Teacher talk

Maria Carroll, 48, teaches English and film at the Saint Francis Xavier Sixth Form College in Clapham, south London

What do you think of Charles Clarke's proposals to give grants of £60,000 a year to independent schools to share their expertise with state schools?

First, if recent research about students from state schools getting better degrees than those from independent schools is right, I'd say the expertise is in the state system. I think this is fudging and obfuscation of the real issues. In a nutshell, state-school teachers are under-funded and under-supported, yet they get some great results. We're being league-tabled and paperworked to death, but the Government isn't taking a grass-roots look at what good teaching is all about. I'm with the teacher who was expecting an Ofsted inspection last week, and just drove away!

How about Mr Clarke's plan to put successful head teachers in charge of local federations of schools, to drive up standards in poorly performing schools?

I'm sick of the phrase "poorly performing schools". Schools with bad results are in poorly subsidised areas with problems such as inadequate housing and refugee crises. These places find it hard to attract experienced teachers, and are often full of young graduates doing their best but struggling with difficult pupils from deprived backgrounds. The solution isn't to get a certain head teacher in, it's about addressing the infrastructure of the whole neighbourhood.

Do you welcome the new vocational education options for 14- to 19-year-olds?

Yes, about time! But I'm sceptical about whether they've been thought through properly. I've seen GCSE leisure and tourism work that asks students to go into a leisure centre and say how it could be improved. Last time I looked, that was called consultancy. These courses must be realistic. Truly vocational courses would offer accreditation for practical skills such as silver-service waiting, and would be partly run by industry professionals. This would be expensive, but unless done properly, vocational courses won't be able to compete with academic courses in terms of kudos.

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