Here we go again! My GCSE Music class has completely died in my opinion.

We've got to the point now where my teacher can't be bothered to teach us because too many people are misbehaving. There's about half the class who want to work, but they can't because the other half want to talk, misbehave, throw things at each other, listen to their MP3s, etc. I am really getting sick and tired of it now, and I don't know what to do.

Today was a perfect example. Our teacher lined us up outside the classroom (which is what he doesn't usually do). It took up about 15 minutes to get in the classroom, and then it took him a further half an hour to get the register done, and then he just couldn't be bothered to teach. Same thing yesterday, instead of teaching us about musical-based things, he talked to us about behaviour, and I really hate it when he calls us rude names such as "failiures" or "a bunch of losers".

We've got a Year 10 Music exam in June, and despite that, people just take the opportunity to mess around and do what they want. I just wonder if these people even care about their GCSEs.

What do I do now? Should I stop coming to lessons? Should I consider doing something else? Should I complain? Should the class be split into two, so the good people are in the music room, while the others go in a different room? (the only disadvantage with that is there is only one Monday-Friday music teacher in the school.) There's a boy in my class who only attends music lessons on Fridays, and he does a different subject on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Sorry to rant on, but I've had enough.

Thanks for any replies.
Car Expert

Speak to the Headteacher.

Agree. Get your parents to back you up in going to the head teacher and/or your head of year.

I also agree with benjaminja, speak to the Headteacher. Otherwise you could write a letter of complaint to the Headteacher. If you decide to do this then include specific dates and times when incidents have happened and include quotes where the music teacher has called the class failures. This might mean writing notes about the music lesson afterwards for a few days to help you document specific details. People are more likely to act on a complaint if the points raised are specific.

The other day my piano teacher, who's semi-retired, said that exactly the same thing happened when he was at school. Half of the class were interested and the others only chose music because they thought it would be easy and then just messed around.

This is really awful!!

(CE, in case you wonder what I'm doing on here in teaching time, someone is absent today - and of course I am drawn to the Forums like a moth to a flame!)

Is your Head approachable? If so, I'd say that you should get all the ones who want to work together and go to him/her as a deputation. If not, your parents should kick up a real fuss and not allow themselves to be fobbed off with answers about inclusion of all pupils and so on. If some pupils don't want to work, that's their lookout, but you and your friends shouldn't have to suffer for it. It's one of your GCSEs at stake here!

Thanks benjaminja, katyjay, della and Jo! It certainly is. His office is in the reception area, which is where you're not allowed to go unless told by a member or staff, so maybe I'd have to talk to him if I see him around. My Head of Year works in the Unit (a place where the naughty students are), and I could access there more easily. She used to go to my old school as well, so she's known me for about 6 or 7 years.

Car Expert

Unfortunately GCSE is often like this with kids who don't care about getting good grades and just mess about in lessons. Keep going to lessons - you never know, he might start teaching. Also, it is a bit late to change subject, you will have missed on lots of lessons. Definitely complain - but how would they separate "good" from "bad"? Behaviour? Attendence? Grades?

Be proactive, find out which board you're on, and download the specification. Get a revision guide. For GCSE, if you're relatively musical it shouldn't be too difficult. Listen to lots of different styles of Music

I'm with Edexcel, and I have got the revision guide . Where can you download the specification from?

Car Expert

This should help

If you just try to talk to him when you see him around
a) it could be ages before you get to speak to him
the next letter(!)) he is likely to be preoccupied with something else at the time, and won't listen properly

You need to get this sorted VERY quickly - in this case, then, I'd suggest getting parents involved straight away. The Head is more likely to do something if he has letters/phone calls from several sets of irate parents!

It sounds like all the troublemakers should be sent to The Unit and left there for good!

Thanks! I'll have a look now.

Car Expert

CE, you may find it more productive to ask your director of music to practice by yourself during class music lessons, and teach yourself the syllabus outside of school in the time you would spend practicing. Whatever happens, don't bother turning up to lessons which just make you angry, or are completely pointless. Sort any alternative out - even doing your homework during the lessons is better than doing nothing.

A word of caution...don't come across as blaming the music teacher... If he gets wind that you've been complaining to the head about the lessons, he may take things the wrong way and make your life difficult. I know this can happen, it happened to me. We were taught an out-of-date syllabus and spoke to our head of year, the next music lesson was awful, talk of respect for seniors, why didn't we raise our concerns with him... The rest of the course was so tense, and gone were all the offers of mock listening papers and help with our compositions.

I do agree you need to get this sorted, it might be best to ask the teacher if you can do some quiet work on your own, away from the troublemakers. It might even be necessary to give up a bit of time after school for a little while to cover bits of the syllabus that aren't covered in class or that you're struggling to do yourself.

We'll all help as much as we can, I'm sure

Hmm, CE, I really feel for you as my music class has never been the most well-behaved of classes!

I'd document the details, as they'd help if you wanted to make a complaint. If you could find a few like-minded people in your class who could go as a deputation to your music teacher/Head of Year/Headteacher, then that could work quite well, providing that you're polite! It worked for me and a friend when we discovered that our music listening exam was going to be held in the gym (which has an appalling acoustic). We went and made our point politely to the Head of Creative Arts and our Exam Officer and now the exam has been moved to a room with a better acoustic.

On the other hand, exercise caution when you are complaining. I complained about the Music Department once last year and (although they don't know that I complained) it has been quite uncomfortable at times as my music teacher was ######ing about the person who complained about her and there always seems to be senior teachers wandering around in music.

Anyway, good luck and let us know what happens.

This happened to us last year towards the end of our fast track course... we complained because she still hadn't taught us a lot of the stuff and there were only a few lessons left...she then treated us really coldy, as out of the 7 in our class about 5 complained... Now she REALLY hates us because we were the only 7 to do GCSE music and NONE of us are doing it next year...

That sounds terrible CE I'd try talking to your teacher about it. If your music teacher isn't approachable, try your head of year and if nothing happens, get your parents to write a letter. This really isn't fair on you as it is your GCSE too...

I'm really glad I go to a selective school where most people are there to work and even those who don't pay attention DO work some of the time...

Just a thought, I hope the troublemakers in your class aren't the sort of hypocrites who muck about, then when the teacher tries to put them in another room, complain that they aren't not being taught....etc

Sorry to hear your music class has deteriorated again, CE! Can you speak to either your head of year/form tutor or ask your parents to say something at the a parent consultation evening? Try not to make it sound like a complaint, but rather 'I'm worried/concerned about my GCSE music because.........' or 'Our son is worried about his GCSE music because .....' that way it looks as if you have 'a problem' rather than directly blaming the teacher for not taking control of his/her class or the disruptive members of the class - even though it indirectly amounts to the same thing.

Good luck! Hope you get it resolved once and for all, and sooner rather than later!

I agree with SuzyMac and Noodle; you need to be very diplomatic. If the music teacher hears that you've complained, he has the potential to make your life miserable - he holds all the cards, I'm afraid! And you don't know how pally he is with the head... My suggestion is to try to find a private tutor - pronto - if you can afford it.

I feel so sorry for you. If you can get your parents to support you... please do. Often the management of schools know that the teacher is not coping but only when parents complain they do take note. Once I was working in a school and was Head of Department. Another member of the department was not coping very well... but when I went in to observe... things weren't so bad as the children behaved because I was in there. Without evidence, it was hard for me to do anything apart from express my concerns to the Head and the teacher concerned. HOWEVER, when a couple of parents politely expressed their misgivings about the classroom management of this particular teacher... things moved very fast and we could support the teacher with more help, targets etc . The problem came out into the open and things did improve. Yes you need to make sure you are revising the correct stuff ( using study guides, the syllabus etc). Ask for past papers etc. But please talk to your parents... form tutor maybe? This is your education and it is important to you and therefore please get help. You have a right to a decent education. It is a great idea to get the others in your class who are trying to work on board. If the senior management are made aware of it at least they may wander into the lesson or hover outside the room a bit more.
I just know that a lot of Heads etc take more note of parents than pupils. If they express concerns to the Head or Year Head, someone may take note and help. Your music teacher probably feels pretty lousy about it anyway... you'll be helping him too.
Good luck... and happy studying.

My ex used to teach music in a secondary school and he hated it.

There were about 2 people who actually wanted to do music properly and everyone else thought it was a doss subject or had just been dumped into that option by the senior management. Music was not a high priority at the school - my ex had to teach in the dining room while the dinner ladies were clearing up after lunch! He ended up concentrating on the 2 boys who actually wanted to do music.

As a teacher though, I can understand why your music teacher is lecturing a badly behaved class about behaviour. We are told in training that unless the class is behaving well, they can't learn so it's important to get the behaviour right. Your teacher obviously isn't very good with behaviour management techniques. If you want to really annoy him, you could ask him if he wants ome advice on behaviour management - suggest either Bill Rogers' techniques or Lee Canter's Assertive Discipline If he hasn't heard of either of these two guys, then he really is a rubbish teacher who doesn't keep up with the times. Obviously, he'll probably think you're an annoying little upstart, but it might be fun! (On second thoughts, don't antagonise your teachers too much! But you could ask to see the behaviour policy at school which should give clear guidelines on how teachers deal with bad behaviour... is there no system where a member of the senior management team can be called to a classroom to remove persistent offenders?)

I would agree with other advice, go to see the Head or Deputy Head and most importantly, get your parents to complain. Parent Power is everything! Your education is at stake. Many schools don't think music is a very important subject, but it obviously is for you and your education is being disrupted.

Also, it is incredibly unprofessional to call pupils "failures". Your teacher is just making things worse for himself. Make a log of whenever anything like this happens. A supply teacher once called a child in my class stupid and she was never asked back to the school again.

Go round his house and break his legs with a sledge hammer

I wouldn't go that far

You have no idea how much i laughed when i read this!!

A friend and I once recorded a teacher - who happened to be the head teacher's wife - making sexist comments throughout our lessons on a dictophone. We then handed the tape to the deputy head Nothing was ever said again...bliss.

Try something like that, haha!

I can envisage this scenario very easily. The teacher, I would be 99% certain, is an NQT, and all the experienced applicants were passed over at interview because the school regards music as rock bottom priority (or perhaps next to bottom with RE being bottom - it's funny how Art and PE never seem to be bottom priority). Then not enough applied for GCSE music, most of those who did apply thought it would be a regular session sitting around playing demo buttons on the keyboards but still the class was undersubscribed so the senior staff used it as a dumping ground because after all the really musical pupils are going to sail through GCSE anyway and the ones who chose it as a keyboard demo playing session wouldn't do much better whatever class they were in and it's only five As to Cs that count for anything on the school's league tables.

Meanwhile the poor NQT probably has it in the neck from senior members of staff on a regular basis, probably dreads Monday mornings and is counting the days until the summer holidays, after which he will probably be moving on and you'll probably get another NQT.

Does it sound about right? I have, a couple of times, come across more experienced male teachers who aren't much better, so you might have one of those (for some reason experienced female teachers always seem to be reasonably good - perhaps that's because if they're not, they change careers more easily than men?)

You complaining to senior management won't actually achieve anything I'm afraid except to make sure this teacher, if by any chance he is still planning to be there next year (by which time he might be better able to control a class) will leave and you'll just get a different NQT. On the other hand if you're really lucky this teacher already has another job lined up and the school has decided that they really will have to invest in a more experienced teacher, so they might just go for someone who's got a year's experience. If you're lucky.

Liz

On the other hand, Liz, if the motivated pupils suffer in silence, the school will continue to treat the Music GCSE class as a containment/kindergarten dumping ground at which they throw NQT after NQT.

Things don't get better if people don't point the problems out to those who have an opportunity to do something about it.

What a c*** teacher. Poor you. It's not fair and so wrong that this is happening in schools.

It's unbelievable that the teacher hasn't found a way of teaching the ones who want to learn, and concentrates more on those who don't want to learn.

If you said anything to the Head, there is always the danger of being called a snitch.

Unfortunately, it's mob rule, probably with their parents backing.

I agree with the suggestions of having to be proactive yourself, and getting stuff on the coursework yourself. From the sounds of it, you'll learn more. Could your private music teacher help you on things you're not sure on.

Good luck.

This is precisely why I would never teach music in secondary school! I used to want to be a teacher, but helping out (as part of sixth form) convinced me not to. I think it's because I'm fundamentally quite selfish and lazy - I would only want to teach those who wanted to learn. The rest, I don't really care about and I certainly would resent the time I had to spend on them to enforce acceptable behaviour, leaving the pupils who wanted to learn in the lurch.

I suppose it's why I enjoy private teaching.

Go give the kids ruining your class a good beating! That'll inspire them...

Matt

Baseball bats or hockey sticks?

Personally I think that using something musical would be quite ironic, like a trombone, or a ridiculously oversized conductors baton.

Matt

hey, we'll have no trombone abuse, thank you very much!

My deepest apologies meerkat!

Matt

Report on Music lesson this morning
I didn't complain to my head of year about my teacher, but I didn't need to in the end. She knew what had been going on because my Music teacher told her about it. She came into our lesson this morning and she made a speech to us, and one of the things she talked about was coursework. She found out that I was one of the four people out of a class of about 22 who has completed at least one piece of courswork. When I heard that, I was shocked, just like she was as well . As a result, she said that everyone (except me and the three other people) must work on a piece of coursework over half-term and hand it in on the first week back, otherwise they will be in trouble.

As for the lesson, that went much better, and I actually learnt something (about Serialism and Minimalism ). Unfortunately (or should I say 'luckily'?), I haven't got a lesson tomorrow because I'm going on a trip to Greenwich University.

Can't imagine what Friday will be like...

Car Expert

Hopefully things will now start to improve. I'm sure your head of year will keep an eye on this for the foreseeable future!

A bit late as a reply this but never mind.

I think you could try one of the "larruping base oboes" currently being offered for sale on e-bay France. (Actually a bassoon to you and me).

I like to imagine the French riot police being armed with these.

Hahaha, that made me chuckle!

Talk to your head of year. If that doesnt work get your parents to write into your school or come into the school for a meeting.

Update on my GCSE Music class

The lesson today was... well... pretty useless. We got no work done because everyone kept talking (and some even threw paper aeroplanes ) and the teacher couldn't be bothered to teach. We were meant to be doing exam practice for the exam coming up in December. So I did the sensible thing and did some other work.

He also showed up the sheet which shows who has done which pieces of coursework (the coursework deadline has now passed), and I would say by looking at that only a quarter or a third of the coursework got completed out of the whole class, and possibly only a fifth of people completed all of the coursework. I have no problem him saying that we are the worst GCSE Music class that he's ever taught, but it shouldn't mean that he should stop teaching all of us.

A suggestion was made by my friend, who said that the naughty students should not attend Music lessons, as this will only disrupt the education of people like me.

Hope things improve during the course of this week (although it seems unlikely IMO).

Car Expert

The coursework deadline has passed? Who is your teacher trying to kid? It's really something like May, if memory serves.

This does sound like a pretty rotten situation. On the other hand if it's a new teacher (almost certainly it is since that is the first place most schools choose to economise) and he has had lots of troublemakers dumped into GCSE music because that is always a seriously undersubscribed subject, then the teacher is not entirely to blame.

Assuming your practical music skills are up to grade 4 or so you'll sail through the exam anyway, though it is a pity for your grades not to be what they could be


Liz

I think it was meant to be May, but my assistant headteacher changed it to the end of this half-term.He's not new; he's been at the school for about five years now.Yep, it is

Car Expert

That is awful, but you need to do what you can - Make sure all YOUR coursework is up to date, and as good as it can be. Use your lunchtimes and come in to do the practice you need to. Ask if you can be excused from music lessons which are plainly useless and do what you can for yourself. And I'm sure that everyone on here will do thier best to help you. Go for it!