A lesson from history

Thursday, 19 January 2012

We stood in silence when the teacher entered the classroom. The only thing worse than doing homework was what happened if we didn't do it.

Punishment for falling short of the expected standards, and this was not restricted to academic performance, was swift and usually painful.

At the time, several decades ago, there was nothing exceptional about my school. I fear, however, that the rounded education we received and the qualities it nurtured in us would be considered quite remarkable by today's standards.

Which is why, in a report just published, the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, is to be applauded for his courageous and controversial proposals to make sacking incompetent teachers easier.

The facts speak for themselves: in the last decade, of England's 400,000 teachers only 17 have been banned from applying for another job in teaching after being judged incompetent by the General Teaching Council.

(I would have made that 18 simply on the basis of a school report a grandparent showed me recently. Writing, glowingly, about the grandson in question, the teacher made three basic spelling mistakes. The subject was English).

Mr Gove's proposals mean that in future, sacking a bad teacher can be achieved in just nine weeks - against the current average of 12 months. Head teachers will be given greater powers to weed out under-performing staff. Classroom standards will be raised.

And parents will be allowed to visit classrooms to see for themselves the education their children are receiving. (I sincerely hope this extends to grandparents in due course).

No doubt Mr Gove's plans will be met with a wave of protest and threats of strike action from some quarters. But the plans must go ahead - we owe it to our grandchildren to have teachers as good as our own were.

There's an important lesson here: once again, in order to progress, we must look to the past.

David Thomas, Editor