Calling all Teachers

[Bitteplease]

I realise that there are no concessions given for the exams this year. Guess they have to end at some stage.

However, when speaking to teacher friends, they privately admit that their students are definitely not at the same stage they would have expected pre the pandemic, although this is not something discussed externally and certainly not communicated to parents.

Both work in secondaries, one in an indie where some GCSEs are taught over 3 years (and although in principle they should have had time to catch up as normally run as a 2-year course elsewhere, the school has not been used to teaching it over 2 years and so the change and transition in that itself has made it hard and kids are behind, not to mention staff shortages last year). My other friend works in a high performing state comp (GCSE courses are taught over 2 years so although they are doing well and have caught up some they are still behind, but also due to there being less of a working set up for virtual learning early on in the pandemic).

So, I'm calling all teachers teaching at GCSE level - are your students where you would normally expect them to be, or do you see gaps or expect to complete your syllabus later than pre-Covid?

What's your interest in this topic? You've spoken to two teachers, but how are you invested in this story?

I have a DD in Y11. She's actually doing fine but when we discussed mocks with other parents, it seemed as there were a lot of surprises, but maybe that's always the case. Several said their DDs felt there were lots of 'holes' and some with older kids said their schools had finished their syllabus earlier. But maybe they've misremembered?

My year 11s are way behind. All 3 classes. Nothing to do with content though, it is skills and resilience that is lacking. They are more apathetic and more demanding of my time than ever before. Parents are more demanding and we have a bunch of complaints following the recent mock exams. Same with my year 12s and 13s too, to be fair.

And I say this with 2 daughters in these year groups.

I will finish my teaching with yr11 before feb half term, same as normal.
Year 11 have had as normal a time as they ever did, and we've always gone 2 year GCSE courses.

That's interesting. Do you teach a 2- or a 3-year course?

Thanks, that's good to hear!

Ofsted are against a 3 year GCSE which is why the independent school can get away with it.

Like @Whyarewehardofthinking says it's not content but attitudes that have changed. Behaviour has deteriorated and they just don't seem to care as much. It's easy to blame lockdown but something has happened to make kids much more entitled and less able to problem solve themselves

I'm in Scotland, but same applies.

I'll finish teaching the course at the same point in the year. The Higher cohort is far less mature than previous years. Weirdly, even though they sat National 5 last year and have some experience of exams. They genuinely behave like 12yr olds.

They're far less motivated and have far less grit. There are a few outliers, but the majority are fairly apathetic and don't seem to 'want' it.

Don't get me started on behaviour. I'm at a decent but large secondary in the middle of Manchester. Maybe one or 2 permanent exclusions a year, handful of suspensions, some low level issues. We have supply who will not come back now. We are due OFSTED and we now we will hit RI just because of behaviour and attitudes; Andrew Tate type behaviour has been significant, lots more parents do not give a fuck about their offspring's behaviour and the students just expect it all to land in their lap. Violence has stepped up outside of school, as has online harassment and that leaks into school.

And speaking of OFSTED @Bitteplease they would have massive issues with a 3 year KS4. It isn't worth it.

My attitude has always been that if you pay attention in class, do the work I set and follow my feedback, you'll be okay. And they always are.
I don't do revision classes or boosters or lunchtimes or any of that. Plenty of my colleagues do. My view is that we have enough time if we use it well.

Such interesting observations, albeit sad to hear that apathy and violence are on the increase whilst grit and motivation are down. I guess they've lived through a lot of stress tbh and many might not have reacted that well to acceleration to catch up (as regardless, some of the subjects that build on previous knowledge will have been affected negatively during the lockdowns).

@MrsHamlet have you noticed any changes in behaviour too? May I ask what type of school you're at please (indie, grammar, comp)?

State secondary 11-18.
Behaviour has got progressively worse over my career, in part facilitated by "best friend" parents.
There's a lot of expectation that we will do everything for the students. Which many teachers do because they're worried about "their" grades.

Behaviour is the worst I've ever experienced. A colleague was called "a fucking spastic", "a poof" and a "fat cow" this week, all by one student. Still careering about the building terrorising everyone.

Behaviour is appalling.

I have only recently started teaching GCSE (am A-level specialist) but what I have been appalled by is the attendance! We had parents' evening for this year group on Tuesday. One girl came with her parents. She was fine. She did not attend my lessons Mon, Tue or Thur.

Parents were asking if she can improve her mock grade.

Let me think.

Ah yes. I had one of those in year 13 last year. He got an E. I was pretty impressed that it wasn't a U.

Not teaching in school any more but a lit if friends are; chatting to one yesterday, she agreed with pps here. She is where she woukd want to be in terms of content covered (Eng lit) but says that the students are really uninterested, not motivated, want to know which bits of the syllabus will be missed out fir them (none), how many of the poems do they need to learn (all) and generally lacking resilience and ability to own their progress. She says it's very frustrating and deffo the worst she's seen in 12 yrs+ if teaching. This is at a high achieving comp with generally good behaviour and results.

The apathy and poor behaviour. An attitude of "what is the bare minimum i can get away with doing?" See thread on this board complaining about phone calls home for backchat in class...

An expectation that the teacher will do everything for them. My y11s asked me to upload a fully annotated copy of a core text onto teams last week. Repeatedly.

Gosh, seems like there is a definite theme there of lack of motivation and needing to be spoon fed. Was it the same with last year's cohort too?

My y11s asked me to upload a fully annotated copy of a core text onto teams last week. Repeatedly.
I'd say I was surprised... but I'm not. A colleague asked me something similar....

Not for me. Both N5 and H were very engaged and motivated. I wonder if it was because it was the first year back of actual exams being marked by external markers. They were DESPERATE to prove themselves. These guys... Not so much.

Last year's lot were even worse! I have never come across such an apathetic, entitled bunch. I think they were convinced that the exams would be cancelled at the 11th hour. I have a LOT of students who failed to understand that it's very difficult to "cram" for English as it's a skills based subject. If you don't practise (I.e. put in the work) you won't get the grade you think you deserve

I'm mainly teaching sixth form this year, but I would say I've noticed my Y12s are less well prepared for A-level, and my Y13s are crumbling under the pressure. There's a lot of avoidance from Y13- e.g. they don't want to do tests, they don't want assessment in lessons, they want an easy solution. We run revision classes- the ones who probably don't need it turn up, and the ones who do need it don't!

Do bear in mind that if everyone performs poorly, then grade boundaries will end up being lower than usual.

The biggest problem IMO, is Y11 classes who can't have consistent teaching this year due to lack of subject specialist teachers.

Been teaching 20 plus years in a state secondary. In my y11 apart from 3 or 4 out of 22 most not bothered. Low level chatting on increase and apathy. Pupils not even able to copy information and personalise it slightly for themselves. Delusional. One boy keeps asking if he can do higher-not even hitting grade 3 and not acting on advice. Two in there a nightmare, another one thinks he doesn't has to do any work. Energy spent contacting parents for all the wrong reasons . It is exhausting. Thank goodness for the hand ful who listen and act upon advice and my other classes.

Low attendance for mental health issues is a problem for 3 kids in my Y11 class, which is higher than normal, I'd expect 1.

However, while you say that there will be no concessions, that's not strictly true. While the proportions of students getting each grade will go back to 2019 levels, that proportion of students will get those grades, regardless of how badly this cohort as a whole is affected by absence/not finishing the course/lack of resilience compared to the 2019 cohort.

So they may perform worse than the 2019 cohort in terms of the quality of work produced, but they will get the same grade distribution as them anyway.

It's quite sad to read all of these; seems like a difficult year. No one has mentioned gaps in content but that there's apathy and not a willingness to strive or work hard.

I do wonder whether many kids do feel they have major gaps in their knowledge and that therefore it seems impossible to focus their efforts on what to revise on.