Anyone else watching 'Unequal Opportunities' on BBC2?

[whenskiesaregrey]

MN just had a mention...!

A lot of same old same old class divide, but I had no idea there could be nearly 1 years difference in speech and language at age three?!

I watched it last night and missed the MN mention but it shocked me when apparently many children living in the flats adjacent to Victoria Park have NEVER been in it!

Also the Teach First scheme-I have 2 graduate cousins doing that scheme at the moment; they are enjoying it but I have to say I have my doubts (as do they) about whether it is fair for completely inexperienced naive young people to teach secondary school children in their GCSE years.

I watched this- not sure what I thought really-

John Humpreys kept emphasizing the fact that family income was the biggest deciding factor in success at school. Yes, that is true from analizing the statistics. But- is that because families who have a lower income, in general have a different attitude to school and their childs education, and therefore have different expectations of the child and support them less and encourage them less. Or is that because richer families can afford a better education for their children? And apparently middle class families monopolize the best state schools.

I don't think the last point is quite true for a start- the best state schools are better, because the parents support the school and their children and therefore the children who attend are easier to teach because they have expectations of them from home, are encouraged and supported and expected to do well. Not because the teaching at these schools is better.

My dd goes to a lovely village school, 99% in SATS and outstanding offsted- it is not a better school than any others we looked at- it is under resourced, in an inadequate old building, no green space, and I have helped in the school so know that teaching is no better than the schools I myself have taught in- it does well because it is situated in an area of large private houses which are occupied by families of middle class incomes who support the school, read with their children, do their homework and the kids are private tutored to get them into grmmar school- therefore they do well and the school takes the credit.

Just watched it on iPlayer.

I agree with chipshopchips that he didn't really go into the reasons why children from poorer families do less well in the first place. Although the evidence does seem to be pretty clear for that, unfortunately.

What came across loud and clear was the difference that a highly committed and visionary Head can make. So how on earth do you get those sorts of Heads into the schools where they are really needed? Suddenly I begin to understand what the academies programme might be driving at. But that's just another tier of unfairness, isn't it?

I am left feeling very grateful that I'm in an area where, in general, schools are OK. We have stuck to our principles and gone to the nearest state school, because we place a high value on being part of the local community. According to Ofsted, it is the worst school within about a five mile radius. There is a mixed intake, with a higher proportion of "deprived" children than there ought to be, because so many middle class parents ship their children elsewhere. Plenty of special needs, plenty of recent immigrants, quite a few children who look like they need a good breakfast when they arrive in the morning.

But it's got a strong Head, a committed staff, a nice new building (courtesy of the last Government) and our children are doing fine. More than fine, in fact - they are flourishing.

So we have the lovely warm feeling that comes from sticking to our principles, without having to compromise our childrens' futures. But I'm realising that if we were in a different town, we might not be so lucky and that is very, very unfair.

And I'm now praying that the local comprehensive, which has a similar intake and reputation, is going to have a decent Head when the time comes for our daughters to go there.

I agree with others that a lot of points were left hanging. The narrative appeared to be that the nasty middle classes were grabbing all the sweeties (and when John Humph said he and David Cameron were middle class, I thought - well, it's a higher version of "middle" than the rest of us use)

And yet - he allowed Justine to point out the MNer who'd got herself into debt in order to facilitate entry at a better state school, let that fab headteacher with the combs in her hair say that there were children living on the edge of Vicky Park who'd never seen the trees, tossed out that statistic about attainment already falling behind at age three which has to be all about home life - without joining the dots.

Elephant in the room.....
SIXTH FORM

Almost all private schools have sixth forms
the bulk of state schools do not.
So the "top" of the school are not those about to progress to university.
It impacts on the teachers (A level teachers are generally more highly trained)
and on cohort discipline pressure.

Also.

Wellington school
the kids talked about their parents being rich.
Yes, but a high proportion of kids at that school are on the civil service and MOD boarding school allowance
where we, the taxpayer, cough up £13400 per year per pupil for them to get that privelidge
even when their parents are back in the UK.

Watched this last night on Iplayer.

Did nobody else find that primary school head, (think her name was Amanda something) annoying?

Before school started she was striding round the playground being incredibly rude and patronising to the parents who were dropping off their kids. She told two mothers who had presumably just delivered their kids "There is no need to stand watching them, they'll be fine". Another mother was carrying her daughter, aged about 4 in her arms and she told the little girl "You need to walk" and brusquely told the mother to put her down.

The parents all meekly didn't answer back, maybe because a lot of them had English as a second language.

Why is it that there is a certain breed of primary teacher (and especially heads) who think it is fine to talk to the parents in such a disrespectful way as if they were pupils themselves? They expect support from the parents, but surely it should cut both ways?

Unfortunately there are a lot of odd people in the teaching profession. Perhaps it is because they have never worked in the outside world and just don't know how to deal with adults.