Poor teaching of A levels?

[Lovemusic33]

I’m worried about dd who is in her final year of A levels, she often tells me that teachers don’t turn up for lessons, sometimes they leave work for them to do but last week dd turned uk for a lesson there was no teacher and no work set, dd stayed in the classroom (ICT) whilst the others went to the library to do homework from other lessons.
Until covid hit dd was on track to secure a place at a top uni, now she’s struggling to hit her grades (in one of her subjects) and is considering taking a year out, she’s lost confidence and doesn’t even want to apply for uni’s. Dd has Aspergers and possible ADHD so staying focussed isn’t easy for her, she needs face to face teaching, or at least in the one subject she’s struggling with. I’m proud of how well she’s doing considering but I wonder how well she would be doing if she got more face to face learning?

Is this the norm for A levels? Teachers not turning up and not much face to face learning? There’s other times when the teacher will appear for a short time, set some work and then disappear.

Not the norm here - we're (obviously, I'd say) not supposed to leave the classroom during a lesson (I mean, there's more leeway than with younger kids so you might have a chat with someone for a couple of minutes but you can't just leave a class!) and classes SHOULD be covered for absence. This is often easier said than done but even if they aren't we make sure we email our class/send a message on teams to make sure they have work to do and other staff will look in on them. Also we would usually be available to email/Teams message during the day unless at death's door. Long term absence should be covered. You're well within your rights to complain to school/college as this is poor.

Sadly, it can be normal. My son had two of his sixth form teachers like this. One was the deputy head who kept missing lessons due to meetings etc. The other was the head of games who regularly missed Friday afternoon lessons to take the school team to other schools for competitions, and unfortunately DS had a triple lesson with that teacher on a Friday afternoon which was taken by a succession of cover teachers, mostly non subject ones, who just told them to do homework! It seems that the more experienced/senior teachers are the ones who do the A level lessons, but they're also the ones more likely to have other responsibilities, so more likely to miss lessons!

I think one of the teachers is head of year. The other many have complained about for his lack of face to face learning, they tend to set work or get the students to watch a video then leave them to it.
They have just done mocks and dd did well in 2 subjects but particularly bad in another, dd says it’s due to the teacher setting high boundaries and using a really tricky paper but I worry dd is behind due to how they are teaching.

I really feel this is something people don't consider when they prefer a school sixth form - sixth form classes get pushed to the bottom of a teacher's priority list and often get fobbed off like this because they don't need "looking after". I teach in a college and we take all our classes really seriously and they get a far better amount of attention and time than when I worked in school.

This hasn't been the case at dd's school at all. And it is a school, not a college. They seem to give the best teachers to the sixth form from what we can tell.

@pinkflask

I really feel this is something people don't consider when they prefer a school sixth form - sixth form classes get pushed to the bottom of a teacher's priority list and often get fobbed off like this because they don't need "looking after". I teach in a college and we take all our classes really seriously and they get a far better amount of attention and time than when I worked in school.

It is a very small 6 form, I wanted dd to look at alternatives but due to her having Aspergers she felt changing schools would cause her anxiety. Over all the school has been good up until now, the teachers know her well and have been supportive (despite her being bullied almost constantly 😡). I think she now regrets staying, she’s lost confidence in herself and doesn’t want to go to uni next year.

I don't mean to criticise school sixth forms as there are a lot of good reasons to choose them and yes they do tend to get the most experienced teachers - but it is true that a busy, overstretched teacher with other responsibilities will put sixth form classes last. Which I don't agree with and think should be raised with the school.

I used to be a cover supervisor (member of staff at a school employed to cover lessons by supervising and setting cover work that has been left); the school I was at used to cover sixth-form lessons (they were so great to cover as well!) but that is very unusual IME.

Neither the school where I worked as a teacher nor the school my DC attended would staff a sixth-form lesson where the teacher was absent. They should be setting work tho.

I would raise this issue with the school OP. Is there any possibility of looking at a 1-1 tutor for the challenging subject? What is the subject if you don't mind saying?

Not the norm, not happening to Ds1 or anyone else I know who have dc at our other 4 local schools.

Email HoY and say you are concerned / basically not happy!

@Pinkflask

Not the norm here - we're (obviously, I'd say) not supposed to leave the classroom during a lesson (I mean, there's more leeway than with younger kids so you might have a chat with someone for a couple of minutes but you can't just leave a class!) and classes SHOULD be covered for absence. This is often easier said than done but even if they aren't we make sure we email our class/send a message on teams to make sure they have work to do and other staff will look in on them. Also we would usually be available to email/Teams message during the day unless at death's door. Long term absence should be covered. You're well within your rights to complain to school/college as this is poor.

I agree with most of this but in most schools, classes are never physically covered in sixth form. Work should definitely be set but if a teacher is ill, they are ill. They definitely shouldn't have to be at death's door before they take a day or so off to recover (more if Covid, obviously). If you're ill, you're ill!

If a teacher doesn't turn up with no apparent reason, and no work set, students should speak to another staff member about this, really...

It doesn't sound great, OP.

The teacher sticking a film on and then wandering off just sounds really really lazy! I used to have a HOF like that. It is true they are often the more senior teachers.

The subject she’s struggling with is Maths, she got a 8 in GCSE and was predicted a B but got a D in her mock. He other 2 subjects she got A and A* in her mocks. To get into her first choice uni she would need AAA, which she was set to get but in the last 6 months or so she has been struggling.

The good thing is that Maths tutors are quite common, so you should be able to find one pretty easily (lots of Uni students taking Maths degree do private tuition for beer money!).

As an alternative, you could buy her the CGP Maths books, you can get both the "revision and practice" and the "exam practice" books as a bundle for just £25 at the moment. If she's motivated, she should be able to work through these herself. My son found the CGP range really good as they cover the basics really well, then you move to harder work, so ideal to recap weaker subject areas. Maths is definitely one subject were practice and repetition works wonders, hence the sheer amount of practice questions in the CGP books.

Shocking. I work in a school with a 6th form and when we’re in we must be in the lesson for the entire time. There is no setting work and leaving. We would get into serious trouble for that and apart from that it’s hugely unprofessional and unfair for the kids.

If we’re absent for illness we set work but 6th form lessons are not covered by a cover supervisor.

We have a HOY who teaches A level and she’s never left for a meeting. Meetings are organised during free periods over here not during lessons.

I would raise it as a concern

YY 6th form lessons are not covered if a teacher is away. But work will be set online (unless really last minute in which case it will be provided in the class). A colleague will normally start off the lesson just to check everyone knows what they are doing (2/3 minutes).
Leaving a VI form class for more than 5 minutes whilst you are teaching them for would be extremely unusual.

Prolonged absence by a teacher of exam years would be dealt with by shuffling staff - we would take teachers out of KS3 classes and use Cover Supervisors for years 7-9.
HOY should not be attending meetings when timetabled, except for exceptional reasons, particularly for KS4/5.

I taught 6th form for 25 years in a school. Neither me nor my colleagues ever pushed 6th form to the bottom of the list. I’m insulted by that.

They were top priority. And l never ever left mine.

At DC school some subjects were taught by senior staff with extra responsibilities, weekly DC would miss lessons with no notice given teacher wasn't going to be present

Both DD and DS2 (different schools) had a 'ninth period' for each subject, when they were expected to be present and had specific work set (so no just an extra study period), but as far as I was aware, they were not supervised.

At the school where DD did her A levels, they were told that if there was an emergency absence situation involving a class in year 11 or below, for which no other cover was available, then a teacher taking a sixth form lesson would be relocated for that period, as no year group below year 12 could be left unsupervised.

My dd goes to a sixth form college where they are hardly ever there.

For example, they finished at the end of June and had July off. No work, no teaching.

They also have a 'reading week' every term where lessons are suspended.

They don't have any personal tutor time apparently due to covid. Why they can't do it online I don't know. They have had absolutely no help whatsoever with their university applications. None.

@SavoyCabbage

My dd goes to a sixth form college where they are hardly ever there.

For example, they finished at the end of June and had July off. No work, no teaching.

They also have a 'reading week' every term where lessons are suspended.

They don't have any personal tutor time apparently due to covid. Why they can't do it online I don't know. They have had absolutely no help whatsoever with their university applications. None.

Yes, that’s pretty much like DD’s 6 form, they have been given very little help or advice about uni’s. Not much face to face teaching and most of their lessons are “study lessons” where they just sit in a empty classroom or library doing their own thing. Dd really struggled during the lockdown last year (lockdown 2) due to having no face to face classes and having to do all work online. I thought they would be trying to make up for it by offering more face to face but it seems not.

sixth form classes get pushed to the bottom of a teacher's priority list and often get fobbed off like this because they don't need "looking after
My sixth form classes are absolutely not at the bottom of my priority list. But if I am off, unless I arrange to swap lessons with my co-teacher, they won't be covered. I am expected to set work though.
SLT - none of whom teach much and definitely not A level - are inclined to try to use me (and others) to fill gaps when I should be teaching A level because I don't need cover.
Don't blame the teachers. We don't always get much say.

As a teacher a level and gcse students are top priority as they have external exams, I find it odd that some are saying A-level classes are typically low priority, in my experience this has Never been the case. What you have described is absolutely not the norm and you need to be on the schools neck about this.

At my sixth form, lessons are not covered if a teacher is absent. But absent teachers will usually set work for the students to do, sometimes another teacher will offer to pop in on the class. However sometimes if the teacher is ill there’s no work set, in that case students would be expected to do independent revision or homework.

However teachers definitely wouldn’t schedule meetings during lesson time. Occasionally the heads of year might have to leave a 6th form class to deal with a situation, but this would only be occasionally if they had no choice. If a class is being regularly left without a teacher, then yes I would complain about it.

Regarding the maths grade - everything I have heard is that A Level Maths is a lot harder than GCSE. This might be a good time to consider a tutor who can focus on gaps in knowledge or exam technique. Could you ask the Maths teacher if they are running any intervention sessions for students who need a bit more help?
And make sure she has back up options for University just in case she doesn’t get the grades she needs.

Its annoying but it does happen in a lot of sixth forms. DS and a couple of friends self taught AS Level Computer Science.

Is there any way you can afford a tutor or Easter holiday crammer week?