Schools/VECs requesting LC results in job application forms

Dostoevsky

Does any other teacher have a problem with this? I applied for a position on www.vecvacancies.ie a while ago and they wanted the LC results of all my students.

The results weren't good, at least in comparison to the results from the fee-paying school LC students whom I taught before this. They were, however, excellent for most of the kids (all passed; most got honours), kids who a few years ago would have been designated mentally retarded and nowadays should, at very very best, be doing the LCA.

I had them for the established LC because they loved the school and the school, which is an inner city DEIS school that does not have the LCA, couldn't exactly get rid of them after their JC. So, could somebody please tell me how the people in the recruitment section of Co. Dublin VEC can judge the success of my teaching? Am I a less successful teacher in this school than I was in the fee-paying school I was in before simply because I'm not getting as many As and Bs? If they have no scientifically-based method to use the information from this question intelligently, why are they allowed ask it? How many teachers have their application condemned based on these raw results being stripped of all the socio-economic factors behind them?

Is it beyond the intelligence of the Department of Education to create a more accurate measurement of the success of a teacher than LC results? What is the big problem for the league-table obsessed pen pushers in the Irish Department of Education (and The Irish Times/Seán Flynn who lap up school "league tables" every year) to see that a student's success is relative to his/her starting level/where they've come from, and that a teacher's "success" with these students should be viewed in the same way? Can anybody argue against the creation of such a measurement system as a fairer replacement for the existing one?

For the record, I know I'm a much better teacher now and without question the most admirable kids I've ever met are a few of those who got a 'C' or 'D' in Ordinary Level for the LC. Those kids were a success, compared to where they started from/where their parents finished, just by putting on the uniform and staying on until sixth year.

This application form question is simply a way to discriminate not against "bad teachers" (where rationally-based discrimination should, of course, exist) but against teachers who teach in deprived areas where the results are highly unlikely to be as good (in LC terms, obviously) as fee-paying schools with all their socio-economic and educational advantages.

Using such a system to discriminate and impede the career development of good teachers is yet another warning to teachers in deprived schools who want to move that the system you work for is configured at the most crucial stages against you and will in effect punish you for working in such schools.

rainbowtrout

I wouldn't be half as concerned about their crude method of judging you as a teacher as the fact that they think they are entitled to this information on other students from other schools.

What ever happened to protection of personal information, in this case the students'?

vamos!

Am I the only one who can't remember my results? I can remember an A1 to be fair and I know that only one students ever failed at LC but other than that I can only remember the relief that John did better than expected and that Mary got her course. Whether it was a B2 or a C3 that helped them be happy with their results is beyond me. I can't even remember my own LC results!

evolving_doors

This is crackerjack

... You have only 2 choices as far as i can see

1. Get all your students to post you their results as proof and copy them and sen them on !!!

2. Reply back with this made up list (notice the high degree of A's in my class) A1 B2 A2 A1 B2 C1 etc...

Am I missing something here?

Can;t they just ring your referee/principal and ask generally...

Inspector Coptoor

I was asked to provide my own LC results from 2001 in a recent job application.

What in the name of be jaysis are they at?

Toto Wolfcastle

I have deleted all the off-topic posts. If you have a problem with a post please report it rather than dragging the thread off topic. As always, please do not respond to this post on thread. PM me if you have any questions. Thanks.

whiteandlight

I suspect that perhaps they are asking for your own results OP? I can't imagine that they want your whole classes results

vamos!

Musicmental85 wrote: »

I suspect that perhaps they are asking for your own results OP? I can't imagine that they want your whole classes results

That would make more sense alright. I have been in an interview situation where I was quizzed on my own Leaving Cert. I couldn't actually remember some of them but I was asked could I teach subjects in which I got an A to Junior Cert classes. This has happened a number of times. I have never had a job where I just taught my own subjects.