Teachers shall show humility

Teachers are being invited to obey a new code of values for their profession, including a commandment to admit they sometimes get things wrong.

The set of ethical principles, the first of its kind to be devised for the education service, is based on two years' work by universities responsible for teacher training.

Among the 11 commandments, published by the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers, are four calling on teachers to exercise humility towards others, including their pupils. They are told to recognise their own fallibility and be willing to admit they may be "mistaken in respect of knowledge and of behaviour".

A spokesman for the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers said teachers have one single commandment to offer: "Thou shalt listen to the voice of the classroom teacher." Lucy Ward