Will the quality of a teacher influence your study score?

[Celeste98]

Hate to say it, but yes. And as mentioned above, this is more so the case in Humanities and English subjects where the effort put in by your teacher will determine the resources or advice given, the amount of feedback you get for your practice essays blah blah -> and potentially influence your SS.

While of course it's ultimately up to YOU how well you do, just think about how a shitty teacher might influence your performance:

- How inspired you are to work hard
- How much feedback you get to self-improve (so important in English)
- How long it takes for you to understand something (some teachers are terrible at explaining)
- It may influence how the rest of your students respond to the subject, possibly weakening your cohort (this was a MAJOR case at my school for one of our LOTE subjects)
- How many resources you get  (while it's better to find things yourself and not be spoon-fed, I won't deny that having all these resources around was relieving and it made things slightly easier)

I also agree that you shouldn't use your teacher as a justification for your mark if you score "poorly", I think it really just is tough luck - you'll have to work that bit harder to sustain motivation and level yourself with the state. Try and get personal feedback nonetheless - I remember in Year 10 when I did chemistry (lol) I had a terrible teacher but after talking to her individually, she was crazy helpful. Don't give up yet

Hi Youshine,

   How are you? I thought selective schools have best teachers?

[pi]

I thought selective schools have best teachers?

Very common misconception. Not going to bother trying to convince AN *again* that this is the case (as we get a lot of hate for it etc etc) but take my word for it.

[Celeste98]

Very common misconception. Not going to bother trying to convince AN *again* that this is the case (as we get a lot of hate for it etc etc) but take my word for it.

Wow.....thanks for clarifying this.......

[Yacoubb]

Hate to say it, but yes. And as mentioned above, this is more so the case in Humanities and English subjects where the effort put in by your teacher will determine the resources or advice given, the amount of feedback you get for your practice essays blah blah -> and potentially influence your SS.

OMG so true. Its like on my Biology exam statement of marks, I scored 7/8 for a question, meaning I got 3 and 4 out of 4 from each assessor. How could I get 4/4 from one assessor, and 3/4 from the other? I mean, it is subjective sometimes for subs like English, Humanities, and theory-based subs with writing, but I dunno... I don't think its entirely fair.

[mackintosh]

Everything has been said, in terms of humanities vs maths. Weirdly, I found that having less engaging/capable teachers can paradoxically make you do more work than you otherwise would have -if you actually care about doing well. This is because you are less likely to rely on your teacher to spoon feed you and more likely to go out and get external help, get access to other resources and generally be more independent in your learning.

[Rod]

I scored pretty well in Biology and did it at a TAFE, with a teacher that wasn't too great. I think that if you can work around a bad teacher, whether its by asking questions on AN, attending tuition lectures, anything that'll help your overcome the fact that your teacher is crap, will help. For Further Maths, my teacher wasn't particularly good either. Working around these things rather than using it as an excuse to justify bad marks is the best imo.

This is really good advice Yacoubb. Thank you. And to everyone I think I was over reacting a bit, I'm really happy with my teachers. I've been talking to others that have had these teachers in the past and they rate them (all except for my physics) very highly.

But still, no excuses.

[Rod]

Thanks everyone! Really motivated now and can't wait to start school next week.

And I don't understand why most people in this thread think 'I have given up', I admit I over reacted a bit but I just wanted people's opinions on what they think about teachers and their influence on your study score. I actually disagree with about 20% of contributors on this thread who think it's essential to have a good teacher to do well. As mentioned my someone else, 80% of your SS comes from hard work, how you spend your time and your determination. Teacher's are there to guide you.

With my rant about bad teachers, I was mostly upset at the fact I'm getting a physics teacher who literally doesn't teach. I don't like teachers who rock up to class unprepapred, and spend the first half and hour clicking on their laptop, asking others where the class is up to and setting up the lesson, I don't like teachers that make you watch videos/do useless pracs while they take a power nap. This is what I might be facing in physics this year, but there is still no excuse in not doing well. I'm just a bit disappointed that these people are getting paid 80k a year for nothing.

I'm really happy with the teachers I have, good luck everyone! Study hard, thank you to all who contributed to this thread.

[Zealous]

With my rant about bad teachers, I was mostly upset at the fact I'm getting a physics teacher who literally doesn't teach. I don't like teachers who rock up to class unprepapred, and spend the first half and hour clicking on their laptop, asking others where the class is up to and setting up the lesson, I don't like teachers that make you watch videos/do useless pracs while they take a power nap. This is what I might be facing in physics this year, but there is still no excuse in not doing well.

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm getting a physics teacher this year who just graduated from university, young and first year teaching. I hope he teaches well.

While I had a really great teacher for both my year 12 subjects last year, I didn't really learn from her because I liked to be ahead and do my own thing. I may have to do that for physics this year.

All the best Rod!

[Professor Polonsky]

Teachers contribute greatly to academic achievement. There's a whole body of literature on this. Your peers also heavily influence your level of academic success. So does your level of ability going into VCE. Anything is possible. But to say that there isn't a very big difference between schools, or to try to provide a numerical value for all those factors, sounds a bit far-fetched to me.

[nerdmmb]

But don't you have to work hard regardless?

[Rod]

But don't you have to work hard regardless?

Yeah, IMO 80% of your SS comes from the amount of work you do. You should be using your teacher as a guide and a resource.

[Rod]

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm getting a physics teacher this year who just graduated from university, young and first year teaching. I hope he teaches well.

While I had a really great teacher for both my year 12 subjects last year, I didn't really learn from her because I liked to be ahead and do my own thing. I may have to do that for physics this year.

All the best Rod!

My chem teacher is also new and young. I reckon one of the main positives of having a teacher like this is they work harder and you could form much closer relationships/bonds with them. Looking forward to meeting all my teachers next week!

Good luck Zealous! And great job on your 3/4 subjects last year!!

[Professor Polonsky]

But don't you have to work hard regardless?

Of course. Just because something else is also a factor, does not mean that the amount of work you put in isn't a very significant one. Keep in mind that this is highly individualistic as well, just because teacher A helped student X achieve in subject L does not mean that'll play as big of a factor in your case. Some people are capable of achieving very high scores without any help from teachers, others will work best through cooperation with their peers, and so forth.

Yeah, IMO 80% of your SS comes from the amount of work you do. You should be using your teacher as a guide and a resource.

I don't really like those figures because they seem to be conjured out of air. Also, 80% of what? The numerical SS?

[Rod]

Of course. Just because something else is also a factor, does not mean that the amount of work you put in isn't a very significant one. Keep in mind that this is highly individualistic as well, just because teacher A helped student X achieve in subject L does not mean that'll play as big of a factor in your case. Some people are capable of achieving very high scores without any help from teachers, others will work best through cooperation with their peers, and so forth.
I don't really like those figures because they seem to be conjured out of air. Also, 80% of what? The numerical SS?

Mate with no disrespect, we know we can't go to private schools like you and receive the best education available in Victoria. That doesn't mean we can't, or I can't do as well as a private school boy just because I may have less resources, less facilities and teachers who aren't chief examiners or VCAA exam markers.

I'm someone really low in confidence, one of my biggest mistakes last year is that I would make excuses and be negative towards everything. I'm trying to be positive here, and despite maybe getting teachers who aren't as good as the teacher's you have been taught by I still think, with hard work and determination I can do well.

Once again no disrespect bud, we are both entitled to our opinions

Rod

[Professor Polonsky]

Mate with no disrespect, we know we can't go to private schools like you and receive the best education available in Victoria. That doesn't mean we can't, or I can't do as well as a private school boy just because I may have less resources, less facilities and teachers who aren't chief examiners or VCAA exam markers.

I'm someone really low in confidence, one of my biggest mistakes last year is that I would make excuses and be negative towards everything. I'm trying to be positive here, and despite maybe getting teachers who aren't as good as the teacher's you have been taught by I still think, with hard work and determination I can do well.

Once again no disrespect bud, we are both entitled to our opinions

Rod

You seem to have misunderstood the point of my post.

If anything, it was a dig at those who claim that going to the top private/selective schools did not advantage them, and it was their hard work that got them where they are.

It is more difficult to achieve in a public school, but certainly it is not impossible. I'd never claim otherwise - there are several examples on this board of very high achievers from public schools. That's why those who do achieve elsewhere deserve, in my opinion, much more respect than those who do so in private/selective schools.

I'm hesitant to start another private vs public school debate, since we get a load of them, but it'll suffice to say that I think the current situation in which money attains you a far superior education is unfair.

Do your best, work hard, and for me that's real achievement right there. The ATAR is just a number, and the way in which you got there counts much more looking back.