Do you think teachers really matter at AS/A level?

I am going into my first year of sixth form in September, and I pretty much know where I am going to be going (which happens to be my own school). Since I already know all of the teachers, and who is leaving, I'm quite worried since all of the teachers who I could have possibly had and learnt from the most are leaving. It's not just one or two, a large number of teachers are leaving, yet I wonder if it really makes a difference. I assume that at A level everybody is pretty much buckled down and getting on with their work, but what with everybody saying it's pretty much independent learning apart from a maybe 20% that a teacher personally teaches you, would you say it's a massive deal if you get lumped with a teacher who isn't so great?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

Chicken.M.

Depends on the subjects.

If you have a bad physics teacher, you're gonna have a bad time.

Reply 2

ironandbeer

A good teacher brings focus, enthusiasm and new ways of thinking specific to their interest of the subject in any situation, so yes I'd prefer a good one.

Reply 3

happysmile

For me, teachers are really important to my learning and whether or not I absorb anything in their lessons, but many of us will be going to other sixth forms where we won't know what the teachers there are like so we can't really choose based on teachers anyway.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

Jkizer

Depends on the subject i suppose.

I would say teachers are important to help cover the topics initially (though they may be woeful at that too) but i found during the revision session, majority of their lessons were completely useless / extremely tedious. One time, only 2/12 of our Economics class turned up one time :redface:

Reply 5

manchesterunited15

Original post by ChickenMadness

Depends on the subjects.

If you have a bad physics teacher, you're gonna have a bad time.

This. For biology it won't really matter. Depends whether the subject is hard to understand or just takes time to memorise and learn exam technique.

Reply 6

xDave-

Definitely. My business teacher taught us the wrong course, so my whole class got E's. My ICT teacher got ill and retired; we were given a geography teacher as a replacement, who didn't know anything about the course, and there were no textbooks to learn from, so we all did awful. And finally my maths teacher also got ill, but this time we got no cover at all. **** trying to learn maths without someone to ask questions to.

So yeah, teachers matter.

Reply 7

ChemistryLover97

YES. I used to love Biology at GCSE and I had a great teacher, now I have two terrible teachers who don’t inspire or motivate me, and I hate it now!!!! In contrast my Chemistry teachers are now amazing, and I absolutely love chemistry.

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Reply 8

coldhell

Yes depends on the subject. I had a pretty horrific first year since my favourite German teacher passed away. She was really good, nice and explain things clearly. However the teacher who replaced her was quite the opposite; although she was nice, her approach just didn't work! Every lesson we did these exercises on grammar but she didn't explain it! It's almost she expects you to know and you have to put extra effort in to get a good grade. Lastly I think having excellent teachers will make your life a lot easier! They are the ones who will inspire you and push you to get the best grades possible.

Reply 9

Nat_LPS

Theyre the only source of information about uni courses, for example, ive come across so far, they also offer opportunities to find your own interests they can share stories and knowledge during class making it more memorable. Compared to secondary school which were boring or didnt talk much about parts of subject other than the syllabus. Choosing a uni course is important i wouldnt be goin to uni if it wasnt for them really, help and info about subjects and where they come into the real world is important before uni in my opinion.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 10

sjrahman

Original post by ChickenMadness

Depends on the subjects.

If you have a bad physics teacher, you're gonna have a bad time.

I've had bad physics teachers throughout my 2 years in sixth form. Just slack throughout the year and learn the content during Easter 2 week holiday usually does the job :biggrin:

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Reply 11

Chicken.M.

Original post by sjrahman

I've had bad physics teachers throughout my 2 years in sixth form. Just slack throughout the year and learn the content during Easter 2 week holiday usually does the job :biggrin:

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thats pretty much what I did lol. Played games most of the year

Reply 12

fnatic NateDestiel

Yeah of course, if you go to an average state school comp you are going to have a hard time..

Reply 13

brendonbackflip

It's a two-way street I believe. Hopefully though you will be able to access plenty of resources which will help you regardless.

Reply 14

Anonymous #2

I'd say it's 50% teacher 50% you. My A2 teacher for English Literature was a film studies teacher and as a result based his teaching of texts on film interpenetrations and teaching us film terminology instead of Literature terms. I kind of took it upon myself to teach myself the stuff I actually needed to know and in one of the examiner reports I read it blatantly said to not base your response on film interpretations. The annoying thing is though that if I do badly in this exam I'm going to miss my offer all because I didn't have a 'proper' teacher.

Reply 15

loperdoper

I think it depends a lot on how good you are at the subject beforehand, but yes they can be very, very important, especially regarding your enjoyment of the subject. For Biology, I had one amazing teacher and one "eh" teacher. As a result, I came to hate the parts of the course that the "eh" teacher taught, and found one of the two topics they taught me the hardest.
On the other hand, I had an amazing teacher for Physics. Although I was awful at it, I chose it mostly because she was so incredible, and I loved my year in the subject, and I'm reasonably sure I would not have been able to even consider getting above a U without her.