One obvious difficulty is how teaching performance should be judged against results. This year's A-level results, for instance, again showed wide discrepancies in the national figures between subject areas, in terms of grades achieved.
So is a teacher of maths better, because 40.7 per cent of maths students nationally obtained an A grade, than a psychology teacher because only 17.8 per cent of those pupils got an A? Or could it be that other factors are at work to do with, say, the bedding-in of newer subjects?
The oversimplification of these issues is damaging, not least to the professional self-esteem and psychological wellbeing of teachers.
The public attitude to them and to schools has become brutal and primitive. We seem to need to regard teachers as either good or worthy only of disdain and dismissal.
Teaching is one of the hardest jobs going, but because of our unconscious fears about school and authority - derived from our experience of going to school - we can't tolerate the idea of failure in our children. Education Secretary Ruth Kelly's satisfaction with this new idea is misplaced. It completely overlooks the profound pressures on schools and teachers to live up to society's increasingly unrealistic expectations.
Phil Goss
Kirkby Lonsdale
Lancs
A new school year begins, and it hasn't taken The Observer long to begin the annual teacher-bashing season. Why are the media in this country so fond of using the words 'failure' and 'underperforming' in relation to teachers?
It's little wonder they have such low morale and a poor self-image.
The majority of teachers are dedicated, hard-working individuals who give a great deal to the children in their care. Unfortunately, projecting a positive image of teachers doesn't make for a good headline.
What with constant new initiatives, another low wage rise next year, an unjust pay scale to be imposed and serious issues over pensions, teachers already have enough to cope with.
R Jackson
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Staffs
As a teacher of some 40 years' experience, I could accept a government purge on failing teachers ... just as long as there's a government purge on failing MPs, failing business executives and, especially, failing fund managers, who have left me with an endowment mortgage that will underperform and will not pay off my loan.
Peter Stammers
Banstead
Surrey
