights for sick leave than they do about their subjects at times.

There is no poverty gap. What you lot want and would be happy with is to drag everyone down to the bottom level rather than lift the bottom up some what. Sadly you make Thatcher's last commons speech as relevant today as it was all the way back then.

Soon you can't explain how it is teachers in India manage to far outstrip you with none of the boundless resources you've all had thrown at you over the last two decades. maybe because those Indian teachers actually have the craft of teaching, do actually care, put in the effort and are not just in it for the money and to protect their union gravy train

And there goes your argument.

There are too many (you see: too and two) mahoosive generalisations, assumptions and blatantly untrue and biased rantings here to warrant any further discourse, but I'm sure you know that.

And you might want to have a look at your use of apostrophes, but I'm being nit-picky and a bit facetious here. My apols.

Erm, it wasn't an ad hominem statement novack; you can tell it wasn't a statement because it had a question mark at the end. It was a genuine question. If you think a no child left behind policy and that supporting the disadvantaged to try to bring them up to the level of the advantaged is idiotic, then what's the alternative? Deliberately leaving the disadvantaged to founder while the advantaged widen the gap further? Is that what you want?

If you think I can be bothered to sit in a bar and enjoying the cool breeze whilst watching the olympics and correct predictive then you've another think coming dear.

Interesting that you're refusing to answer.

By the way, I think one of the reasons India is so successful is because education is highly valued there and parents are extremely supportive. Indian students also perform very well in English state schools with English teachers. Perhaps you should be blaming the parents rather than the teachers?

The disadvantaged are only left to founder if you teachers who are paid to do the job leave them to founder by not getting on with what you are paid to do. Your schools are getting more per pupil than many day schools charge and yet you are failing the children abysmally and now instead of getting on with the job you prefer to dumb down so that you don't look so bad at the job.

Now in a maths exam a protractor has to be have in brackets or is simply called an angle measurer because you've failed to teach even the most basic items. How is it that the teachers in the 40's 50's could do the job with craft and skill and no major resources and you lot fail to do anything and blame everyone barring yourselves for that. And as I said India can produce 1 million engineers a year.

Novak

University are not funded by government they are now self funding that's why their fees went UP to £9,000. Because the government took the funding out. They are only funding loans etc to unis and small maintenance grants.

There is a poverty gap and even the government research states that children from poorer families do not do as well in education.

Regardless of what you think, universities will have more places set aside for children from deprived backgrounds. I tutor and I say to parents, 'Some parents really are losing out because
a. they buy a house in affluent areas where there are excellent schools thereby having to pay extra in private tutor fees so their children can get 4 As at A level to get into a top uni or
b. the put their children in private schools, costing them hundreds of thousands of pounds thereby having to pay extra in private tutor fees so their children can get 4 As at A level to get into a top uni.

Now some private tutors are charging up to £65 an hour especially for Chemisty, Biology and Maths A Level tutoring and the poorer parents are blowing their credit cards to get their children the 2As and the 2Bs whereas the affluent parents after spending hundreds of thousands have to pay thousands more (many tutors like payments in cash) to get their students the 4A*s the need.'

We are talking the top, top UK universities that are internationally renowed not the former Polys and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

At least poorer children have something to aspire to.

And Novak

the epetition was not written by me it was written by David Clarke.

I have so many friends who are struggling to pay private school fees for their 2 or more children who can not access some of the scholarships for the disadvantaged children mentioned. Some have remortgaged their homes and are entirely frustrated!

They have paid high private school fees and/or
They have paid high mortgages on their properties and/or
They have paid additional tuition fees and/or
They are not eligible for ANY concessions with regard to having to pay £9,000 a year fees plus accomodate and living costs.

And the scholarships open to all, well they want you have so much ON TOP OF high academic abilities i.e. 4 A levels at A* which is really, really hard even for a private schools to achieve.

Novak you're a wind up!!!!!!
'AT Least the unQT's do have a history of getting very good results and are there to support there children day in day out and don't moan about Saturday mornings for sports teams etc, or after school clubs which is why we have so many wonderful results at the olympics as opposed to the state school, golden pensioned, entitled bunch who don't give too hoots about the kids, will strike at the drop of a hat and know more about their rights for sick leave than they do about their subjects at times.'

I don't even know where to start on that paragraph.
Golden pensioned..... yeah, yeah...... my dh has a better private pension.
Don't give two hoots about kids....... yeah...... spend 60 hours a week worrying about them and working on their behalf.
Strike...... (did I strike?)
Sick leave....... two days in 12 years.
School clubs..... only miss 3 lunchtimes a week doing those. School only has about 6 sports clubs run by teachers a week.

You're a wind-up Novak. Not really helping the discussion.

Now in a maths exam a protractor has to be have in brackets or is simply called an angle measurer because you've failed to teach even the most basic items.

I'm a maths teacher and I haven't a clue what you're banging on about here. A protractor is still called a protractor. And I looked up maths GCSE papers for all the major exam boards and they all refer to either a protractor or simply geometrical instruments on the equipment list.

you lot fail to do anything
Do try not to generalise quite so much, my results and those of my department are excellent (non-selective state school).

But noblegiraffe

They did get rid of the Abacus, the slide rule and Logarithm Tables to make way for calculators which was really dumbing it down.

NG
Now in a maths exam a protractor has to be have in brackets or is simply called an angle measurer because you've failed to teach even the most basic items.

What are you guys calling a ruler?

That's true, QT, and the bastards went metric. Maths really is a piece of piss these days.

A ruler is now a line drawer and a pair of compasses is a circle drawer.

Well glad to see you care so much QT that you take the time to take cash for private tutoring what you failed to teach in the classroom. Think you've made my point for me. Really your gripe is that someone more capable than what you think you are is going to undercut you in the market place. A free market that you yourself as a private tutor are happily taking part in

Nobodies has to pay 9000 a year. It is covered by a loan.

Who do you think bought an apprentice his tools or the garage mechanic all the bits he needs to take your brakes apart with out wrecking the machine or those diagnostic kits. These folks never got handouts from the government to be plumbers or car mechanic, electrician etc. They buy their own tools as they learn their trade and study as apprentices. If they can do it then so can kids going to Uni pay for their education at the end of it and then maybe they will choose a worthwhile course with prospects. There is no need for the 50% must go to Uni nonsense of loony Tony

Novak

'Nobodies has to pay 9000 a year. It is covered by a loan.'

Loans have to be paid back with INTEREST!

'These folks never got handouts from the government'

There are government schemes to help the long term unemployed set up business and business start up loans and grants.

And some of these children don't want to be electricians, they want to be
barristers earning £500 an hour plus VAT then judges earning God knows.

Plus I work part time so I have extra time to tutor and I don't charge £65 an hour, those are the tutors in the leafy areas taking advantage of the parents living there. I couldn't get £25 an hour out of my local cohort. Disadvantaged area you see.

It's called the market. If they want to be a barrister then they'll have no problem paying back the loan if they find an opeing but I seriously doubt you'll find there's a huge market opening for them and less as a high court judge since there are only so many a little country like ours needs.

Nothing wrong with being a plumber or electrician and apprentices do not get business start up loans. In stead of teaching daydreams maybe someone should start teaching these children realistic long terms goals.

Hope your self assessment is up to date. Would hate to think you want the rest of us paying your wages out of our taxes whilst you dodge them yourself with a little cash in hand.

QT mentioned earlier that she tutors a number of private school pupils, so private school teachers evidently fail in the classroom too.

NovackNGood - I think you are talking up the Indian education system one hell of a lot. The majority of people in India are still extremely poor and pretty uneducated. It's an appallingly bad education system in general, failing the vast majority of Indians. And are you not aware that its population is something like 1.2 billion, making 1 million engineering graduates look far less impressive than you appear to think (not to mention the fact that half of these graduates probably then go on to do a very bad job (in my personal experience...) working in call centres, rather than fixing their creaking, accident-prone railways and poor infrastructure and working to prevent colossal power outages over huge geographic areas...)?

Novack

No my self assessment isn't up to date and thank you for reminding me of yet another task I have to do over the summer hols. But the fact that you know I have to do a self assessment to do means you know I am actually registered for my self employment with my own unique tax reference and declare my additional earnings to HM Revenues and Customs.

So there is a compliment in there somewhere. Thanks

PS: It has to be in by 31st October 2012. So I have a bit of time.

rabbitstew

My friend went to visit her aunt in India and she was appalled that her aunt had servants that she only paid in food. When she challenged her aunt on this her aunt said, 'They knock on your door and beg you to allow you to work for them for food and are happy to sleep in your garage or shed. All the neighbours are doing it.'

It is appalling the level of poverty over there. So many people without any hope of moving up in society unlike here where disadvantaged children who are extremely able can get into the TOP Russell Group unis with lower grades than those from advantaged groups.

If you think I can be bothered to sit in a bar and enjoying the cool breeze whilst watching the olympics and correct predictive then you've another think coming dear.

I think this is my favourite riposte.

Flexybex - I wouldn't even bother going through picking holes in Novak's argument; it's a pointless exercise because s/he hasn't any intention in listening or considering anything resembling a valid argument.