The government has today announced plans to set up a member-led College of Teaching to help the profession set standards and drive improvement.
Writing in the Guardian today, education secretary Nicky Morgan and schools minister David Laws said: “This new body will allow teachers, like other professionals, to set their own high standards for their members, to take a lead in improving the profession’s skills and abilities, and to champion higher standards for children.... helping to put it on an equal footing with other high-status professions such as medicine and law.”
The rhetoric is similar to that used in January this year by shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt, when he announced plans for a Royal College of Teaching and licensing system. He said: “This is about growing the profession. This is about believing that teachers have this enormous importance. Just like lawyers and doctors....”
But leaving political moves aside, we want to hear what you think of the idea. @GuyBlackadar, a Canadian teacher, welcomed the move:
Whereas @GeorgianMac was more sceptical:
Is a College of Teaching a good move for the profession? We’ve collected some thoughts from the sector – feel free to add yours in the comments section or tweet us @GuardianTeach.
Tim Hands is master at Magdalen College school and vice chair of The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference
Two years ago it was RIP to the general teaching council (GTC). Then, hey presto, Tristram Hunt announces a Royal College of Teaching and, shortly afterwards, Nicky Morgan announces a college. Nicky Morgan wants to put teaching on equal footing with medicine and law: well, altering the pay might help, especially if teachers are indeed now to be recognised as “dedicated, hard-working and inspirational”. But most of all what any college needs will be independence: the wherewithal vocationally to champion higher standards for children, free of political interference. Is this really at last a rabbit out of an improbably political hat? Let’s hope so.
Mel Muldowney is a maths teacher and founder of JustMaths
I support the setting up of a College of Teaching in principal – provided it’s not another GTC and destined to be consigned to the sidelines by a future government as the whim takes them. Anything that supports us can only be good but it is essential that this is genuinely driven forward by the profession itself – for teachers, by teachers. The alternative is that it becomes a political bandwagon that either everyone jumps onto or runs out of town if it is seen as a political vote winner/loser (delete as applicable).
Peter Lee is assistant vice principal at Q3 Academy
This is a move that is long overdue. I welcome the new College of Teaching with a caveat – it needs to be free from political interference. With the Carter report imminent, we need to be careful about what the future of teacher training looks like, for instance. The move towards more school-led training could be a worrying development if it’s not implemented correctly – as professor Chris Husbands recently said. I would argue we need more research-based teaching, which a new college could support.
Matt Britland is director of ICT at The Lady Eleanor Holles school and the director of education consultancy Realise Learning
I think a College of Teaching could be a good idea – it would certainly feel like the government is investing more in the profession and show it trusts us to do what is best.
However, it’s hard to make a judgement until we know who will be in charge of such a college. Can we really trust the government to take politics out of it? It would be great to see such a college making decisions on the curriculum too so that political ideology is removed completely and decisions are made by teachers who will do what’s best for the students while keeping in my mind the ever changing world around them.
Tricia Kelleher is principal of the Stephen Perse Foundation
Is this an attempted panacea for systemic problems within the teaching profession? Low morale, concerns over terms and conditions, the top-down structure of regulation and inspection, and the chaotic imposition of examination reform.
At the moment, the idea looks more like an attempted antidote to Michael Gove. I would like it to work but Nicky Morgan needs to prove it’s not just another grandiose education project.
Mariam Hanson is a science teacher at St Angela’s Ursuline school
The College of Teaching is absolutely necessary because it makes sense. It makes sense that teachers, not changing governments, should set standards for the profession. A politician would not tell a surgeon how to operate, so why is it allowed in the teaching profession?
David Weston is the chief executive of the Teacher Development Trust
As a teacher I had my lowest moments where I felt I wasn’t growing and progressing, when I was overburdened and under-nurtured. A member-led College of Teaching is an idea whose time has come and it is imperative that serving teachers’ voices are at the heart of its formation.
Unlike England’s GTC, the new body would not have a statutory role for striking off, disciplining and regulation. Instead it will support the profession so that our young people can succeed and teachers thrive.
