Independent Schools Council » Private Schools

A public school education for my child?

Liam Butler — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:26:59 +0000

You’d be forgiven if the thought of ‘public schools’ still conjured up images of severe headmasters and stodgy lumpy custard but step into an independent school today and you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Public school education has evolved into a diverse sector filled with many different types of schools catering for very different pupils. The academically gifted student can easily find a school place in order to challenge him or her to achieve their very best and gain admission to their university of choice with an international student equally able to find a place at a school offering short course GCSEs alongside an intensive English as a Foreign Language course.

Public schools also provide superb support for those with special educational needs with last year’s census (2010) identifying 56,930 pupils at ISC schools as having special educational needs (SEN) ranging from dyslexia to multi-sensory impairment. The expertise in the sector is recognised worldwide and the sector’s innovative approach to teaching is consistently shown at ISC’s annual SEN conference. Each year speakers come from all over the world to share best practice with public school SENCo’s and teachers.

A wealth of teaching expertise and favourable pupil:teacher ratios mean that children benefit from small class sizes and a tailor made education allowing parents to effectively choose the school that best fits with their child’s style of learning. The image of an impersonal one-size-fits-all public school education is a thing of the past with teachers being empowered to use new technologies in order to make the learning process both relevant and interesting. IT is one area where the sector has not only invested heavily in but, over time, has learnt to use effectively in many facets of school life.

The outdated public school image of cold dormitories with stern matrons parading the corridors is a thing of the past with millions being spent on updating boarding accommodation offering students modern, clean and multi-purpose living and study space.

Why not visit a public school today, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised?

Liam Butler

Collaboration and unity at ISC’s Admissions Conference

Isabel Morrison — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:27:09 +0000

Collaboration and unity were the rallying cries at ISC’s second annual Admissions Conference last week. Barnaby Lenon set the tone for the day in an entertaining and forthright opening speech. He gave a wide-ranging review of the challenges facing independent schools over the next five years, and he called on colleagues in the sector to stand together.

Two panel sessions followed. The first was on the Code of Practice for Schools. The Code sets the professional standards expected of independent schools and is incorporated into the terms and conditions of membership for each of ISC’s constituent associations. The panellists, Jill Wharfe, Jane Carroll and Peter Bodkin, stressed the importance of clear and timely communication between schools and with parents.

Rob Taylor, Rory Reilly and Stephen Player led a hotly contested debate on pre-testing. The critics suggested that pre-testing hijacks the curriculum, puts pressure on applicants and fuels the tutoring business. But the advocates argued that it can provide a helpful mechanism for a frank discussion about a candidate’s merits with parents and between schools. The panellists agreed that candid relationships between prep and senior school staff were vital throughout the admissions process.

The afternoon session featured three fascinating talks by ISC Researcher Kristen DiLemmo on overseas pupils, Penningtons Partner Nichola Carter on Tier 4 Compliance and David Wolfe from Matrix Chambers on The Equality Act. With so much information to digest, the final session on surviving information overload was particularly apt!

The 2011 ISC Annual Conference: enlightening and inspiring

Adele Gilpin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:19:34 +0000

Central Hall Westminster was the stunning venue chosen for the 2011 ISC Annual Conference. The location, within very close proximity to Parliament, seemed very apt given that we have been in a coalition government for just under a year and have seen many changes affecting the Independent sector, such as the demise of ContactPoint.

The event kicked off with a panel discussion about free schools and academies. With the first free schools due to open this September, this was a very hot topic for the delegates to get their teeth in to. Lord Hill focussed his introductory remarks on the freedom that free schools and academies can offer. He talked about how the initiative to start free schools had been bubbling up from parents and talked about how there was a great potential for the Independent sector to become involved. Richard Smyth, who had made the transition from working in an Independent school to an academy, made the point that he now had the ability to effect change in an academy. His particular school has 930 pupils who come from all manner of different backgrounds and he talked about the “extremes of culture” in his school. Anastasia de Waal talked about the other side of the coin and explained that there was still a pressure to achieve the coveted A*-C grades in academies and that it was hard to measure their success in improving student’s work. She went on to explain that Independent schools were accountable to the parents but who were academies accountable to?

The next session focussed on “innovation in teaching and learning” and how to get pupils involved. Kevin Stannard said that Independent schools have a “moral duty” to lead and innovate. He explained that schools need to decide what skills they want to embed in their curriculum and how innovation can help. He said that having “subject specialists” as teachers wasn’t enough anymore and that they need to find a way in which education and learning can be nurtured in teachers. He finished on the point that innovation was as much about renewal as it was about change.

Entrepreneurship was the focus of the next panel discussion and we were all treated to some very special speakers. Richard Cairns introduced the discussion and described that it is now compulsory in Brighton College to learn about entrepreneurship. It is often the case that Independent schools are seen to be the places where bankers, doctors and lawyers come from, but not many business owners. Luke Johnson spoke about how a successful business was like an “engine for change” and that running your own business should be seen as just as respectable as other professions. Tom Bewick spoke about his initiative Tenner Tycoon (http://www.tenner-tycoon.org/) and encouraged heads to get their pupils involved in it. Robert Devereux explained that entrepreneurship can’t be taught in the traditional sense but had to be nurtured by creating that culture within school. The main points that I picked up from this discussion was that entrepreneurship can only be a good thing for pupils as it teaches them how to take risks and if they fail, how to pick themselves back up again.

I found the talk that Ian Yorston gave about “why schools don’t need ICT” a great pick-me-up before lunch. Ian has a great way of engaging the audience and we all had a good laugh when he demonstrated Google’s ability to calculate the “speed of light in furlongs per fortnight”. He revealed some great resources for everyone to use such as Wolfram Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com/), Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/) and iTunesU. His parting remark was that schools don’t need to spend copious amounts of money on ICT because the pupils already have their own personal devices.
After lunch, we were treated to a double header of talks about subjects. Professor Justin Dillon talked about the negative attitude towards science, not just in this country but throughout the world. He referred to the gender divide and how male pupils had a more positive feeling towards it than female pupils. In his studies, he found that pupils thought science was repetitive; when they join the school there is much excitement when learning about molecules and elements but by the time this has been repeated throughout their school life, it can get quite monotonous. He also explained about a recent study undertaken by TISME ((http://tisme-scienceandmaths.org/) which tracked 10,000 pupils and interviewed them and their parents about their attitudes to science. Then, much like my own school days, history followed science and we were treated to a talk by Niall Ferguson about how learning history can be improved in school. He described the paradox that exists with history in that it’s such a popular subject outside, yet inside schools it is so unpopular. He blamed the fact that children are able to give up history at the age of 13 and that, because it is taught in “bits and pieces” it didn’t give a full picture of what happened in our past. Niall outlined his five proposals to improve the teaching of history and these included; more hours of teaching for more years, history teaching needs to have more structure to it, pupils need to be taught British and world history in equal measures, history shouldn’t be taught towards the exam and finally better course materials should be available.

The penultimate session was presented by ISC’s Rudolf Eliott Lockhart who talked about the number of acceptances and admissions of ISC and non-ISC pupils to universities and why pupils from ISC schools do so well. A press release covering Rudi’s speech can be found here (http://www.isc.co.uk/publication_4_0_0_26_921.htm) and coverage in the media can be found here (http://www.isc.co.uk/DailyNewsSummary). To finish the day, Professor James Tooley gave an enlightening talk about private education in the developing world. He described how federations of small independent schools could be found in deprived areas in far flung locations such as the Gansu province in China. These schools were not set up for the rich and were attended by children of the poor families who wanted to give them the best start in life.

Overall, I found the day incredibly enlightening and inspiring. There was an excellent program of speakers who captivated the audience with their talks throughout the day. Having been one of those pupils described by Niall Ferguson who dropped history at 13 years old, I made a point of watching his Civilisation show on 4OD as soon as I got home in the hope of improving my knowledge of it!

UKBA finally releases consultation on Tier 4

Matthew Burgess — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:06:26 +0000

UKBA released its consultation on Tier 4 at midday today. Schools have been extremely concerned by the growing rhetoric that all student migration – including overseas pupils – will be dramatically reduced. Only yesterday, the Telegraph was reporting that “up to 100,000 foreign students will be barred from Britain every year” and that “only those wanting to study a degree will be handed a visa in a bid to slash migrant numbers and curb the bogus students or colleges that exploit the system”.

We have been more circumspect, commenting that noises coming out of the Home Office and UKBA at the highest level were indicating our message had landed. All students, and all educational sponsors, are not alike; independent schools and our pupil base represent minimal, even zero, immigration risk.

First analysis of the consultation document indicates that UKBA understands this. The consultation states, “We propose no tightening of the Tier 4 (Child) route; this is a relatively small part of the Tier 4 composition and one which poses us least risk”. Indeed, the consultation is peppered with qualifications, carefully distinguishing independent schools from the rest (see, for example, the section on “stricter accreditation procedures for education providers in the private sector” which takes pains to differentiate independent schools from others). We are delighted to see this recognition in print – our campaigning has not been in vain.

Appendix 1 has a handy summary of the current Tier 4 requirements, and the proposed reforms. Only two out of the ten proposals relate to Child Students. What’s more, one of these proposals is to preserve the status quo; and the second would actually improve the system dramatically for “lower risk students”, allowing them to self-declare maintenance and qualifications requirements. Given that most of the visa refusals for child students have been made (often incorrectly, or harshly) on these grounds, self-declaration of maintenance would be a vast improvement. Clearly, schools would continue to need to satisfy themselves that their applicants can afford the fees; but separating this prudent financial due diligence from the visa system can only be welcome.

There are other areas where we will push UKBA to go further than the status quo. Our goal is to lift all ISC schools out of the General Student visa route, with all the complications that brings, and accommodate all ISC schools and their overseas pupils within the Child Student visa. This means adapting the Child Student rules to allow them to deal with pupils who are over 18; the door is ajar, following a concession granted over the summer for extending pupils, and we will continue to push. And there are other changes which we will look for: a single visa to cover GCSE and A level study has long been sought, for example.

We will respond to the consultation by 31 January 2011, and have meetings scheduled with UKBA already to discuss their proposals face to face. Schools with significant overseas pupil numbers should also respond. But first impressions are overwhelmingly positive.

A*s at A-level and university admissions

Rudi Eliott Lockhart — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:59:37 +0000

This Thursday the A* at A-level makes its full debut and as a result the media are gearing up by predicting the impact that this new grade will have. Sunday’s Observer thundered “Public schools expected to take lion’s share of new A* grades” claiming “Privately educated pupils are expected to get three times as many of the new A* grades at A-level as state school students” and “The widening gulf between children in the independent sector and the state system will fuel concern about the social makeup of universities” before adding “Just 7% of pupils in England and Wales are educated privately.” Behind this article is a crucial debate over university access and social mobility. All too often the debate is framed in the simplistic terms of the school backgrounds of the applicants. It’s therefore particularly distressing when misleading figures are given a high profile. In this blog I’d like to try and make sure we use the right figures and explain why the media’s stark depictions of a gulf between the two sectors and an over emphasis on the school backgrounds can end up being more misleading than helpful.

The Observer’s headline and first sentence are not an auspicious start. Despite their claims, independent schools will not secure three times as many A*s as state schools. The origin of the claim is research published in ISC’s Bulletin back in June in the form of an article, A* at A-level: What should we expect?, based on ISC’s own research. There we looked at what would have happened last summer had the A* already existed (so no firm prediction of what would happen this year). What we found was that around 16.5% of A-level entries from ISC pupils would have been awarded an A*. We then calculated – very approximately – that around 5.0% of entries from non-ISC pupils would have been awarded an A*. What this means is that an entry from an ISC pupil would have been roughly three times as likely to be awarded an A* than an entry from a non-ISC pupil. But there are far fewer pupils at ISC schools than there are taking A-levels elsewhere, so although ISC pupils would have outperformed other pupils, they would probably have been awarded around 36.5% of all of last year’s notional A*s. Sadly the Observer appears to have muddled its figures and mistaken being three times as likely to get an A* for getting three times as many A*s. In fact, ISC pupils would have got around half as many A*s as their state school peers: top grades, and therefore access to top universities, are not a closed shop.

Unfortunately, the problems with the article go rather deeper. Statistics are slippery things, and cited out of context they can be deceptive rather than revealing. While the article is correct in stating that 7% of pupils in England & Wales are educated privately, in the context of an article on A-level results it’s a very misleading stat to use. This oft-cited 7% figure is tricky enough at the best of times as I’ve blogged before, with around 14% of British adults having experienced an independent education at some point in their school career, but in an article on A-level performance to use it is plain daft: it would make much more sense to look at the proportion of A-level candidates who attend independent schools when they take their exams, which is around 14%. By using the 7% figure, the article makes independent school successes look twice as startling, twice as disproportionate, making it that much more tempting to argue that something needs to be done to level up the playing field.

The article then implies that if independently educated pupils do as well as has been suggested when A*s are awarded this Thursday, this will have alarming consequences for the “social makeup” of universities. In the context of university admissions the 7% figure is even more misleading. The fact that more than 7% of university students went to independent schools is due to a range of factors that demonstrate the quality of education available at independent schools. Pupils from ISC schools are more likely to choose to go to university, more likely to choose to apply to more prestigious universities, more likely to choose combinations of A-level subjects that give access to the most prestigious courses, and more likely to achieve top grades: despite representing about 14% of the candidates, roughly 36% of candidates securing three A grades did so at independent schools. This explanation of the success of pupils from the independent sector as they enter university and progress through their careers is something that ISC has tackled before, with a consideration, Independent Schools and Social Mobility, in ISC’s Bulletin last autumn.

But perhaps the most frustrating thing about the Observer article, is that it tries to reduce the entire issue to the tired clichés of state vs. independent. Independent schools are not the only schools where pupils achieve a disproportionately high number of top grades. While about 50% of entries from the independent sector tend to get A grades, so do about 40% of entries from selective state schools, compared to about 22% of entries from other state schools. Yet the article doesn’t bemoan the disproportionate success of selective state schools. Moreover, the success of these top performing state schools is not necessarily a boon in the search for a varied social makeup at universities: they tend to have more socially exclusive intakes than other state schools. Earlier this year, the Sutton Trust published findings that only 3% of pupils at the top-performing 200 secondary state schools were on free school meal, compared with 14% nationally. These high-performing socially-exclusive state schools are not just the grammar schools: another report, also from the Sutton Trust, found that the best comprehensive schools are more exclusive than grammars.

If pupils in the state sector are not all from the same background, so it is with pupils at independent schools. Around a third of ISC pupils receive some form of help with their fees with schools giving over half a billion pounds in financial assistance each year. Over 7% of pupils at ISC schools receive means-tested bursaries. Given the Observer article’s concerns about the social makeup of universities, it is therefore a shame that they have used attendance at an independent school as a simple proxy for a privileged background. There is always a risk that if school sector is used as an indicator of social background the impression of social mobility can be created by the substitution of one set of middle class pupils from independent schools with another from grammar schools in affluent areas. What all of this should demonstrate is that talking in the blanket terms of school background is unhelpful if the underlying concern is social mobility.

There is a real problem with children from deprived backgrounds failing to get through the education system to university in large enough numbers, but the solution will never come from lamenting the success of pupils from independent schools. In the last year for which there are figures, just 45 pupils from England and Wales who received free school meals were accepted by Oxbridge. This is less than 1% of Oxbridge entrants, despite over 14% of children being on free school means nationally. The real concern about the “social makeup” of universities should not be the high representation of former independent school pupils, rather, it should be the low representation of pupils from the most deprived backgrounds. Therefore, those pupils who achieve outstanding results when their A-level results are released on Thursday should be applauded, whatever type of school they attended, and anyone concerned with iniquity within the system should look not at those who do achieve, but at those who fail to and consider the reasons why.

Vince Cable and university admissions

Rudi Eliott Lockhart — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:15:43 +0000

Last week, when considering the thorny question of university admissions, Vince Cable offered up the provocative question “What would be the pros and cons of colleges reserving places for a certain number of pupils from each of a wide range of schools?” It’s a question worthy of an answer. Some schools, most notably independent schools, are very effective at encouraging their pupils to apply to university, helping them to choose appropriate subjects to study at A-level (or for Pre-U, IB and other types of qualification), and providing them with an education that makes them well placed to impress at interview and in exams and also fosters the skills necessary to succeed once they’re at university. This means that there is a disproportionately large number of independent school alumni at university in the UK, and in particular at the top universities. But does this mean that universities should use quotas to ensure representation from pupils from a wider range of schools as Cable wonders?

There are three fundamental reasons why such quotas would be undesirable. First and foremost they would be unfair. Applications to university should be judged on their individual merits, and an undifferentiated approach to all pupils from any one type of school is unfair and unreliable: while considering a candidate’s educational context is understandable, falling back on quotas is discriminatory. Not all independent schools are the same and not all pupils at independent schools are the same, indeed, over 7% of pupils at ISC schools receive means-tested bursaries and around a third receive some sort of financial assistance with their fees. Secondly, quotas would undermine the independence of university admissions officers, forcing them to take candidates to satisfy a quota (the setting of which would inevitably be done under intense political pressure), rather than on the grounds of a candidates aptitude for the course applied for. This runs counter to the notion of universities being schools of academic meritocracy and would force them into the murky world of social engineering. Thirdly, the policy could be counter-productive at school level as it could encourage parents to pull their children out of good schools so that they could apply to university from a poorer performing school in order to take advantage of their quota. This would undermine schools’ motivation to provide excellence in education.

Widening access to universities is an important aim, but using the artificial device of quotas to deny places to good applicants simply because they went to good schools is not the solution. Instead, the goal of widening access should be sought by offering pupils from state schools better advice on what to study at GCSE and in the sixth-form, better advice on which universities to apply to and by working hard at driving up the standard of schools across the state sector.

Depressingly, when covering Cable’s speech, parts of the media couldn’t resist the temptation to bring up the Laura Spence affair again. Despite Cable expressly saying that he did not want to follow the line that Gordon Brown had taken, the media once again conjured up the same tedious chimera. It’s puzzling that this case is so frequently cited when arguments about Oxbridge bias rage. Laura Spence, a state school pupil, was one of 23 applicants for Medicine to Magdalen College Oxford in 2000. She was ranked 11th after a comprehensive interview process and was therefore rejected, as only the top 5 candidates were offered places. That there were suggestions of bias is strange when it’s considered that three of the successful 5 were women, two were from minority ethnic groups and two were from state schools. They’re even stranger when you consider how well the candidates who beat Laura Spence to a place did with two of the five coming first and second in the university. It seems the interviewers didn’t do such a bad job after all…

Science teaching at prep schools

Rudi Eliott Lockhart — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:57:58 +0000

Today’s publication of the latest of The Royal Society’s ‘State of the Nation’ reports makes for interesting reading. The report casts light on the teaching of Science and Maths between the ages of 5 and 14, and draws attention to the paucity of science specialists in primary schools, it also concludes that the testing regime in England has “stifled creativity”. The study points out that science is a practical subject that requires an understanding that cannot be achieved by the simple rote learning that teaching to the test encourages. This is an important and well considered report, but it is not one that pays heed to the independent sector, indeed, the two main criticisms within the report do not apply to the teaching of science in independent schools. The Royal Society highlight that only 3% of primary teachers at maintained schools in England are science specialists and only 2% are maths specialists, but figures from ISC’s own Teacher Survey paint a rather different picture for the independent sector. 8% of primary level teachers at ISC schools have a science undergraduate degree while 5% have maths degrees. This is important because, as the Royal Society report points out, even though many primary school teachers are generalists it’s important for teachers to have access to specialist advice, particularly in relation to a teacher’s subject knowledge, where perceived lack of personal knowledge can lead to low confidence and influences teaching approaches. This means it’s advantageous to have at least one science and maths specialist in each school. As for the report’s other main criticism, the independent sector is also fortunate to be free of much of the regime of testing that leads to the culture of teaching to the test in the maintained sector, so this concern does not apply to independent schools to the same degree: independent schools are able to focus on inspiring their pupils and teaching them to really understand science, rather than to regurgitate facts. The teaching of science is one of the great strengths of the independent sector. This is often demonstrated by university entrance figures and impressive A-level results, but it’s also due to the superb standards of science education at prep level. This strength is not just about having access to labs and other facilities, but the use of specialist teachers and a commitment to establishing scientific method and basic knowledge at an early age when pupils’ imaginations and enthusiasm are at their most fertile.

Breaking the Link: Social Mobility and Education in Britain

Manuela Winkelmann — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:32:12 +0000

Yesterday the Sutton Trust presented some of their work on social mobility at the Master’s seminar of the Company of Educators. They highlighted the importance of education for social mobility, stressing that the penalties for lower levels of education had become more severe in our society and that university studies, especially at top universities, were rewarded with a higher lifetime earning premium than ever.

They highlighted the finding of a recent report on social mobility showing that family background still determines much of a child’s performance at an age as early as four. They found that the achievement gap between children from more and less affluent background widens as children progress through school. Rather than calling for social engineering in an effort to offer pupils from low income homes access to the top universities, the Sutton Trust proposed a number of measures that affect all stages of a child’s educational life.

They suggested more support for parents, to equip at-risk parents with knowledge on how to stimulate their child’s development and how to look out for signs that the development is problematic. They criticised policy makers for treating admissions policies as a hot potato, which has led to a very segregative education system. They claim that the top schools based in deprived areas take in too few pupils from low income families and suggest an admission system based on fair socio-economic bandage instead of using distance to the school and religion as decisive factors in school admissions which has led to premiums for houses in the catchment areas of good schools. This is hoped to open the highest performing schools to pupils from low income households. The discussion also touched on schemes to open access to independent schools in an effort to enable bright students to get an excellent education ISC’s David Lyscom has expressed support for merit based support for children from lower income household to receive an independent education in the past which could see the government funding all or some of the fees.

The seminar also discussed the findings of a report by the Office for Fair Access which showed that a reason why a number of pupils from poorer performing schools do not get into the top universities is that they chose the wrong subjects for the A levels based on poor advice given by the schools’ career and education advisors. Choosing the wrong subjects may limit a pupil’s ability to apply to top universities even if the achieve top grades. The Sutton Trust recommended independent advisors to ensure that pupils get advice that enables them to choose the subjects that are best for their future, not for their school’s position in the league tables. Independent schools pride themselves on educating well rounded individuals by offering a wide range of advice, pastoral care and opportunities to stretch the most able students. More research is needed to determine the effects of co-curricular activities on academic achievement, but the success of independently educated children suggests that it is beneficial.

The main point of the presentation was that interventions need to be sustained and encompass all the stages of a child’s education to ensure that disadvantages do not resurface over time.

Another important measure in achieving an outstanding education for all pupils is to hand the responsibility for pupils’ education back to the schools, the heads, and the teachers. The academic excellence of the independent sector shows that diversity and freedom are a key element in unlocking the potential of each child. The 2010 Census found that the vast majority of ISC schools are engaged in partnerships with maintained schools and the wider community in an effort to share their expertise and help improve schools across the country.

New man, new department and some walk-outs across the water

AndrewHamilton — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:35:04 +0000

Given how widely-expected the appointment of Michael Gove as schools secretary was, relatively little was made of it in the press (certainly in comparison to some of the other, more unlikely Cabinet posts allocated). What captured the imagination of the press far more was the renaming of DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families/Curtains and Soft Furnishings) to the Department for Education. There were also profiles aplenty of Mr Gove and his policies, which have been well-aired in the press in recent months, and various spokespeople were quoted offering a cautious welcome to Ed Balls’ successor.

One of the first acts of the newly-titled department was to release a slew of statistics which provided plenty of grist for the media mill. Much of it made for depressing reading, too, from the rise in the number of pupils eligible for free school meals to the finding that secondary school pupils from deprived backgrounds are only half as likely as others to be registered as “gifted and talented”. Another interesting finding was that a rising number of pupils are being identified as having special educational needs – prompting accusations that schools were “over-labelling” in order to secure extra funding.

Away from politics, there was a lot of concerned debate in the newspapers this week on the back of findings which suggested that growing numbers of children are being given drugs to combat behavioural problems. One of the most striking findings was that the amount of money spent on prescriptions to treat ADHD has soared by almost two-thirds in just four years. The Guardian’s Education section had a particularly thought-provoking piece on the difficult choice facing schools which are presented with pupils showing signs of difficulties.

On a lighter note, a story from France showed just how wildly internet rumours can spin out of control. What began as a call from the education minister for a debate on the French school timetable ended with incensed bloggers claiming “Sarko” planned to chop a month off the traditional summer school break. The strikes and walk-outs soon followed…

Teacher Taster Days in independent schools

Amy Cheung — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:35:39 +0000

If you are a teacher in training, or interested in working in an independent school, then Teacher Taster Days will offer a valuable insight to what it’s like teaching in the independent sector.

What are Teacher Taster Days?

Designed for undergraduates or postgraduates who are interested in teaching; teachers in the state sector who would like to find out more about teaching in independent schools; or if you are simply looking for a career change – these sessions will give you the practical opportunity to have a taster of what it’s like to work in an independent school. Independent schools can use these days to promote teaching in the independent sector, in their schools, and also allow them to meet their potential employees.

What happens on a Teacher Taster Day?These taster days may vary between schools. Most will be half a day to a full day but others may be significantly longer. A majority of independent schools use their Teacher Taster Days to allow potential teachers to observe lessons, meet key staff and participate in school tours. Aside from the core curriculum subjects like Maths, Science, and English – the creative and performing arts also have a strong place in independent schools in order to provide an all-round education for pupils. For that reason, some independent schools may offer an insight to their extra-curricular activities during their Teacher Taster Days and this may also be a good opportunity for you to show any extra-curricular skills you may have that will be beneficial to the school.

At the end of the Teacher Taster Day, you will leave feeling better informed of what it’s like to teach in an independent school. Do remember that you are only seeing one school; and to get a better picture of the sector you could even arrange visits to other schools.

How can I find independent schools that offer Teacher Taster Days?

Simply go to the ISC Teaching Zone, where you will be able to search for independent schools by county who currently offer Teacher Taster Days. ISC currently have schools in over 34 counties offering Teacher Taster Days, all of which can be found through the ISC website. Here, you will be able to obtain further information about the respective Teacher Taster Days, as well as contact information to help you arrange your teacher taster day.