Quote…It isn’t a legal requirement to have a recognised teaching qualification to work in a private/independent school.
What an earth are the parents of the pupils paying for if the teachers in these schools aren’t obliged to have any teaching qualification?
Oh, wait, l forgot…it’s more about the kudos of attending a private school and who you rub shoulders with that matters the most!
Did you know this? Do you think it’s right?
Yes, I think it’s fine because they can bring in experts who are brilliant in their field or have really done something in real life connected to what they’re teaching
As long as all the child protection etc is in correct order I’m not convinced some one who is great at something or has a Phd or something academic needs to spend years training as a teacher in order to pass that knowledge on
I wasn’t aware of current regulations but I was aware that is how it used to be.
The son of a friend of mine went to a private school and was taught by Stephen Fry, who had no teaching qualifications and was working at the prep school as a junior master while he was waiting to go up to Cambridge, so his only qualifications at that time was A levels in English French and Art.
My friend had sent her son there because he had learning difficulties and wasn’t able to keep up in a state school.
He has often told me that Stephen Fry was the best teacher he ever had.
Yes, it really can work very well. How fantastic to have been taught by Steven Fry
But how many actually don’t? I would imagine that teachers who can’t teach would very soon be found out? 
Some of the best teachers at my old grammar school were ex army or ex RAF and had no teaching qualifications.
It often comes to light anyway that teachers claim to have various qualifications but they fake them. Look at Sion Jenkins who was a Deputy Head teacher but he had embellished his qualifications. He is the man who there is still doubt over after his foster daughter Billie Jo was found murdered some years ago.
That’s pretty stunning, Art. Even if teaching a technical craft, there is something to having at least some coursework in pedagogy.
At the very least, parents should be made well aware of the credential of the educators.
By far and away one of the most demanding professions, in terms of meeting the needs of “clients,” is teaching. To give every child the maximum opportunity of success, an educator needs to be well-versed on learning styles, the neurology of learning, cognitive/social/emotional development, special needs, and building an effective curriculum and lesson plans that ensure long-term skill acquisition and concept mastery.
One can be an expert in a particular field, engage, and lecture well, but too often that expert, without the foundation of pedagogy, will end up leaving too many students in the dust. I am all for bringing in talented people from outside the field of education, but requiring them to take some coursework in pedagogy along the way will make them even more effective.
The problem with that is, they may be good at what they do. But they are not trained as a teacher. It is something that happens with driving instructors. (or maybe they have changed it now.) There are three parts to the exam. Driving theory, driving ability & instructional ability. And once you have the first 2 parts, then you can instruct, but the pass rate is low, as despite having excellent driving ability, they lack instructional ability & teaching is something that is not instinctive or natural. It is something that needs to be learnt.
I used to do some driver training & a qualification never used to be required to work as an HGV or PSV instructor. The relevant licence was all that was needed. But like a lot of trainers, I found being trained properly made me so much better.
The most important part of being a teacher/ instructor, is knowing how to pass that knowledge on, as otherwise it’s just information being thrown out, some may land on firtile soil, but much will wither & die.
I think it depends.
If you’re referring to primary education, where teachers are obliged to teach all subjects (or at least I was), I believe it is a legal requirement to possess a teaching qualification in order to work in the state sector.
I’m not sure about the private sector, though.
I believe that in secondary education, all that is required is to have a proven knowledge of your specialist subject(s), and this usually involves the possession of an appropriate degree.
When I was at grammar school, I believe that all of our teachers had degrees and, although I was too stupid to take advantage of what was on offer, I’m sure I realised that those blokes (and one woman) had definite skills in both their subjects and the way they delivered them.
Ditto. My physics teacher was ex-RAF and he was brilliant. My maths teacher was ex-signals and he wasn’t bad either but was prone to the odd attack of shell-shock.
I would have expected all teaching staff to be professionally qualified. I was sent to a boarding school from 11yrs 5mts and that set me up for life. Were all the staff fully qualified? I’ve no idea but they certainly pulled all the stops out for me. I was failing and lagging when I joined the school and by the time I left I was up with the high achievers 
Even in UK state school that was the case until about the 1970s largely because of a desperate teacher shortage after the war. (Don’t quote me on that date)
My mother was an unqualified primary school teacher for several decades, when they started to tighten up on this she went to college for a few years and became a qualified teacher for the educationally sub normal (probably not called that now).
When the UK went comprehensive my father retired after decades as a primary school headmaster, she taught on as a deputy head of a specialist school and ended up with a bigger pension than him!
Absolutely not, Bruce wash your mouth out! They’re special needs children that need special teachers trained in special needs requirements and special schools, etc.
P.S. and BTW, we used to call them Ezz nizz when I was a whipper snapper 
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Percy, My ex husband was working in the Education Dept from the 1960’s.
Bruce is correct, in that in those days they were referred to as schools for for the Educationally Sub-Normal.
It was years later that it changed to Special Schools for Special Needs children…
I know, I was referring to Bruce’s comment “probably not called that now”.
Sorry, Percy if l misunderstood your post.
