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I was tweeted by a right wing blogger in America who cited the BBC Panorama programme of 4 July 2010, reporting on what continues to be the current method of "getting rid" of teachers. "Getting rid" is the pernicious phrase used by Gove, the Daily Mail, and Toby Young, all of whom need to be educated about education, before they utter another word on the subject.
This Panorama programme has been used to justify Gove's plans to make it easier for head teachers to fire teachers, not only here in Britain, but also in America.
British pupils are taught by ever increasing numbers of unqualified, inexperienced, and yes, even incompetent teachers, all of whom are cheaper to employ, much cheaper than qualified teachers who are more likely to prove that they are able to add value to a pupil's education. In fact Academies deny this, but then they would, wouldn’t they? Where is the evidence? That would be a secret, unless you know otherwise or dare to ask the question. See Gove’s World of Secrets
So, just how does Gove propose to replace these teachers he wants to, "get rid" of?
Where is this reservoir of high quality teaching talent, that are willing to enter the profession?
Bullying and harassment of teachers is rife; by pupils on teachers, by teacher on teacher, and notably and especially by head teacher upon class room teacher. Not that head teachers are known for actually encountering class room teachers, in the class room. That rarely happens.
Sounds incredible; read on.
In Britain we have the worst behaved pupils in the entire world after the USA who are the worst according to international analysis. Any teacher survey will cite this issue as the most damaging obstacle to progress in the class room.
However, the standards of behaviour in any class room are not set by the class room teacher: that would be a myth, propagated by the likes of Michael Gove and The Daily Mail in order to justify the easy firing of teachers.
The standard of behaviour in any class room setting is usually provided by the worst behaved pupil in that class, and simultaneously by the Head Teacher who decided that this behaviour must be tolerated by the class room teacher.
When a badly behaved pupil establishes his or her influence on a teacher and the other pupils, the other pupils are, of course encouraged to demand the same tolerance of bad behaviour provided by the Head teacher.
The worst behaved pupil and the head teacher can, and many do, bond and come to an understanding with the head teacher. This would be in the interest of the miscreant pupil, but also of the head teacher, who would spend more time listening to this miscreant, than any other in the same class.
Teachers are aware, or should be aware, that the NUT does not support teachers that complain about bullying and harassment.
Yes, of course they say they do, but in fact they can and do refuse to fight complaints of bullying by head teachers and encourage teachers to accept a "payoff" and move on to another school. This of course resonates and supports what was said in the Panorama Programme.
If a teacher objects to bullying by a pupil, or another teacher, or indeed the head teacher, that should be dealt with immediately by the Board of Governors.
Would it surprise any teacher that a Head Teacher in an Academy might ignore such a complaint for a number of years until they are able to pay off that teacher with public money, and secure anonymity with a confidentiality clause. No, because all teachers know about this pernicious recipe for Bullying by Head teachers, and Yes, that is how they currently "get rid" of teachers.
On Planet Gove it will get so much easier for Head Teachers, and that is a complete disgrace.
It astonishes me how arrogant novices with political agendas like Gove and Toby Young can find themselves with the power to defy the wishes of communities that do not want Academies. It is in fact a tragedy.
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