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Do we need a qualification to teach?

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

The Department for Education knew it would be contentious. The press notice Academies to have same freedom as Free Schools over teachers‘ was timed to be released just before the opening ceremony for the Olympics – very well hidden indeed. Also many teachers will be away on holiday.

They also loaded the press notice with positivity for the ‘minor changes’ – from the euphoric title through to words and phrases such as ‘greater freedom’, ‘same advantages’, ‘brilliant people’ and ‘flexibility’. All this so that our state schools can emulate the ‘successful independent school sector’. That will help state teachers relax over the summer…

So these non-qualified superstars are being brought in to inspire and show off their skills. Not a bad idea, but, putting my primary teacher’s hat on, I want teachers to be inspiring and have a deep understanding of children’s learning – which implies that teachers need to be more qualified, not less.

Not necessarily a higher subject qualification – a PhD in physics may not make you an inspirational teacher (although it might!) but an MA in teaching and learning is likely to give a good grounding in what it takes to inspire children and make them want to learn.

My own MA research into maths subject knowledge found the link between deep subject knowledge and pedagogical skills to be so closely bound that one without the other just weakens the effectiveness of the teacher.

Why would a Head want to bring in an unqualified teacher?

Perhaps it will be a cost saving exercise and perhaps there will be individuals who are inspirational in the classroom. However, I would question the long-term viability of these individuals in a primary classroom over a year or two. 

press release


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Mathematics: made to measure
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