It also proposes making the current numeracy and literacy tests for teachers much tougher and says it will reduce the number of re-takes that are allowed currently one in seven re-sit at least one paper more than three times. The government will also pilot assessments of "aptitude, personality and resilience" with the aim of introducing these into the selection process for trainee teachers. But, as Dylan Wiliam argues, "replacing teachers with better ones" is a "very slow strategy" for improving teacher quality.
That is because the "churn-rate" for retiring teachers being replaced by new ones is only around 20, a year out of a teaching profession of some , So it would take many years before the effects of the White Paper changes on teacher recruitment start to make a system-wide impact.
Of course, it would theoretically be possible to speed up the churn, by sacking more lower-performing teachers. But that would be expensive as it would require training many more teachers at a time when rising pupil numbers are already putting this under pressure.
It would also mean political battles with teachers' unions. So Dylan Wiliam says it may be better to focus more on improving the quality of existing teachers. The White Paper, though, says rather more about initial teacher training than it does about professional development. For Michael Gove, teaching is a "craft" that is best learnt on-the-job. So the government plans to shift teacher training from the universities and into schools, creating "teaching schools" on the model of "teaching hospitals".
But Chris Husbands, director designate of the Institute of Education, thinks this sort of thinking is "based on a now outdated view of the distinction between 'theory' and 'practice' - in almost no other profession is this distinction seen as a sensible way of organising thinking about professional learning". One assistant headteacher from the Midlands expected to see "a very traditional curriculum, rows of pupils, teacher in front, students there to learn".
And indeed she did. But she also saw a whole lot more: traditional methods blended with more progressive thinking, and a focus on teaching the whole child, not just on exam results. It gave the British teachers plenty to ponder. International comparisons are fraught with difficulties; it is easy to forget that what works in one country will not flourish in another. But Singapore has many similarities to the UK. The official language of school instruction is English, there is a national curriculum, and the national examinations are O- and A-levels, administered by Cambridge Assessment.
It was soon clear to the British teachers that there are similar challenges. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multilingual society. But maybe the wheel is turning?
Self-improvement is a key weapon in a teacher's armoury The new curriculum for year olds, due to start in September, puts much greater emphasis on teacher innovation and local adaptability to pupils' needs.
The big question now is whether - after 20 years of being told exactly what and how to teach - there are enough teachers ready to be "creatively subversive"?
Also, after years of being told in precise detail how to teach, will teachers feel ready both to devise their own way of teaching and engaging students and also constantly to evaluate and adapt their own teaching methods. We might also ask whether it is too much to ask teachers to do this when, for some, just asserting crowd control requires all their energies.
Finally, although no-one explicitly said a "good teacher" needed to like children, I think this was implicit in their definitions. However, Professor Myhill did say that "a teacher who hates children may be very good at class management but they are unlikely to be very good at encouraging learning". Most Popular Now 56, people are reading stories on the site right now. Low graphics Accessibility help. News services Your news when you want it. News Front Page. E-mail this to a friend Printable version.
By Mike Baker. Teachers with the highest qualifications are not automatically the "best" teachers in the classroom. Self-improvement is a key weapon in a teacher's armoury. Teacher training scheme praised 25 Jan 08 Education. Professionals might argue this is the problem with having amateurs on governing bodies. But if teachers cannot adapt their language when speaking to governors, they are unlikely to fare much better with parents or pupils.
Also, people who understand really well Use this link to get back to this page. Date: Spring From: Education Vol. Publisher: Project Innovation Alabama.
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