Leading article: Dissent is OK

Children should be encouraged to object, say "no" and even disagree with their teachers sometimes, according to Mick Waters, head of curriculum at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Otherwise, how are they going to say "no" when it really matters? How will they be able to protest when someone is trying to make them join a gang or take drugs, he asked the education conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in London. Waters is right. The problem is that few teachers are really going to want to encourage dissent from pupils unless they are brilliant at their jobs, extremely experienced and self-confident.