Problems with education system in the UK: An interview with Sienna Chivers

Up until they leave school, children in the UK are constantly tested and are among the least happy in the world, while teachers remain unhappy, unfulfilled, and underpaid.

This is due to the “teach to test” culture that has grown in the UK, particularly in England. “Teach to test” came from stressed teachers who were under a lot of pressure to record the best grades for their pupils. A survey in 2019 said that many state school teachers say that a lot of their work is meaningless because it has been reduced to capturing metrics rather than real learning, which demonstrates how this culture negatively impacts both teachers and students. Though they are often underpaid for the hours they work no matter where they teach, many teachers would prefer to work at private schools since they are paid more and seem to be valued more than teachers who work at state schools. Over the course of the pandemic teachers have been called “essential workers”, but the lack of respect and compensation for them has revealed how low education lies on any governments list of priorities.

Teachers in the UK aren’t the only ones under serious mental stress, with mental health problems affecting 1 in 10 students. These problems can stem from a number of situations, whether it’s dealing with financial stress or rigorous school testing.

Tuition fees for universities in the UK are also among the highest in the world; students are forced to take student loans carrying interest rates of between 3.3 and 6.3%, which means that there could be potentially lifelong debt for students who don’t come from wealthy families.

Hi Sienna! Can you tell me a bit about yourself? Who are you? What are your interests? What are you most passionate about?

Hi I’m Sienna and I’m currently studying criminology and sociology at the University of Stirling in Scotland. I came from a private school in England beforehand and ended up here, I don’t know how. My interests are mainly sports because I’m really passionate about hockey, which I’ve played all my life. I am playing hockey at university now.

What are you most passionate about?

Other than hockey, I’d say caring for others and making sure that everyone is treated the way they’d like to be treated. That is something I can control rather than say world peace and all that. Obviously I would feel passionate about that but like I said, I chose to say something that I can control.

How long did you attend private schools for? Do you feel privileged in the fact that you attended independent or private schools instead of state schools?

So I attended private schools for pretty much all of my life, 14 years before I came to university. As to feeling privileged, I feel privileged in the fact that my parents paid for education and quite a lot for education really. State schools in my opinion are the same standard without the pay and you get the same quality of teaching and yeah fair, you don’t get all the private meals. So yes, I’m privileged in the fact that I got meals and the community of a boarding house and that kind of school family but I’m sure that they have the equivalent in state schools. I know that my aunt teaches in a state school and I know how much she cares about her pupils.

Do you feel that you have experienced the education system differently because you went to a private school? If you do, why do you feel this?

As I slightly touched on it before, yeah possibly, it was different but it doesn’t mean that it led to a different result in the end, I feel like it may be . . . I mean I can’t compare it with anything because I have actually never been to a state school or experienced the education system differently . . . I’d say no but there are slight factors that are different, maybe for example when you go to a state school you go more to learn a wide range of things, so I feel like I have an experience of the core things at a private school. But that’s pretty much all I can say on the topic, seeing as I can’t really compare it but yeah . . .

Do you feel that you have benefitted from the exam algorithm for your A levels last year because of the school you were at? If so, why?

I’m not totally sure what my school had on the actual algorithm, I know for a fact that the algorithm messed me up a little bit, it didn’t predict the grades that I feel I could have achieved in the end. I feel like my teachers also agree, the fact that I went to that certain school... I don’t know how much the algorithm actually affects it. I know that my school had very clever people and I feel that could have changed the algorithm but every school has those kinds of people. I don’t really know how the school would affect it but I have heard that that is the case so yes I guess but I’m not really sure how or to what extent.

Do you feel that your teachers at the private schools that you attended made you work harder than if you had attended a state school?

No, I don’t think so, I think it's pretty equal, really I don’t have anything to compare it to. Again, my aunt, I know how much she encouraged her pupils to study and that kind of thing so I don’t really know but I don’t think so, I think it’s pretty equal. I think the teachers are pretty similar at both schools so yeah, I wouldn’t say so.

Do you think that you should be paying the full fees for university at the moment or not because of the difference between online teaching and how it would be normally? Why or why not?

Personally, I don’t think so, I don’t think we should be paying the full fees. I have been at university throughout the online teaching, I have actually never been to a live teacher. Last semester, I had one live, it wasn’t even in person, it was just live rather than recorded videos I had to watch in my own time. I know that the professors and the teachers and staff have been trying super hard to put all the resources online so it’s accessible for everyone around the world. I think that we’re definitely given more materials than we would have if we were going to live, like face to face lectures, this is purely because they expect you to listen and write notes in the live lectures (face to face) but the fact that we can’t do that, other than just videos, we have it all there, which I think is good. I feel like they are trying as hard as they possibly can. As I haven’t had a full uni experience of the normal without the pandemic, I don’t know how different it actually was and how it is affecting us that much. All I know is it’s all online and I don’t even know what my professor looks like. All those fees that get brushed under that you need to think about. The fees for accommodations are not worth it, some people are at home, their internet isn’t good. You can go into accommodations for wellbeing purposes, but it’s definitely not the full uni experience. I’ve paid for all the sports but I’ve only had 4 sessions of sports and that was socially distanced so definitely not worth it in that front. But from the university’s point of view, they need the money to keep the university going and they are being affected as much as we are during the pandemic, if not worse actually because they have a business to keep going. It’s not fair on them, the pandemic... but they have offered things like grants and money off and all that but I don’t think you should be putting the full fees, but online teaching is not as bad as everyone thinks, but then again I can’t compare it to face to face because I haven’t experienced it.

Are you staying at university in Scotland at the moment?

Yes, I am staying at university. I have stayed all, well . . . I have had one semester and now I have just entered a new one, which has actually all been in the times of the pandemic so it’s very different to how the normal university experience would have been. Comparing this semester and last semester, I think things are trying to open up but then we are actually back in national lockdown, which we weren’t in before so there is nothing on. Gyms are closed, no facilities are open so it’s literally you in your flat and people have been advised not to return back to university so not many people are on campus to make it. It’s very different, you can’t really compare it to anything, but last semester was fun. This is definitely just in Scotland and you can’t compare it to England but I know some of my friends from England are saying the same thing as they are also in national lockdown. But they might be coming out of lockdown earlier than us so I’ll be interested in asking them the difference between being in lockdown and not being in lockdown for them.

Are you aware of the mental health problems that university students have had to face? Have you had to encounter any of the mental health services at the university?

That’s a really good question. So obviously with the whole pandemic, it’s really isolating. Mental health has been a big issue for many, many people. For me, personally, it has been an issue, I haven’t had to reach out to people. I have been made aware of the services that are available in the university however I haven’t needed to reach out to them but I have been around some other people who are really, really struggling with it all. Especially actually starting a new chapter, from going to a private school to a university, as a step is very different and as the A level year was cut off for a lot of us, we didn’t get to prepare ourselves for this new chapter of life. So mental health wise, it could have really impacted; for me, I had kind of sorted mental health before I came to university luckily but that doesn’t say that lockdown and being on my own in a different country and away from my family hasn’t impacted me, which it has. But university has made it clear what services there are here but feeling isolated in university is very surreal and a very real problem because you know what it should be like. It should be crowded with people and you shouldn’t be able to get to sleep at night because of the crowd of people outside your window but in fact it’s literally a ghost town, there’s no one there and you know, you also know that you can’t mix households so if you needed that friend to chat to and get that support from and everyone has to do that now and then, if not a lot, they can’t unless it’s social distanced. And a simple hug you might need to help yourself feel a little bit better is not allowed and this can really impact mental health for everyone really so yeah big thing but university, definitely mine, I’m not sure about others, they have made it clear that you can reach out and all that so yeah.

Have you had many friends staying in your household at the moment at university and is there anyone else nearby that you can talk to about anything?

Luckily, I am quite lucky with my flatmates. I have at the moment, well I have six, well five, at the beginning, one left because he was a swimmer and there was not really much reason for him being at university because the pool was closed because of the lockdown so he left. We were left with five of us, including me, and we had that last semester and then this semester, one of my flatmates decided to pull out because they wanted to save money as it wasn’t justified to stay here if you’re running out of money as there’s not that much point, you know? At the moment I have 3 other people, so there are 4 of us in the flat, luckily we’re very close, I can go and talk to them if . . . you know and likewise they talk to me and yeah. But I’m lucky with that and I do know many people who are in their flat on their own and the university has told them they’re not allowed to change their household because they, you know, you just can’t enter a new household. And also I do know people who are in a household and don’t get on with their household and going back to the mental health thing, can also be very challenging but just simple challenging in the normal world as well. So I do, luckily have people I can reach out to but I am aware of people who can’t and how tough it is for them.

Do you feel that employment after university is better because you’ve been to university or do you feel that some people who haven’t been to university can still get those places, those jobs, that people who have been to university get?

Yeah, so, I definitely think that going to university is beneficial for getting jobs, not only because it’s an extra higher education but also it’s more specified in the job that you might want to take and also the fact that you’re older joining the job, which definitely I know from experience - I haven’t been able to get jobs because I’m too young for it or I don’t have enough of a life experience for it. But definitely uni provides life experience and maybe not totally in the pandemic but definitely . . . I mean I’ve got 4 years here so I’m really hoping the pandemic will go so I will be able to get that key life experience, which employers at jobs and that really look for. Definitely age is another thing but that’s not to say that people that haven’t been to university can’t get jobs. Nowadays it’s quite about connections and who you know so if they have key connections to get into that employment then they’re good to go and they might also do different things. At the Open University, they do apprenticeships or you know . . . work experience and that kind of thing to get them there and get that life experience. It depends on what job also; for me I want to join the police so they definitely advised me to have life experience, age and they didn’t necessarily need the course that I’m doing but life experience and age was amazing for them. But then working in a café, I don’t think you need to go to university to work in a café. But it is hard work, I know, but the education you’re getting in university might not help you pour some coffees. But then again with the pandemic, finding jobs - there is going to be a lot more competition when the pandemic dies down so I don’t know how that’s going to affect it. But, I mean, I definitely know that during university it’s very hard to get jobs so I hope it differs for after university and I’m sure it will, even if it’s not a job that directly relates to your course but I think just the life experience is the main thing. And also, you know, you know friends and also connections at university can provide - they have professors and they have, you know, people that send you in the right direction which would help maybe. You wouldn’t get that if you didn’t go to university but then you could also reach out for the university’s mental health service. It is basically about connections and getting the right information and saying the right things but also if it’s a job that you need to be knowledgeable in the topic, you will need qualifications, whether you do that in university or not, I’m not sure it matters. But university is a good place to get it done because everyone is in the same boat but even if you didn’t go to uni, got a job and you need higher education, you can always go back to uni when you’re older. There’s no age limit in that so yeah.

Thank you for your time.

The motivation behind this interview was to find out whether a former pupil at a private school for most of her life had felt privileged because of where she went to school. She is a student at university and she also talked about how she felt about the services that the university has provided and is still providing during the pandemic.