Any colour as long as it is grey

As the sharpest commentator on education in the UK Laura McInnerney is widely considered to be right about the unqualified teacher ‘row’,.. and, following a twitter discussion with her at the time, I have thought long and hard since my last post on the subject. This thinking has been given fresh energy as I have been contacted several time in the past week, by various BBC news outlets, to comment on the subject or TV and radio  – but I  have avoided getting involved.

However, a conversation with my wife about her work has made me want to comment again. In her work as an OT, she recently met a behavioural specialist who works with kids. He was from an outward bound background, got incredible results in his therapeutic work, despite being relatively unqualified. Though often brought in when other approaches were not working, on a freelance basis, it made me wonder at how closely we manage those who get to influence the way kids learn. Those children he works with are supported by a range of experts, with various qualifications, however, it is ‘outsider’ and outside approach that gets results. I extend this anecdote to argue, again, that  we do still need space for non-QTS teachers to work with our kids in schools.

Now, Laura would say (I think!) , that alternative approaches are great – but they must get qualified and held to the same standards as everyone else, if they are to be paid from the public purse. I can see the logic of that thinking, especially in our current political landscape. I would agree more if we created professionals who developed their craft over their career.

Unfortunately, the way we train teachers is not to create professionals. We create practitioners, to deliver ‘more of the same’ – and QTS is an ‘inculturation’ process, that structures all activity into tried&trusted approached like the three part lesson. There is too much wrong with the way we train teachers and construct our ‘profession’.

We need a safe way to allow experimentation. How come there is so little variation in our education system? So little project based learning? So few alternative assessment approaches?

As I have argued before, too many teachers are scared of change and too conservative. By forcing all those who teach in schools to become qualified…. we create more people to defend the status quo.

None of what I am saying denies the excellence that is out there, or that teachers cannot lead change and innovation (see the excellent EOS Alliance schools!). But we need to see more of this. The inspirational Ron Berger, though a qualified teacher, is also a master craftsman in carpentry, and it is clear how much of his teaching is influenced by his own learning outside of school.

 How many teachers can say they are qualified in anything else than being part of the current education system? How does this state of affairs answer the needs of our kids and their futures? I do not think it does!

I am not sure I am yet clear on the rights and wrongs of the current political debate about unqualified teachers, but I am sure that until more of us are open to more professionals sharing their expertise in schools, we are going to keep re-creating an education system that does not deliver anything, except to maintain the vested interests of the few.