An online forum on Educating Service Children run by the House of Commons Defence Committee

Teachers

We would like to hear from teachers who work, or have worked, in Service schools abroad, or with Service children in UK schools, and from other educationalists.

  • Does the mobility of Service children cause particular issues?
  • Are there problems with information moving between schools?
  • Are there curriculum issues, particularly for those moving between different parts of the UK?
  • What are the positive aspects of working within a garrison community?
  • What has been your experience of teaching the children of Service personnel? Are there particular issues, and what needs to be done to address these?

previous discussion

Working for SCE

Posted by deshart on 11/05/2006 - 15:27

I am a teacher working in a secondary school in Cyprus. I am also the Chair of the SCE Staff Side Unions which represent most of the teachers working in the Agency. As part of this function I have met many teachers working for SCE and have had the chance to visit many schools.

It is my impression that SCE provides an education that is better than the ‘English’ average. This is reflected in our results and through external reports such as Ofsted.

Despite being outside the UK mainstream our schools are up to date when it comes to current UK practice and indeed the resourcing we enjoy, alongside the smaller class sizes than UK, means our students get a very good education. As one recently arrived colleague who has his own school age children said to me, we offer a ‘public school’ education in a state sector setting.

Using the ‘free schools meals’ measure we are classed as affluent schools. Despite this our teachers face challenges that are different to those in England. People have commented on the turbulence of our students, the fact that posting changes often occur at the most inconvenient times for our students (our last battalion change involved the arrival of a regiment from Scotland over Easter, three weeks before the NC Tests and a month before GCSE’s).

Also our teachers have to cope with the emotional stresses affecting children when one parent is serving in an operational area whose dangers are brought home to them each evening thanks to the availability of 24 hour TV news. Again through hard work in school as well as support from central services provided by the Agency these complex issues are addressed.

To close I would like to say the majority of teachers I have spoken to enjoy working in well resourced schools that provide a top quality education in many different geographical locations.

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