What teachers want

Many see this as being as much about psychology and emotions as academic achievement. ‘Low achievers,’ said one London comprehensive school teacher, ‘need ‘self-esteem’, not performance targets. Education for me is the most powerful thing we can offer, to raise people from poverty, unhappiness, and to empower them.’ Not surprisingly, the profession has attracted many women, who are interested in precisely these areas. Satisfaction, as in any job, comes when those values are central to the profession as a whole. Self-esteem comes when pupils and society at large endorse those values. Yet, in the UK, this more challenging psychological aspect of teaching is undermined.

The bottom line
Admittedly, social factors played a part in destroying respect from parents, as do new self-imposed restrictions on intimate concern for pupils. But these pale into insignificance compared with the huge gulf between teachers’ core motivational values and what they are now being asked to do. Time and time again, we hear how teachers feel drowned by bureaucracy, by hours spent on form filling, writing out lesson plans, submitting documents for assessments, and focusing on endless new initiatives, be they SATs, league tables or performance-related pay. No satisfaction comes from reaching these new targets, as most teachers don’t think they are worth the paper they are written on. More students may get starred A-grades in exams, but teachers think the exams are easier and that the skills required to get such results are to do with fulfilling narrow targets, rather than true education.

So, throwing money at this crisis is not likely to solve it. High salaries won’t necessarily tempt teachers back. A new report by the National Association of Head Teachers shows that, even with London salaries nudging £100,000, there’s still ‘ a dire recruitment’ crisis. In 2000, 65% of all jobs had to be re-advertised. Instead of challenging the previous governments’ hostility to the teaching profession, this government has enthusiastically endorsed it, even to the point of keeping the notoriously prejudiced Chris Woodhead as chief inspector. Theirs is a grim view of education. It’s Charles Dickens’ Mr Gradgrind with a contemporary twist, the desire to weigh and measure children’s achievements.

Next page: what’s the answer?