Job Discussion Forums

[cartago]

I work for an international school teaching 4th grade. It's a new school. Most of the students have very poor English. So far we've had years 3 and 4 split up, so that the lower students from year 3 and 4 are together and the higher ones are together. I'm teaching the higher class.

Now, the head teacher wants to put all of the students together based on their year. This would be a disaster for me because my class would almost double and the level of the class will go down. I'll have students with fairly good English in the same class as those who barely know anything.

The head teacher's response is that we should be able to differentiate among our students and she also expects us to use the Cambridge material which is designed for native speakers. I think the reason for these decisions are to fit the criteria of a Cambridge accreditation but I don't see what the point of having Cambridge accreditation is if it results in policies that are damaging to education. What works in Britain may not work here. Another reason for this may be to fit the rules of the Iraqi education system but I think that may be easier to get around.

The year 3 teacher I work with also objects to the switch but I think he will have less reason to strongly object because it will mean he will just lose a lot of his students and gain only two. Most of year 3 is very low and it's only in year 4 that there's a big difference. The school is new and currently only goes up to year 4. The other teachers don't like the head teacher but they are similarly not very effected although they have objected to students being taken out of their class and put in another without even being consulted.

So my question is -

Are my objections to this reasonable or should a teacher be able to accommodate English language learners of very different abilities in the same classroom?

Does anyone know if this is really a requirement of Cambridge accreditation?

Any other related advice

[Mushkilla]

Is the head teacher an Iraqi?