The Tory "Elitist" Education Policy

Go and read Bella Gerens on Cameron's latest education wibblings. She pretty much nails the deep flaws within the Tory education policy. So there isn't that much to add. However, I will emphasise a couple of points.

Firstly, this idea that Cameron has of teacher hiring being "brazenly elitist" is nonsense in two key ways. Firstly, any selection procedure is by definition elitist. That's the point of selection in employment; you want to create an elite of people who work for you; an elite based on those willing and able to do the job. Secondly, selecting people on the basis of degree results is no way to get the best people into teaching. You want people who can teach science, so you get people who have a great degree result in science, right? Wrong. Because, in my experience, people with a first or a 2:1 in science or maths seldom make the best communicators. And you know what? Teaching tends to go better if the person doing it can communicate.

But there is a wider issue here. Getting decent teachers isn't just about raising standards - particularly if you already can't find decent teachers. No, you actually have to make the job worth doing. Now, teaching isn't ever going to be the best paid job in the world. Likewise, it is always going to be high-pressure and stressful at times. The reason why talented people go into teaching isn't because of the money or because it is an easy job; they are attracted to teaching because of the less tangible rewards involved.

So make the job rewarding. Remove the endless, pointless targets. Give teachers the freedom and the chance to inspire children. Change the education system so it isn't about rote learning, and instead focussed on educating people about the world and how they can make their way in that world. Make education about teaching children, not indoctrinating them so they can pass increasing devalued exams. Understand that education takes place in a classroom, not in a government department in London that is completely disconnected from where the teaching actually happens.

Which in itself is part of the point - the only reason why the Tories are proposing a way to find better teachers is to improve education. But education isn't just about the teachers, in the same way that it isn't just about the school or the facilities. Socrates used to teach in the marketplace, for God's sake. No, great teaching is at the heart of good education - and a more elitist teacher selection process is not a guarantee, or even the best way, to get that.