Private school employing inexperienced teacher

[Figamol]

Hi,
I wanted your opinion on this. We live abroad where the education system is different so chose to send our children to a good private school. By chance our babysitter told us her best friends cousin is starting to teach at the school next week. She has been working in a bank and because she apparently knows the headmaster he has given her a primary school class straight off and will go to college on a saturday to do her teaching certificate.
I've no problem with career changes and I am sure she is lovely and will eventually be prepared, but am I unreasonable to think this is pretty outrageous? We really work hard to pay to get our kids the best education and expect them to hire the best teachers, or at least ones that have taught before.
Im unsure how to react - due to reshuffles I am predicting she will have a class in my daughters year. Can I ask what you would do? Would you ask to speak to the headmaster? I told two other mums today and they didnt believe me, thinking it would literally never happen, but I know for sure that it is. And when it does Ive probably just loaded a right out show down! Which I do feel terrible about, I completely understand the need to treat this girl with respect.

We would all love for our dc to have strong, inspirational teachers all the way through their schooling. This is a pipe dream in both state and private sectors.

Many teachers will be really good and hardworking. Some teachers will be a bit meh. A few teachers will be quite shocking.

There is evidence that one meh teacher every now and then does not have a significant impact on a child's progress. The problem is when a child has a few ropey teachers in a row. Or worse, two or three struggling teachers during the first 5 years at school can be very alarming.

It shouldn't really matter whether you pay the fees or not. You need to be confident that this new teacher will be getting the appropriate training and support as their begin their teaching career.

We all have to start somewhere. The days of academic study, learning about child development and professional studies before stepping foot in a classroom have gone. The PGCE is not as rigorous as it was IMO.

I've started my training 22 years ago. A 4 year degree to qualify as a primary school teacher. Such in depth training is just not out there now.

Figamol Private schools can employ whoever they wish (if they satisfy the police checks for working with children).

I ended up working as a secondary school teacher in a private British international school having had only 1 term´s experience of working as a Reception TA and my degree in the subject I teach. A teacher resigned suddenly in August leaving the school in a difficult position. I was a friend of a friend of a friend and asked to take the position. I met the HoD and Dep. Head and discussed the responsibilities and decided to accept the challenge, I was put down to teach Yrs. 7 to 11 (up to GCSE) but then ended up teaching AS and A2 as well as a colleague had a nervous breakdown and the school didn´t get another teacher to cover his classes.

At the end of the first year my middle set GCSE kids ended up with 12 A, 9 A and 1 B grade for Literature, 2 A, 10 A and 10 B for Language (no native speakers). Obviously they´d been taught by others in previous years but by no means were they close to these grades when I took them on, and they scored more highly than the students in the 3 sets above them. I´m only giving this example to back up the point that unqualified teachers aren´t all bad.

See how this lady is at teaching before you judge her. Many people like the idea of teachers having experience elsewhere before they come to teaching. Also others believe that the skills involved can´t necessarily be taught, and a third way of thinking is that a key part of effective teaching is the desire to educate. This lady may well have been "teaching", outside of a school environment, for years, training colleagues, coaching an amateur sports´ team, showing others how to cook or play a musical instrument or even do things like style their hair or put on make-up.

Finola1step This is excellent: "You need to be confident that this new teacher will be getting the appropriate training and support as their begin their teaching career." Couldn´t agree more.

I don't understand how nursing has become much more professionalised and teaching seems to have gone the other way

Some people are natural teachers. Some qualified teachers are not! Some unqualified teachers will have had other relevant experience working with children. Teachers can now train on the job. Some fully qualified and very experienced teachers are rubbish (just as there are many people in all kinds of jobs who are not very good). Much of what is learnt on a teacher training course is (in my experience) not very useful. The vast majority of what you learn about how to be a giod teacher is learnt on the job, during the many years after you train.

All of the above means that, while it might not be ideal to routinely employ totally unqualified people to be teachers, it might not be quite as outrageous a proposition as you might think, especially if the person shows that they have potential or other relevant experience.

I don't have a problem with having a trainee teacher who is following an approved training course on a day release basis. I would however assume that she has the appropriate academic qualifications for becoming a teacher. She may not have QTS but she could well have a degree and if she has worked in a bank this could be in a shortage subject such as Maths.

The 'unqualified teacher' thing - although I teach in an academy, and there uis no REQUIREMNENT for teachers to have teaching qualifications, there are no unqualified teachers in the school. Nor in any of the other state primaries I have taught in.

It may be more common in secondaries, i don't know. But I have never come across it in a state primary.

[I mean 'unqualified' as in 'not qualified and not training'. As it happens, I have never taught alongside a SCITT or GTP - ie in school training - teacher either, though I have know of a very few in other schools]

an "unqualified" teacher is NOT by definition a bad thing

my crammer was wall to wall "unqualified teachers" including one chap who was only a year older than the student he ended up going out with
BUT
they were hired because they were excellent and paid by results in a highly academic environment

sadly, the twonks who write education policy cannot see that on a larger scale, the chance to hire "unqualified" will be driven by cost, not excellence

arses like Gove may hate the "blob" and DH and I have a fair few issues with them
but we have even more issues with the arselikhans who set policy with no knowledge

my maths teacher at my crammer was an utter nut job, to whom I owe lots and lots
my physics tutor is regularly on the telly and mad as a box of frogs

great teachers are amazing things - but they do not come cheap - Gove is / was an arse

That's what gets me; if you had unqualified surgeons, dentists or pilots, there would be an outcry!

Actually private hospitals don't have to employ qualified people, you can give anyone permission to operate on you.

Job titles you can give yourself with no training/qualifications:

nutritionist
cosmetic surgeon

And I thought it was well known that private schools often employ, and have for decades, unqualified teachers.

Yes, I agree re private hospitals schools having similar attitudes to qualifications. People pay and things are different.

I do feel that state schools/free schools/academies being able to hire unqualified teachers is such a step in the wrong direction though and it makes me sad. The introduction of a ' tough new' national curriculum where loads of things are introduced earlier is one thing-saying free schools/academies (and obviously private schools) don't need to follow it, makes me so cross! Either it's a good idea that everyone should follow, or it's not?!

Why aren't more people/parents/media cross about it? Are there do many of 'those in charge' that run the newspapers whose kids just aren't in state education so it has no impact on them, that it doesn't get reported on?!