Parents - non specialists teaching your children?

eventerbabe

eventerbabe

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Dec 16, 2004
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Interested to hear the views from parents of secondary aged children (and those approaching that age!) on this topic which was raised in the staff room. How would you feel about your child being taught, say, English by a teacher who was qualified in modern languages? and i'm thinking of pupils who are working towards exams (SG/higher, or GCSE/alevel for those down south :p).

I was "taught" by a non subject specialist when i did higher maths. He could do maths (was a physics teacher) but didn't have the depth of knowledge in maths to fully explain to me the problems i was having. As a result i got a B and not the A i was predicted to attain.

This debate was raging today and i'm curious to hear a parents' point of view.
 
Not quite the same, and I'm not a parent, but when I was at high school, one of the middle-sets was taught English by a German lady....with a questionable grasp of English!!

I was lucky. Most of my teachers actually taught 'their' subjects...apart from the maths teacher who taught me A level English for 2 terms...
 
It's an interesting question. My initial reaction was "er... I don't think so!" However, it depends on the lesson taught as well ... for example you don't need a specialist subject teacher to coach exam technique and I'm sure if I spent some time thinking about it there would be other common areas that all teachers cover whatever their subject.

I don't think that you meant occasional cover though, I take it that you meant teaching an entire syllabus up to exam level. Here I think it would depend on the abilities of the teacher concerned. I don't doubt that a double honours degree holder with a PGCE is qualified to teach both subjects and indeed you will often see teachers in certain departments covering more than one subject (PE springs to mind - PE teachers generally cover an academic subject too). Nor would I want to suggest that an individual's career path would prohibit them from refocusing or retraining.

Therefore I think in answer to your original question and after lots of waffling thought is that it is perfectly possible provided there is skill and aptitude backing up the alternate subject. What would be unacceptable is someone with inadequate knowledge casually winging it - but of course that is the same in any profession and above all, we expect our teachers to be professional!
 
I agree with you, however the subject i am talking about is a practical subject. and LEGALLY a teacher not registered in that subject cannot supervise practical work. For example if i went to cover a home economics class i could not supervise any cooking despite the fact i know how to cook, handle a class of pupils and have a good dose of common sense. And IMO a practical subject cannot be taught without the practical element. Also, does clicking through a powerpoint and instructing the class to keep quiet, copy and not ask any questions actually teaching? Any layman can throw completed sheets at a class and get them to copy them, but i find MOST of what my own classes remember is stuff we discuss and that i can illustrate with examples relevant to them. I'm not really talking about retraining. I'm talking about supply cover, and teachers qualified in other subjects with NO relevant experience in the subject they are being asked to cover. Nor any interest, nor the qualifications, to retrain in that subject.
 
Ugh.
That description sounds dreadful. That is not a description of teaching I'd be happy with! I'll stick with the gut "er... I don't think so ! "
 
I'm not sure it's advisable. I'm doing a joint honours English Lit and History degree. I do feel I could teach either of those and occasionaly I help my niece with her physics/maths homework. TBH, first thing I do is google her subject :redface: I feel I can give "basic" advise based on good research on GCSE bitesize and could probably string an "OK" lesson out of it. So I could probably cover the basic fundamentals but nothing more.
I would never feel qualified to teach anyone a subject where I didn't have an extensive knowledge base. Some of the most important elements to English Literature have been learnt during my degree. My degree has exposed me to areas within the subject I never knew existed. I could therefore answer questions more effectively and be able to offer that bit extra to a student who maybe wanted to pursue the subject more seriously.

I believe, a teacher qualified in a subject should teach that subject.

I suffered terribly with maths at school. It wasn't until I faced my demons and re-took Maths in an evening class at college that I managed to crack it. Reason for it = a teacher who was passionate and dedicated to their subject.

I'm not suggesting teachers can't add to their knowledge base and study alternative subjects, I just think that should be done before they start teaching the subject itself. Certainly at GCSE level.
I know a drama teacher who teaches english. I also know my nieces maths teacher is polish, speaks to the class in polish and the school employs an interpreter for the English members of the class.

Certainly food for thought.
 
On the other hand I am not a trained teacher but have coached in my degree subject (Maths) from basic skills level (GCSE C grade level) to support NVQ students to first year undergraduates.

I think I would be a far worse person to stand in front of a class than a trained teacher who was not an expert in the subject.
 
eml said:
On the other hand I am not a trained teacher but have coached in my degree subject (Maths) from basic skills level (GCSE C grade level) to support NVQ students to first year undergraduates.

I think I would be a far worse person to stand in front of a class than a trained teacher who was not an expert in the subject.
Click to expand...

I think you're probably right, eml - there are two things someone who isn't a trained teacher won't know, however well they know their subject: one is how to manage a class, the other is how to deal with exams in that subject. A good supply teacher may know the first, but probably not the second if it's not their subject - fine for the occasional cover lesson (although they're more likely to use TAs than supply teachers for that these days), but not at all satisfactory for a long-term arrangement leading up to exams. Particularly if it's a practical subject, because it means the students will miss out on that side of it altogether.
 
. I also know my nieces maths teacher is polish, speaks to the class in polish and the school employs an interpreter for the English members of the class.

Certainly food for thought.[/QUOTE]

Crikey - is this school in England???? Would this be cost effective - surely it would be more sensible to employ and English speaking teacher??:eek: But then I suppose they would be expected to employ interpreters for non English speaking pupils......the whole thing does sound slightly ludicrous and PC gone mad perhaps?:unsure:
 
When I was at school our IT teacher was actually a Maths teacher that had changed subjects, it was the only lesson where I had to explain it to the teacher :D (in fairness this was the mid 90's and I'd been using 3.1 for years and we didn't get Windows PC's at school until 1996 so I had several years experience where he had been stuck on Acorns!)
 
Yes English school. Tried to find out from neice why they chose to employ an polish speaking teacher but you know what teens are like :yellowcarded: not really interested
 
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