Tristram Hunt needs to do his homework

As part of Ed Miliband’s modestly-titled plan to ‘rebuild the middle class’, shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt this week set out Labour’s new policy for raising standards of teaching. A Labour Government elected in 2015, he announced, would introduce a system of licensing for teachers, requiring them to ‘undertake regular professional development throughout their careers in order to keep their skills and knowledge up to date’. From the party that brought you a quality control regime that saw just 17 teachers struck off during 13 years in government, this latest wheeze, we are asked to believe, will help deliver ’a world class teacher in every classroom’.

Teachers were quick to point out professional development already happens in schools as part of performance management, while they already face examination of their competence from one government agency, Ofsted. Not that Labour’s thinking behind the new policy had probably got as far as to check what is actually happening in schools.