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It might seem an odd headline but believe me when I tell you that is exactly what we have been experiencing over the last few months leading up to the 2022 GCSE exams.
In fact, I would say over a 3-month period (up to 14th May 2022) I have received phone call after phone call from panicked parents who want to find support for their children in English, Maths, or Science at GCSE. Please believe me when I say, the latter ones were for exams happening the following week!
But why are parents leaving finding support for their child so long?
It’s becoming all too apparent that parents are not realising that unless they actively take part in their child’s education and I mean really take part, then they really don’t know the true extent of how much their child is struggling with their studies. We think that once they reach teen years then and they express their independence in the strongest terms that ‘they’ve got it handled’. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I’d say from the age of 13-16 years old they are very much in need of a parent’s guidance and expertise.
I have come to realise is that even though their child may have always struggled in English, maths, or Science their parent doesn’t really know. I mean the markers were there in primary school. They were achieving below their expected level for their age. They were reluctant readers and/or writers. They avoided doing their homework. Their handwriting was poor which was masking potentially deeper problems.
But one phone conversation left me truly shocked. Not because it was a last-minute enquiry for help, but because of the emotional confusion the mother presented.
It was a Friday at around 3.30pm. (I rarely answer the phone immediately before I begin teaching). However, I did and there was a very agitated mother on the phone who required support for her son who was sitting his GCSE, Paper 1 exam the following week. I know, the following week! I of course had to refuse. Believe me when I say, I don’t like to not help. I feel obligated to help as fundamentally being a teacher is an act of service and you want to provide service. To put things into perspective, I stop taking GCSE students in February of the year of their exams. Unfortunately, regardless of whether I wanted to help, mum’s realisation of her own inaction that it was simply too little way too late was a little too much for her.
You see her son was predicted to achieve a grade 2 and had achieved a U grade in his mocks a few months back. She was beside herself, so I had to calm her down and try to help as best I could. I did ask a couple of questions and learnt that he had always struggled with maths. She thought that school would have been able to help him, but she had left him and school to very much get on with it and the end result was that he was in all probability going to fail his GCSE maths exam this summer.
What to do? I could have ended the call right there and then and wished her and her son all the best. But like I said, I am here to serve, and I couldn’t in all conscience not leave them with some guidance and hope.
I explained that not all was lost.
In September her son would be enrolled for college. Likely he would be expected to resit his GCSE maths exam in the November. I advised her not to let him do this. All this would do is reinforce the fact that he isn’t able to pass a GCSE in maths and will do more harm then good. Let’s be honest, he has struggled with maths all his academic life and isn’t just going to ‘get it’ over the 6 weeks between starting college and sitting the exam in November. He has some serious gaps.
What did I do?
I advised her to look for support at the beginning of September and expect her son not to be able to pass until he was 18 years old. This was going to be another 2-year journey, and he would need support every step of the way. Unfortunately, colleges aren’t equipped to deal with students who are that weak the pass rate is low for students of his calibre. In fact, this isn’t anecdotal, see the TES article in 2019 (pre-Covid) on this very subject. Remember, he was predicted a Grade 2 and a pass is a Grade 4!
The upshot is that mum left the phone call with me, calmer and armed with a plan of action. Whether she puts that plan into place or not is very much down to her and her son. However, she’s armed with more knowledge and hope that she started the conversation with.
I must point out that I did receive the same type of call from several other parents that week. These also included parents whose children were sitting their SATs the following week.
Leaving your child’s GCSE journey up to them and school isn’t a wise decision. By the time your child has come to you to tell you that they’re struggling it may well be too late. I would hazard an educated guess that in fact they’ve been struggling for several years but the pressures of being a teen simply got in the way and their main priority was ‘did I fit in’ and ‘did I have friends’ not whether maths, English or Science was proving too difficult to get their head around.
Don’t leave it to them. Be nosey, but inquisitive actively look at the work they are producing in school. Know what they’re predicted to achieve at the end of Key stage 3 and Key stage 4. Know exactly how far away they are from achieving their target grade. Do they need some additional support from school? Keep a sharp eye on what they have said they would do to help your son/daughter. Don’t be complacent and think you’ve done your bit. If there hasn’t been a noticeable improvement after a term, get outside help from a tutor. Give yourself time and space to find the right help for you; is it online or face to face?
My name is Joanna Jacobs and I am a qualified English teacher and Director of Leeds Tuition Centre. I have been a qualified teacher for 22 years and have run the Centre for 12 years. I have worked all over the UK teaching in Secondary Schools that are outstanding and schools that are challenging.
