Tories move to raise the standard of teachers

Michael Gove’s speech today is another sign that the Tories are serious about raising educational standards. In it, Gove proposes a series of measures to improve the quality of teachers trained by the state. Under a Conservative government, those in state-run teacher training would not be allowed to retake the literacy and numeracy tests multipile times. Primary school teachers would need at least Bs in both English and Maths GCSEs (remember that in the state sector primary school teachers are generalists not specialists). Also, those who do post-graduate teacher training will have to have a 2.2 or better.

Personally, I’m sceptical of the whole concept of teacher training. Teach First suggests that at the very least it can be radically slimmed down. But these policies should both raise the standard of teachers and the reputation of the teaching profession. It should also reduce the numbers of those who drop out of either teacher training or the teaching profession itself.