There's a "culture of low expectation" in secondary schools. Do you agree?

[HelenMumsnet]

Hello. You may have seen/heard on the news today that Ofsted is warning that thousands of bright secondary-school-age children are being "systematically failed" at school.

And we'd like to know what you think about this.

Ofsted says there is a culture of low expectations in England's non-selective secondaries - meaning that, according to a new Ofsted report, more than a quarter (27%) of pupils who achieved the highest results in primary school fail to achieve at least a B grade in both their English and their Maths GCSE.

The most academically able, says Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, arrive "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" from primary school, but things start "to go wrong very early. They tread water. They mark time. They do stuff they've already done in primary school. They find work too easy and they are not being sufficiently challenged."

Do you think this is a fair reflection of life at secondary school? Do you think your child's secondary school has a low expectation of its pupils/your child? Does/did your child "tread water" in Year 7? Do you wish secondary schools did more to challenge their more academically able pupils?

Please do tell!

Why does it always come down to someone"s "GRAMMAR OR SPELLING" on these threads. It is just bullying people who have not been as fourtunate as somepeople who have benefitted from good Educations, it seams the first thing the "PROFESSIONALS" use is someone"s poor spelling or grammar to demean them i have suffered from this on previous posts it is just bullying and pathetic.

But insulting someone based on their career is ok is it? The "excuse me but last time I checked you were just a drama teacher and therefore not worthy of note" attitude is, what? Acceptable? Not bullying?

I am sorry you feel as if you have to leave the threadhabba, the bullies have won yet again it seems. I am disappointed that MNHQ doesn't appear to be able to deal with them

I would hardly say that hubba has been bullied , he/she has clearly revelled in the "debate "

More to the point
the self selecting cohort of posters on these threads can never ever be deemed representative of either parents, teachers or in my case accountants!

Therefore we will never reach true conclusions, just chew the fat a bit more and hopefully learn a little.

I am sure that if Evil/Arisbottle had been teaching me 26 years ago i would not have left Education without any paper Qualifactions. I can see that both of you are succesful and commited teachers to your pupils. I just wish you would not be looking for ways to attack as a way of defending your own postions.

Where have I attacked anyone?

Surely the point is that we shouldn't need to defend ourselves? Hardly an education thread goes by without at least one poster throwing "if that's what you think / how you react, then I can't believe you're allowed to teach" into the ring.

I was talking in General not individually.

Beatback you named the two of us.

I am not interested in defending myself on here. Experience tells me that if you think teachers are mediocre, lazy , overpaid and out of touch any bleating from me will not change your mind .

NO i said i could see that you were 2 succesful teachers who were commited to their pupils and my experience of Education would have had a different outcome if i had the luck to be taught by either of you.

You then said I wish YOU would stop looking to attack.

I don't really care but it is what you said

Thanks Beatback.

But thanks for the compliment .

I really am not that great of a teacher , as I said a bog standard teacher in a bog standard school. Most of my colleagues are hard working and guide students to success .

I am sorry it"s my lack of clarity. I have no problems with Teachers though i was a bit of the "CLASS CLOWN" at School.

ARIS. You really should not keep denigrating yourself, just listening to your opinion"s show you really care for your students and the fact you came out of high flying career to put something back is laudable.

I am not really denigrating myself , I do a good job as do most of my colleagues . To be fair I left a high flying position mainly to have more time with my family. Being able to put something back is a nice bonus though.

Bonsoir, this study indicates that genes account for only 2-3 percent of heritable intelligence.

Ir's a no-brainer really.

www.newscientist.com/mobile/article/mg21829204.600-finding-the-players-in-the-symphony-of-iq-genes.html

[[http://www.newscientist.com/mobile/article/mg21829204.600-finding-the-players-in-the-symphony-of-iq-genes.htm

Moved to London from Cheshire and my daughter who was at a Grammar School got her 4th choice High School. The London academy school was exactly as described in the article by Ofsted. Her motivation and grades dropped dramatically. Teachers and pupils had such low expectations.Must have been bad if the 15 year old year 11's understood this themselves and were frustrated. I pulled my daughter out and home tutored her for the last 4 months before GCSEs because the school was so poor.You would think the teachers would be happy to have bright motivated pupils but it seems the teachers seem as downtrodden as the pupils. Such a shame that the system is letting so many children down.

That article does not make the claim you say.

Trying to shut down argument through derogatory comments on spelling and grammar is low.

There are posterson MN with LDs. There are posters for who English is not their first langauge. There are posters who had a very poor education. There are posters with low IQ.

All are welcome! All have somehting to give to a debate!

Warwick1 - Still here :) I didn't want to derail this thread with personal stuff but since in my absence Evil is still dishing out the personal stuff....

Evil - You are so determined to be the victim. I wasn't denigrating your position as a drama teacher . I was merely pointing out that it is supremely arrogant of you to be so dismissive of people's opinions on education policy.

I have spent twenty years in the system, as a pupil, 6th Former, undergrad and post grad. Today I have two DCs who have gone thru primary and then selective secondary. I know that I am not a drama teacher but I like to think that I have something to contribute to a thread about education.

I just had a chance to catch up with what you posted Evil.

I did not say that your opinion was not worthy of note because you are just a drama teacher. I was making the point that my opinion is just as valid as yours given that you aren't some education think tank academic for example.

As for being tired of people regularly chucking in the comment that they are that someone like you is a teacher, perhaps its time to heed the words as opposed to seeing it as ignorant peope intent on teacher bashing