Dear Nicky,
It has been news for some time now that this year has seen a fall in the number of teacher training applications, and I read this morning that you blame the media for its negative portrayal of teachers and teaching.
I agree that the media has made a bad situation much worse, but it has merely propagated the views of the government – particularly those of your predecessor, Michael Gove, who appeared to have a genuine dislike of the teaching profession (remember ‘the blob’)as well as very little idea of what is involved in state education.
You have said many things that make me, and many others who care about education, wonder how genuinely you really care or understand what is involved in teaching and learning; however, it has been noticed that, unlike Gove, you are more inclined to admit mistakes (your vote against gay marriage being just one) and this gives hope to some that perhaps you will listen to, and take seriously, the views of those with actual teaching experience.
First, let’s look at the real problem with teacher numbers: the fact that existing teachers are leaving the profession in droves.
It is commendable that you now seek the highest quality graduates to enter teaching: only the best should be good enough to teach the next generation. But what are you doing to persuade those existing well qualified teachers, who are completely disillusioned with the current tick-box system, to want to stay – or even return?
That would have the biggest and most immediate positive impact on the quality of our schools. I have a 2:1 from the University of Cambridge and enjoyed a very successful ten-year teaching career (until I no longer felt able to dupe pupils, parents and employers into believing that state education actually equates to real learning) but nothing is being done to persuade me that a return to the classroom would be worth the effort, and I am just one of so many who feel the same.
The majority of teachers enter the profession because they have positive ideals about education and the ways in which children learn effectively. Yes, there is a handful who have no business being in a classroom, but that is true of every profession. The majority really are there for the best of reasons: to teach. Yet increasingly they are prevented from doing the very thing for which they have been trained, all because the system is run by those who do not understand pedagogy, or who have a personal agenda (Gove) or who see teachers as scapegoats for society’s ills. It’s all about money and targets and tick boxes. It’s no longer about the pupils.
Just to give you one of hundreds of examples of which I am aware: I tutor a ten-year-old boy who is dyslexic. He has a wonderful vocabulary, an understanding of concepts way beyond his years and is one of the most articulate and intelligent young people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. His mother has tried just about everything to get help for him, but because he is meeting the expected average levels, there is no funding to help him.
I know that this boy is capable of so much more than he is able to show and that, with appropriate help, he would be amongst the highest performing pupils in his school. As it is, school is a miserable place for him just now. He is taken out of IT, DT and art lessons – those lessons for which he is able to demonstrate his talents – so that he can sit with a teaching assistant to do more reading and writing in order to keep him within that magical national average.
His teachers are not happy about this situation, but what can they do? Their future careers depend upon not allowing this boy’s statistical data to drop below its current level: of course they will do everything to make sure they tick all those Ofsted boxes and ensure that their school meets its targets and does not slip down the league tables.
Teachers know that teaching in the UK is no longer about learning, and an increasing number of parents are now seeing the full picture; this would explain the increase in the number of parents looking to home school their children.
More than the media, I blame the target and league table culture, as well as Ofsted’s arbitrary and ever changing criteria, for the decreasing number of good quality teachers. Children’s learning needs to be back at the top of the educational agenda, and pretty damned fast!
No quality graduate with any self respect would consider teaching in today’s educational climate: indeed, my daughter – who is very well qualified and would make an excellent teacher – has seen the effect the ‘profession’ has had on me and many of my former colleagues and refuses to even consider it. Such a waste.
If you want good quality graduates to apply – and I agree that they should be of excellent quality – you will need to reconsider the way in which existing teachers are treated, and also how they are portrayed: by you, by the government and by the media.
Yours sincerely
Kathy Salaman
PS Did you notice that I didn’t mention pay, pensions, working hours or working conditions?