Vocal Voices

We are fast approaching the time of year when teaching stops and the revision and exam season begins....... so plenty of time on the hands of the teachers' unions to start their campaigns.

This year it is about unqualified teachers in the classroom, as if it is something that has suddenly sprung up in the last twelve months. It has been going on for decades without so much as a squawk from the unions. In fact unqualified classroom assistants were seen as the bee's knees not that long ago

When I did my PGCE in the 1990s I was not taught how to teach. I was not taught how to engage with my pupils, I was not taught how to make a dull subject interesting, I was not taught how to control or discipline. I was not even taught my speciality inside out. I was taught how to produce lesson plans and keep them relevant. I was taught how to monitor and keep track of pupils' progress. And I was taught about the politics of education so that all the right boxes got ticked. I do not think much has changed.

In other words I could have been the most uninspiring, boring and least motivational individual on the planet, but if I knew the "process" of education it was fine to let me loose on classes of 30, or more, pupils.

If I was a parent of children in school I wouldn't care less if the teacher had a PGCE or QTS. All I would be interested in is their ability to pass on their knowledge of their subject to my child or children; and to do it in a way that would keep them interested and, maybe, want to take their study further.

When I was doing my private tutoring a few years ago there were many situations where I had to "mop up" where some child had been taught a particular subject for a whole year or more by an unqualified teacher. My goodness, you could always tell. Pretty little girls had got away with murder for a year by smiling sweetly and saying they couldn't do whatever it was, so the naive U.T. would then proceed to do it with/for the child in question. I found that some children had been sent out for every session of something like maths to sit in a small group with an U.T. and mostly they had idled away their time. I'm sure there are some people who would be perfectly adequate unqualified teaching staff, because they had the sense, the vision and the drive to do what was necessary, but so often they are very well-meaning, but very naive people who just cannot do the job and should not be trying to do the job.

Rodo, what you describe can also apply to qualified teachers, and often does.

A certificate does not make a person competent, it shows that they gave the right answers to questions or followed procedures. Some people have an innate ability in their chosen field, including teachers, when others can be qualified to the nth and still be useless at the practical level.

I took a small class at an English School in the 80`s in Spain without a teaching qualification but professional ones. It was for something to do and for A level maths and physics, very successful and they all did well in exams. A bit apprehensive of an Inspector but he was vey satisfied wit what I was doing.

This is an interesting subject, but my ability to add to the discussion is
somewhat limited, because my knowledge and experience on the matter
is somewhat out-dated. My own education as a child was limited initially
to what was then called elementary school, which ended when I was 14.
Further education (night school and day-release) took me up to a Higher
National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering. The standard of teaching
I received throughout was, in my opinion, absolutely excellent.

My older sister became a teacher, finishing up as Head Mistress at a London
Comprehensive, and my daughter, recently retired, also became a teacher,
so I do know a little about subsequent trends in teaching.

It certainly appears to me, from what I hear, that teaching standards have
fallen significantly over recent years.

My very best 'teacher' ever was a man called Alec Fergusson. He had no degree or PGCE or QTS, but he knew his subject inside out and was able to pass it on to us. BAe was wise to employ him, the Ed Dept should look out for people like him to teach our children.

Mrs S is particularly vitriolic on this subject, having had to teach with some. It's hard enough with qualified teachers to get them through probation. Granted that physical ability subjects with extremely skilled people with dedication are very good. But for the core academic subjects, good qualified teachers are needed.

Mrs S often had to pick up the pieces of children who had no solid grounding in the principles by P5/6/7 (Scotland). I used to be an outlet for her frustration and as her brother, sister in law, my mother and my aunt were all teachers, plus several of our dancing friends, I swam in a sea of teaching terms and "angst" for 2 decades.

It's hard enough getting good teaching with good qualified teachers given the inability to enact discipline and poor parenting. UT are somewhat like the "plastic police" we have. A presence and a statistic, but, in terms of use, only the very best will ever achieve something and they will be very rare.