Sixth form supervision- normal?

[Baker111]

Hi all,

I attended a secondary school open morning yesterday with my Y6 daughter. I’m just wondering if what I saw is normal in schools now?

We were taken into the sixth form area to be shown the facilities. There was a large group of sixth formers there (40 ish) all doing ‘independent study’. What I thought was strange though was that they had a teacher supervising them- not to answer questions- simply telling them to be quiet. So not independent at all. This has made me feel quite uncomfortable, my recollection of doing A-levels is about learning how to study by yourself- which might sometimes mean mucking about in a free period and then regretting it when you have two essays to write that evening- but taught me a valuable lesson!

My question is. Is such supervision normal now in schools? If it is I guess I have to get over it, but I can’t help thinking this is a general reflection of the schools ethos to behaviour and that they will be extremely strict.

Shhh you mean? I had to do an MSc in shhhh. I’m glad that’s all I have to do. That and drink tea. I’d love to be paid a teachers wage to do this. Where do I sign on for the sixth form supervisor gig?

sensitive soul! 😆

Perfectly normal. Independent study (IS) is a timetabled session in my children's sixth form. Different from actually doing work by yourself in a 'free period'.

Things are different these days. Now that pupils are required to stay in education or training until 18, sixth forms have a lot more reluctant students than perhaps they did in the past.

If they’re behaving well and getting on unaided, you do your preparation or marking. For your teacher’s wage. If they’re having difficulty, you help and support them. For your teacher’s wage.

We had this it's okay just do the the work. I got 3A* and if you just work effectively during school time so 9 to 3 for example you end up being free outside of school and it's super manageable. Of course if applying for uni then there will be stuff like interview prep and admission exams perhaps but I wouldn't worry about this monitored independent study it's a good place to do homework and revision

I will add that I also used to go out with mates etc in free periods if I felt I'd done all the work I needed to or I would go out but accept then I would need to catch up a little at home for example. But learning to work by yourself is still important

Yes. It happened at DD’s sixth form - they had 3 hours of supervised study per week, alongside free periods. For the vast majority of 16/17/18 year olds if they weren’t being supervised then not much ‘independent’ studying would be done whatsoever, if any!

Yeah. Kids aren't the same as when i was that age back in the 80s. Education has changed and it's more important not to be kicked out of it these days. Plus of course this current generation have a background of being in private childcare when very young, and connected by tech as older kids and teens.

They don't mature at quickly. I even see a huge difference between how education was when my eldest was born in 1993 and my youngest in 2007.

Different world.

what are you on about?

im 43
study sessions for year 12 first term were supervised

Thank you all, I appreciate the feedback. Just shows how much things have changed since the ‘90s (unsurprisingly!).

I have a few years on you at 57 and i don't recall any supervision but i went to a self contained 6th form college (not just a 6th form joined to a high school building) and we just were expected to work away ourselves in the library in free periods or we were at liberty to leave the building, be in the common room. There was no supervision. Free to come and go.

I applied for Uni myself, took the train to view it myself. Got all my belongings there myself (parents did take me to station lol) and that was pretty typical at the time. I was fortunate to go to uni in the age of grants (not loans) my dad needed to supply his income deets but i dealt with it all myself.

I can't recall any of my peers having much parental/teacher mentoring from teens on. If we went out of a night, even though our parents could drive, we just clubbed together for a taxi home. Parents weren't cool in those days. But, i have digressed!

My DD1 born 93 organised all her own study. Dd2 born 2007 - same school but lots of study clubs and supervision now that definitely was not there 15 years back. AND they need to stay on school premises now in free periods. That has changed.

Our sixth form has just brought this in. DS recently left school, but said that people pissed around in free periods, so this is the answer to try and make them do something productive. IMO If you can't be arsed at 16-18yo, then that's really your issue. Thing is it reflects badly on the school if they get poor grades as a result.

I applied for Uni myself, took the train to view it myself. Got all my belongings there myself (parents did take me to station lol) and that was pretty typical at the time.

what was / is your relationship like with your parents?

Solid and stable, i'd say. They're both dead now and i had the typical 70s childhood of lots of freedom but my mum stayed at home with us and put all the early years playing, reading, spending time together in.

As we grew up, we learned to be independent and we were certainly encouraged in education but to be fully fledged adults by 18.

And - if we failed, we failed and faced the consequences. In fact, i did muck about at school and failed. Had to re sit most. My mum did find the 6th form college for me after school kicked me out so i did have a pick up there but, different times. No helicopter parents back then.

I'm a settled adult, capable with no MH issues so I guess they did a decent job. I really do not recall parents running round after their kids at all back then. But this thread isn't about me.

Thanks for asking, though!

happy? close? loving?

@Anisty would you want your 18 year old to go to all uni open days alone, pack up alone, transport to uni alone and basically set up new student life with zero input from you?

Presumably it was a quiet study area. Mucking about, then having to do your two assignments that evening might have been a learning opertunity for you, but what was everyone else who was trying to use that space learning from it?

20 years ago when I did a-levels, there were places where you were expected to study quietly, if you wanted to muck about you went -to drink cider in the park- elsewhere.

Is it optional though? Do they get free time at all?
I mean I only did work in free periods in 6th form if all my friends were in lessons or working too. Probably far too much time messing about in the 6th form common room!
I don't think this is something I'd be bothered about enough to not send my child to a school. They might not even go to 6th form there anyway

We had this when I was at school in the 80s: the sixth form block had a common room and a library - you could choose where to spend your free periods, but the library was supervised. The teacher would be getting their marking done, but it meant that you were guaranteed that the library would be kept quiet. There was no obligation to use it.

DD's school had a distinction on the timetable between frees (do what you like) and study periods (you had to be in a study space - I don't think those were supervised, but someone went round to check they were there). The kids were allowed to decide which of their frees would be designated study periods. I think the school may also have adjusted the number of study periods for those who were not getting down to enough work!

Ours are supervised by non teaching staff, eg librarian and pastoral staff.

I'm 49. Our study sessions were absolutely not supervised. In our "free periods" (teachers: "they are not free periods they are study sessions") we could go to the common room and drink tea and listen to Radio One (or work in there), sit in the library and work, sit in the quiet room and work (but no supervision) or shock horror, go into town or go home. I used to have driving lessons during mine. This was a school sixth form.

My ds goes to a sixth form college and there's none of this carry on there. The students are free to go to quiet areas or sociable areas in the building or leave entirely during all of their frees. It sounds entirely like my time back in the 90s. The school gets great grades so it doesn't appear a hindrance to the outcomes.

I wish they'd done that at my DD's school. One of her complaints was lack of quiet places to work, which is not very helpful when you are doing 4 (particularly time consuming) A levels and have no time to muck about if you want to get the grades you need for a top uni.

Different times!

Parents didn't go to uni open days in the 90's. It would have been absolute social death to be walking round with your mum and dad. The school/ college would flag it up on a noticeboard and a few of you would go together on the train, or if no-one else wanted to go, it was normal to just go by yourself. Occasionally for v popular ones, the college would organise a coach.

When I went for my Uni interview, my parents couldn't take me as had to work - I got on the train, crossed London on the underground, got another train, got a taxi, went to the Uni, found my room, stayed overnight and did my interviews and came back. Completely normal. Most of my peers were also there alone. Some had come from overseas. Doesn't mean they're not close to their parents.

Also was v normal to get yourself to Uni, and then a lot of students drove themselves in their own cars that they'd bought with their part time jobs that they'd been doing since they were 14/15- almost everyone in my year at sixth form could drive by the time we did A levels.

I guess in the 90's our parents didn't really have to pay for Uni in the same way they do now (no tuition fees and if your parents weren't well off you got a grant) so they were far less invested. But the level of over investment now on (eg) WIWIKAU is unbelievable- those parents really need to cut the cord.

i went to uni 1999
everyone was dropped off by their parents as far as i could see

It wasn’t as if the teacher was sitting at a desk doing their work, and occasionally telling them to be quiet either. She was actively roaming around- almost exam invigilator style.

Probably because it was open morning and she had been told to “look busy” 😄