Answers on postcard from angry teachers facing licence checks

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) is presenting the school secretary with 17,500 postcards from members confirming their opposition to plans to introduce a licence to teach.

The proposal is contained in the new Children, Schools and Families Bill, which gets its second reading in the Commons today.

Under the plans, originally announced in June, teachers who fail their check-up will be banned from the classroom.

NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: “The 17,500 postcards which teachers have sent in demonstrate the depth of frustration teachers feel about another unnecessary hurdle which Ed Balls expects them to tackle before they can carry on teaching. Indeed, such a large number of postcards show how angry the teaching profession as a whole is about the Licence to Practise.

“Before starting their career, teachers have to go through a rigorous qualification process and a full year induction. Thereafter, teachers are subject to a range of monitoring and evaluation procedures including performance management and regular school inspections. Pay is also dependent upon their performance.

“If the Licence to Practise is intended to lever in professional development then the Government would do far better to guarantee a funded entitlement to every teacher which they could use for their own development.

“This is a highly unpopular clause in the new Bill and I hope MPs from all parties will ask themselves why the Government has decided to irritate teachers and introduce an entirely unnecessary licence when education itself faces so many challenges because of the financial crisis.”

Mr Balls has said that the licence will put teachers on a par with doctors and solicitors.

The licence, which will be overseen by the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), with headteachers deciding if they are renewed, has been seen as a way of weeding out poor teachers. Education experts have estimated that thousands are under-performing.

The licence will be introduced for newly qualified teachers and those returning to the profession first, before being rolled out across the profession.

To keep their licence, teachers will have to demonstrate they have “up-to-date skills and learning to be effective in the classroom”, or face having it revoked.

Schools Minister Vernon Coaker insisted the plans were about supporting teachers. “It goes hand in hand with an entitlement to professional development for all teachers throughout their careers,” he said.

“It will improve teaching quality where needed and clearly demonstrate to parents that standards are high.

“This is not a back-door way of weeding out underperforming teachers – it is about making sure every child has the best teaching possible and teachers rightly get extra support when they need it.”

Comment: Page 10.