A teacher charges £30/hr to tutor some of his own pupils, is it ok?

[rightvswrong]

A teacher at my ds' primary school has been tutoring 3 children in his class for a while now. Few of us, parents at the school, think it is tottaly wrong. What do you think?

[nooka]

The only reason why I would ask a teacher to tutor my children is if I thought they were fairly exceptional and my child had a specific difficulty that a few one on one sessions would really help with. I see no reason why this would pose ethical difficulties, assuming professional relationships all round. I can only think of one of the teachers my children have had where I would even think about it (ds's current teacher who is fantastic and making him work very hard).

I find it a little strange that this teacher is on the one hand 'known' to be rubbish, and on the other hand is presumably getting regular bookings. I'd also worry about a school where the head is managing things so badly and being so unprofessional.

[rightvswrong]

The head asked all the teachers to pay £10/hr if they choose to tutor at the school, It will leave them with £20. It 's her way to get the problem out of the premisses and not deal with it.

[rightvswrong]

(I am shocked that you hold a teacher at your child's school in such low regard, and say that he would gossip about other children, do a poor job of teaching so that he could garner opportunities to make more money, that he would conceal information he should share, that he is unprofessional.
Why haven't you brought all this bile and slander to the attention of the governors?
Do you lack evidence? Is it just resentment and pettiness that motivates you?)

Is it too difficult to imagine a teacher who would do this? Do I need a motivation to raise an issue? Do I need a reason to say something is wrong?

[Dustinthewind]

I think if it is true, you should complain, if the head can't cope and is also complaining to parents in an unprofessional manner, then the governors should be involved and that the parents who are paying such a poor teacher extra money to tutor are foolish.
Yes, it is hard to believe that a teacher in a state school could get away with this over a prolonged period of time without it being addressed, or his attitude within class being challenged. I think the issue you raised in your OP is the very least of your problems and I'm surprised at the order of priorities you have.
You need to tackle his shortcomings as a class teacher first, before fussing about what he's doing out of hours in his own time.

[stargirl1701]

England or Scotland?

The GTC (Scotland) does not allow teachers to tutor children who attend their school. If the children are out with the school then, with the LA's written permission, the teacher may tutor children. There is also a legal obligation to inform HMRC - the changes to your tax code generally mean very little after tax income is made.

Mr Gove got rid of the GTC (England) so the situation there is not regulated to the same degree.

[rightvswrong]

I have raised the issue of the tutoring because it is the grey area that I needed to hear opinions about.
Regarding his teaching and his behaviour are obvious and without a doubt very bad and he is a very poor teacher with no skills or good judgement.

May I add that he is teaching next to some excellent teachers.

[rightvswrong]

I am raising a formal complaint about him to the Governors regarding his attitude as a teacher. I have all the grounds and the proof I need. I was just wondering whether I should include the tuition and the favouritism or not.

I tried to take the short cut but I can see there is no short cut with MN :)

[LoopyLoopsIsTentativelyBack]

Sorry, but this smells fishy to me.

Are the parents fucking stupid? If everyone knows the teacher is so rubbish, why would they pay him?

If the head is so unprofessional, that should be the cause of your complaint.

And if you are so dissatisfied, you should think about taking your kids elsewhere.

Unless it's all bullshit?

[ariadne1]

It is not right.A conflict of interests.

[rightvswrong]

My ds has great friends at the school. It is his last year and not everyone in the school is like this teacher. There is another lovely teacher who takes them on for music or play. They have lovely assemblies. I have always thaught my ds at home so whatever he learns at school is a bonus really.
The fact that the teacher spends most of his time outside the class is not a problem to my ds at all, he has been a level5 for more than a year now.
Raising issues should not be just about ones child IMO.

[GnomeDePlume]

The sad thing is that I can believe this of both teacher and head teacher. I have known a crap teacher supported by a spineless head.

[LoopyLoopsIsTentativelyBack]

"I have always thaught my ds at home so whatever he learns at school is a bonus really. "

[rightvswrong]

'A conflict of interests' that's right ariadne1.

stargirl- I like that. I have written to Mr Gove and I am waiting for an answer :)

[rightvswrong]

loopy- no need to be . Plenty of resources out there nowadays and excellent tutors!!

[rightvswrong]

Thank you GnomeDePlume. I have no reason to lie....gossip is when names are mentioned but here????

[SoundsWrite]

I agree with Bonsoir.

[jalapeno]

I think it seems dodgy unless it is for 11+ tutoring or something else that a teacher wouldn't be teaching in school, but even then I would choose someone other than the class teacher. If it is to keep up or advance in maths, English etc they should be doing it in class

[Sunscorch]

I've given private swimming lessons to children I also have in my weekly class...
Am I an amoral bastard for doing so?
Neither I nor the parents seemed to think so.

(Concerning simply the tutoring, not the rest of the information that we've been drip-fed. I think that reeks of bullshit.)

[Feenie]

It doesn't sit well with me at all - if the teaching is good in the first place, there should be no need for further tuition by the same teacher.

These were my thoughts when I received a leaflet for outside tutoring services inside my son's bookbag. What an indictment on the state of the teaching in the school! Turns out I was right - new thread to follow.

[PatsysDouble]

I am a teacher and also do tutoring out of hours.
On occasions I have tutored children in my (secondary) school, but not in my classes.
When one girl I tutored joined the school and ended up in my class, I ended the tuition. I did suggest she could come and find me at lunchtimes for help (as can all the students) and that this is free. (She didn't - enjoyed time with friends more and found another tutor).
The school has no guidelines on this.
Personally I will not tutor someone that I teach. I feel it gives the impression that I am not doing a good enough job at school, and that if you pay, you can get a little bit more.
When I have tutored children from our school, they have not had any access to tests etc and I have made a point of not checking what is in the tests/mocks (and my memory is terrible!).
Whether or not it is something that a parent would be entitled to raise in a complaint is another issue, but I certainly don't think it is on.

[thegreylady]

Nice work if you can get it-I dont see why not -it was common in the secondary school I taught in.I never did it because I didnt have the time or energy but I did tutor once I had retired.At least this teacher knows the dc and they him.The fairness thing would apply whoever the tutor was surely.

[StealthPolarBear]

Huge issues IMO
He should be giving his all to children during work hours - effectively he is saying he can't do all necessary teaching during the time he's being paid to teach (and please note I am NOT saying he should work longer hours for free). So there is either a problem with his teaching or with the system.
There is a huge incentive for him to identify 'failing' children from within his own class and to coast during lessons.

MN is an odd place. Why do children need tutoring at PRIMARY school, where is generally accepted that any two weeks at a holiday resort is infintely preferable to the two weeks of teaching? Are the majority of schools that bad, and are the majority of parents so accepting of that?

[Sunscorch]

It doesn't sit well with me at all - if the teaching is good in the first place, there should be no need for further tuition by the same teacher.

What rubbish.
The limitations of time and curriculum mean that a teacher may very reasonably not be able to meet the needs of every pupil. If you have a student that needs intensive 1:1 tuition to improve their literacy, or numeracy, then when are you supposed to fit that in, while also teaching the other 29 children?

[StealthPolarBear]

"PatsysDouble Sun 25-Mar-12 21:12:26

Personally I will not tutor someone that I teach. I feel it gives the impression that I am not doing a good enough job at school, and that if you pay, you can get a little bit more. "

YES exactly. It's like when you buy a basic option of a product and then you get hassled to "upgrade" all the time. That's immoral when it comes to educaton IMO.