Aide warns substandard teachers

The government adviser has called on headteachers to play a more assertive role in ensuring education standards

Saturday, 10, Nov 2007 12:00

A senior adviser on education to the government has stated that there are 17,000 substandard teachers at schools in England and Wales.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Sir Cyril Taylor called for poor teachers to be replaced by better people in the classroom in order to improve educational standards.

Sir Cyril, who is the chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, said: "We've got 400,00 of our children attending low attaining schools; 75,000 leave schools at 16 with hardly any qualifications at all; 5 million adults are functionally illiterate. That's a serious problem."

The government aide also called for head teachers to take greater responsibility in hiring and firing poor teachers and in monitoring standards in their schools.

"The head teacher that is good can take the necessary action, you get the wrong people off the bus and get the right people on the bus in the right seats," he said.

"That means if you have weak heads of department you ask them to move on and you go out and recruit fantastic teachers."

National Union of Teachers head of education John Bangs said that he disagreed with Sir Cyril's call for action.

He disputed the accuracy of the figures cited by the adviser saying: "I cannot understand where he's got those figures from."

Mr Bangs stated: "We have the best teaching force we've had for years and years.

"Our experience at the NUT is that people who are beginning to feel burned out, leave. That's the big problem."