Parents to blame for problems in UK schools

[Amey]

Any opinions on this article in the Observer. Mumsnet's Justine Roberts gets a name check and makes some sensible comments.

Personally, I think it tough to expect kids to be fully socialised and ready to learn at 4 years old!!

'One reason women should pick their careers with care so they can afford to pay school fees '

I'm afraid it is way down my list-which is probably why I am a teacher! It gives me great job satisfaction. Even if I could afford it I would prefer the state sector. My DSs have an excellent comprehensive-they are all doing what they want to do (fingers crossed for the DS2 who does his A2s shortly).
They wouldn't have had different choices if they had gone to a top fee paying school so it has saved a great deal of money. They have friends whose parents are committed to getting the best state education possible. The majority of DCs that I meet in classes are lovely. I don't mind working with problem children, if I have proper support.

Xenia has said this before on another thread we had ages ago. Xenia you really are value for money!

MillyR So true! At my school the badly behaved were out by end of 2nd year. Life got so much nicer after that.

"My job is one long series or perks tbh.

1. I teach a subject I love
2. Young people are great company
3. Great holidays
4. Lovely buildings
5. Great pension"

Totally agree Twinset, and it's refreshing to hear a teacher say so! It's so easy to be cynical and hard-nosed about our job (and I am certainly guilty of this) but you've just reminded me why I'm going back rather than becoming a SAHM.

May I add:
6) Fabulously interesting and intelligent colleagues.
7) A tremendous sense of well-being from doing such an important job
8) It's NEVER boring!

Yes you can add.

"You need the right look, accent, attitude, background, degree."

that is me failing to qualify on every point except the last one.

judging by my private education the last one was the least important lol

but it is refreshing to see that some one who is now lives a well heeled life is pleased to acknowledge that the UK isn't in danger of becoming a meritocracy. don't lose that touch about you xenia.

that is funny, stillenacht

Would definitely fail on attitude, but would prefer to fail on all counts.

I was offered a job in a very well known girls public school and certainly do not have the right background, accent or look.

Every one of those makes me want to go 'Pah!'!

And they all have fuck all to do with being a decent teacher. Or a decent human being, for that matter.

Someone said it was very hard to get a job in a good school where you get free school fees and accommodation. I was thinking about the people I know (many many of them) who have achieved that and trying to think what got them there. Some don't have that great an accent but most do, many have very good degrees from good places, many have that extra something - hard to define but it gets you far in careers - a sort of being a very interesting person with hobbies who people want to be around, being amusing or nice kind of wit or whatever. Anyway those jobs aer certainly possible for those teachers who want them although the most academic schools day schools I've come across don't tend to give teachers that much of a discount on fees.

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Probably easier for a teacher from a working class background to get a job in a private school than for a teacher who has been privately educated to get a job in the state sector. There are some people in the state sector with huge chips on their shoulder who would probably not hire some one with a private education even if they had got there through a scholarship (am thinking John Prescott type mentality). This is a pity as there are things both sectors can learn from each other and it would be better if there was a free flow of teachers and ideas between the two systems.

Unfortunately the teachers don't seem to have better speech at private schools these days so not worth paying to go private for your little darling to speak properly!

Yes, but speaking properly isn't the same thing as having the right accent.

I was talking about the few schools where teachers get virtually free school fees and staff accommodation which are mostly boarding schools. Anyway in the private day schools my children are/were at I certainly dont' want them hearing (a) teachers who say haitch or you was nor (b) teachers with dreadful regional accents. I don't pay fees to hear that. The teacher above was saying it was hard to get jobs with those kinds of perks and I was trying to look at why some teachers get those jobs and others don't.

While I would expect teachers in any school to be able to spell and speak "properly" using the correct grammar etc., I can't believe there are still people in this day & age who are so bigotted as to say they don't want a teacher with a "dreadful regional accent" - this does not make them a good or a bad teacher you know

You've just reaffirmed why I would never ever send my kids to a private school, I don't want them mixing with the sort of people who think this sort of discrimination is okay. Just because some people speak like they have a plum stuck in their mouth does not mean they are "better" than other people

{steps down off soap box}

Xenia - teaching is about acting (for a lot of the time) when your back is turned and the teacher is dealing with all those kids all day long do you think he/she is going to conform to your ideals - errr no! I teach in a GS and a prep school and i have taught at comps too, the teaching staff are all very varied in their backgrounds, quals, accents and attitudes in all these schools.

I really can't believe that all the teachers at a London school (Xenia's DCs school) speak the Queen's English. I think Xenia has had children at Haberdashers and the two adults I know who went there have strong South Eastern accents.

Poor use of grammar is infuriating but I think this crops up everywhere.

You've also reaffirmed why I wouldn't teach in one, for the same reasons! Ridiculous values.

I don't know any teachers who say 'haitch', btw.

It would be ironic if you were one of those parents who pay thousands a term to go to the well-known private school with which I've just finished my consultancy work. Because they whilst they may have all the attributes you describe, they definitely can't teach reading or writing to any standard I would be happy with. Still, depends what you think is of paramount importance, really....

I know lots of people who were educated privately themselves and yet teach in the state system.

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