Future of the Teaching Profession

Part of Opposition Day – in the House of Commons at 7:18 pm on 16 May 2000.

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Photo of Theresa May Theresa May Shadow Spokesperson (Women), Shadow Secretary of State for Education 7:18, 16 May 2000

No, I have given way several times. I shall make progress.

The issue is the quality of education that our children are receiving, as a means of enabling all young people to reach their full potential. The Government are leveling down in education and taking away the spontaneity that made the job appealing. That is why the Government are failing not just teachers, but pupils and parents.

Teachers are snowed under with bureaucratic burdens. My experience is that teachers work with whatever system they are given, but try as they might, the work load and centralisation are having an effect on what teachers can achieve in the classroom. The profession is facing a crisis, and that will not be solved by yet more initiatives, by an over-bureaucratic form of performance-related pay, or by setting up a General Teaching Council with large numbers of Government appointees.

It is difficult to recruit young people into teaching, but to ensure the future of the profession and to encourage them to enter the profession we need to show them not only the value of teachers, but that they will be treated as professionals and will be given the freedom and flexibility that they need to get on with the job, without constantly being subjected to interference from the bureaucrats in Whitehall.

I shall end with a quote from a recent survey of members of the National Union of Teachers. [Interruption.] We usually hear sniggers from the Government Benches when the NUT is mentioned. That is sad, but I hope that hon. Members will not snigger at a direct quote from a primary school teacher with 11 years experience, who said that teachers were like suns shining in the classroom for their children. She said: Oh, let us be "suns" again, not weary, insistent personalities. Trust in us and let us shine once more. With the burdens of bureaucracy, constant initiatives being introduced without time to get any of them properly established, performance-related pay being pushed through without proper training, and disruptive pupils being kept in school, it is hardly surprising that teachers feel let down by the Government and are leaving the profession. The Government need to cut the bureaucracy, trust the professionals again, and let the teachers teach.