Teachers face the sack in 5-year licence plan
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Independent Minds
Teachers will face MOT-style checks every five years as part of a drive to improve classroom standards.
All newly qualified teachers will be given a licence to teach from next September and will face the prospect of being struck off and sacked if they fail their check-ups.
The licence scheme will be expanded to cover every teacher in the country over the next few years. The move was announced as part of Schools Secretary Ed Balls' long-awaited White Paper on education published yesterday.
Mr Balls made it clear that he expected some teachers to have their licences revoked as a result of their assessments.
"It may be that we discover there are some teachers who won't be re- licensed," he said. "If, in the end, there are teachers who move from school to school because they aren't succeeding and this is covering up inadequacy then that's something we should address."
The plan was immediately attacked by Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, who said: "There are no shortages of accountability measures against which teachers are judged – from initial teacher training, through their induction year and Ofsted inspections."
The Conservatives immediately said they would not support the plan as it was "yet another huge bureaucratic measure that will cost a fortune and cause all sorts of problems".
However, Chris Keates, general secretary of the rival National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: "Professions such as medicine and law already have licences to practise. These enhance their professional standing."
The main thrust of the 103-page document gives both teachers and parents a guaranteed series of rights they can expect from schools.
They include the right – for a pupil – to quality teaching, one-to-one tuition for children struggling to keep up in maths and English, access to at least five hours of sport or PE a week and even the right to be taught in a healthy school.
For parents, it will guarantee access to a personal tutor to discuss their child's education in secondary schools and their child's teacher in primaries.
In addition, they will be guarantees the school operates a fair admissions procedure.
In exchange, parents will have to abide by home-school agreements ensuring their child's good behaviour and could face court action over unruly behaviour or even prison if they fail to pay fines.
Mr Balls said: "We're for the first time setting out in a way no other government has done before a statutory entitlement for every child and every parent."
However, John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, argued: "This is a sledgehammer solution to crack a nut. The parent guarantee in the White Paper will potentially open up even more grounds for vexatious complaints."
Yesterday's White Paper also paves the way for the introduction of school report cards, already in use in New York, which will give all schools a grading from A to F.
The Parent's Guarantee
* The right to a fair admissions procedure.
* A named personal tutor to talk to about their child's secondary schooling.
* Their views on their child's school to be included on new school report cards.
The Pupil's Guarantee
* Relevant and challenging learning in all subjects.
* All secondary school pupils will have a personal tutor.
* One-to-one tuition for those struggling in maths and English at primary school.
* Access to five hours of sport or PE a week.
* The right to be taught in a healthy school.
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Comments
The voters will have their revenge on this venal simian drongo - and he'll never work again as an MP, ever.
Yet more claptrap. Balls' seems to be doing education this week as opposed to pseudo-Chancellor which he seemed to be sharing with Mandelson last week. Teachers, just like anyone else, can be sacked if they are incompetent. Having a sword of Damacles hanging over all of them is hardly going to inspire the bulk of them who are competent. Fortunately this policy from the nuthouse will never see the light of day - we can't be wasting public money on this nonsense, and there will be another government within a year.
When I raised concerns at school about my childs poor reading and spelling standards I was told "its when they get to 16 and still cant read and write you should start to worry".
The head and my childs teacher frequently insisted I was making a fuss over nothing.
I offered to work with the school and requested additional homework, my offer was refused as they felt my child didnt need additional support managing the school work. The head wouldnt acknowledge there was a problem... it was even suggested that I move my child if I didnt like it...after 8 months thats exactly what I did.
In the initiall assessment at the new school it was identified that my childs readng/writing age was almost 12 months behind expected development for thier age, thankfully, with the help of a superb teacher and intensive school support my child has caught up. I shudder to think what would have happened if Id listened to the advice ministered at the previous school.
Incidently, that school is now classfied as a failing school.
I had these at school in England in the early '70's. They gave my grade in each subject and an overall or average grade. My Mum and Dad knew about them so I had to take them home :(
re. The Parent;s Guarentee and The Pupil's Guarentee:- This is not a guarentee of the Parent, it is a guarentee to the parent, from the school or the government. As such it's proper description would be Parent's Rights (or similar word).
So, how about a Teacher's Rights and a School's Rights? These could include pupil who turn up to school and parents/pupils who don't insult and assault teachers. How about pupils who pay attention in class and don't disrupt teaching? Teachers not being required to act as psychiatric social workers to pupils who's upbringing has been so bad that they are a short step from being feral? Too much to ask I suppose.
You don't tell us the age of your child, jaciboy, but I can tell you - having been involved in special needs for many years, that a child who cannot read by seven is in serious trouble.
Children who leave primary school with a reading age below ten will regress in secondary school: I know, I've seen it too often.
If this all rings bells, start being a real pest!
http://democraticdeficit.com/index.h
When I was in the probation service, some 20 years ago a mere main-grade officer but very keen to become a team leader, I looked round at all the dead wood at the level to which I aspired and thought that a scheme like this applied to them might well improve the general standard of the service at middle manager level. (I made it in due course.)
This is the reality of professional life these days, as mentioned in the article. Professional individuals such as teachers, healthcare workers, and the like, need to be able to show that they are keeping up their standards.
Normally a mentoring/assistance programme is in-built, with licence removal as a last resort.
Now, if I have to do all this just to look after your investments, pensions and insurances, why would it be wrong to treat the people that are supposed to be educating your children for their future in the same way?
Surely it is the training of teachers that needs to be reassessed if a teacher is failing to meet standards? Rather than just preventing them from working?
There is such distrust of teachers when we are all doing our best to do the job. As someone earlier pointed out - it would be nice if there was a guarantee for teachers' that meant pupils had to turn up, do the work and be well behaved. C'est la vie...