Teaching should not be job for life, says think-tank

31 Jul 08
Teaching should not be viewed as a career for life but as something talented people can easily move in and out of, a centre-Right think-tank has suggested.

01 August 2008

Teaching should not be viewed as a career for life but as something talented people can easily move in and out of, a centre-Right think-tank has suggested.

Policy Exchange said this week that more high-calibre graduates and professionals should be encouraged into teaching.

The July 28 report, More good teachers, recommended replacing undergraduate teacher training courses with a suite of school-based courses for students and those considering a change of career. The courses would be 'on the job', allowing trainees to earn while they learn.

The think-tank claims the current course attracts academically weak applicants.

Senior managers and professionals planning to move into teaching would be able to join a school's senior management board while they trained to teach, the report suggested.

Sam Freedman, Policy Exchange's head of education research and co-author of the report, said teaching needed to be made more appealing to the best graduates.

He said: 'At the moment, teacher training and teacher pay are designed for a career for life. Talented graduates and professionals are put off by the idea of spending another year in higher education to train and getting further into debt – especially if they want to teach only for a few years. Equally, the idea of having to stay in the profession for ten or 20 years to earn a decent salary is a massive disincentive.'

But Graham Holley, chief executive of the Training and Development Agency for Schools, said the public rated teaching as a highly talented profession.

'Teaching continues to attract high-quality candidates,' he said.

'Academic qualifications are just one of the factors that are taken into account when assessing the potential of an applicant to be a good teacher. We are interested in good teachers, not just good entry qualifications.'

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