Report shows pressing need to restore respect for teaching profession, argues education recruitment specialist TLTP Education

A new report that ranks the UK tenth in a list of countries where teachers are respected shows there is work to be done to restore respect for the profession.

That, says leading education specialist, TLTP Education (The London Teaching Pool) is a challenge for teachers as well as for society in general.

Teachers in China, Greece and Turkey received the highest levels of public respect, according to the study compiled by the University of Sussex .The study was based on surveys of 1,000 adults in each of the countries which examined public attitudes to professional status, trust, pay and the desirability of teaching as a career.

“This might appear fairly superficial but it is really important that we restore public respect for teachers and pride in the profession,” explains Darryl Mydat, managing director of TLTP Education.

“The fact that, in the UK, only about one in five adults believed that students showed their teachers respect in school is a concern. Part of this is symptomatic of changing attitudes towards authority generally among some young people and we receive more frequent reports of teachers facing anything from disrespect to active abuse from students. But it is also about the pressures on the profession, the way teachers respond to those pressures and the perceptions that people have as a result.”

It is encouraging, Mydat says, that the report revealed much higher levels of trust in the education system than in the US and most other European countries and that there was a considerable level of public support for teachers - with a majority underestimating the starting salary for teachers (currently about £22,000 in England outside London) and believing that teachers should be better paid.

“The challenge is to restore the position where teachers and teaching have a genuinely valued status in society and the career is aspirational again,” Mydat adds.

“If constant reporting on issues of conflict between teachers and government is all that anyone sees and all that is reported, then society will have a jaundiced view and will miss the seriously important and really high quality work that the majority of teachers are delivering every day. Perhaps the industry itself needs to adopt a more proactive approach to promoting itself for the greater good.”

This is one of the reasons, Mydat says, that prompted TLTP to launch the Pride In Teaching campaign in 2011, which now has more than 5000 followers on Twitter and more than 2000 on Facebook. It is also the reason why TLTP is sponsoring National Pride In Teaching Day on March 27th 2014, a grounds-up campaign to get teachers around the country promoting the positive work that they do all year round on that one day.

Ends.

Ahead of tomorrow's (October 8th) debate on the Future of London Schools, the Evening Standard has called on people not to lose sight of the fact that education remains a very personal profession.

Many of the recent ideas to revamp the school and exam system in England and Wales have focused on the introduction of technology, with boards saying that online exams will be the norm within the next decade. However, the Standard has pointed out that it is the people in teaching jobs in London who inspire the pupils and not flashy new tablets and software.

Lucy Tobin writes that while she was at school, she was lucky enough to have access to top-of-the-range computers, brand-new Bunsen burners and up-to-date textbooks, but none of those things are fundamental to the lessons that she now remembers.

"What stands out is the time my English teacher dropped to his knees in the middle of an Othello passage and we all suddenly got that Shakespeare wasn't actually a dull old dude but a teller of tales for our time too. Mostly because of his teaching, I ended up studying English at uni," she explains.

In Los Angeles, educational authorities recently forked out $1 billion (£620 million) on iPads for pupils, leaving many people asking how many extra teachers they could hire for the same amount of money.

She concludes that London should not fall into the same trap of outsourcing teaching to technology and highlights that a school's greatest asset should be its teachers.

London's school system has improved remarkably over the past ten years and now the children's results are among the best in the country, yet challenges remain.

Technology, the squeeze on admission places and the rise of the free school should all be debated, but teachers and the work they do still needs to be the crux of the matter.

Classroom support staff across the UK say they are increasingly being asked to carry out roles that have traditionally been restricted to those in teaching jobs.

Research by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) shows that a third of support staff in UK state schools conducted lessons for absent teachers, while more than one-fifth (22 per cent) said this was a growing trend, with this group being responsible for more classes in 2012-13 than in 2011-12.

The ATL results were compiled from polling 1,400 of its members who work as classroom support staff in state schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Existing rules state that classroom staff who do not have full qualified teacher status are allowed to teach small groups of children when under the supervision of a fully qualified educator, but they should not be teaching entire classes and preparing lessons.

One of the higher-level teaching assistants from a secondary school in England who took part in the survey told the union that they prepare, teach and mark at least four lessons for two year 7 classes and a year 8 class. They described it as getting teaching on the cheap.

ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: "Schools are selling children short by using teaching assistants to teach classes when the regular teacher is unavailable.

"We are totally opposed to this exploitation of support staff who are being used as a cheap option to teachers."

A Department for Education spokeswoman responded to the research by saying underqualified staff should not be responsible for teaching.

She explained that teaching assistants and other classroom support staff play a vital role in education and it is up to all state school leaders to ensure taxpayers get value for money, but the government's rules are clear.

As someone who is looking for a teaching job, what do you think about underqualified people being paid less to do a job that you have been working hard to prepare yourself for?

After nearly a decade of improvement spearheaded by the London Challenge, schools in the capital are now among the best in the country, yet more still needs to be done.

This is according to Peter Hyman, who, writing in the London Evening Standard, said that most of the 'failing schools' have now turned their fortunes round, with the 'sink-school' tag that was common two decades ago now very rare.

He explains that the number of children leaving secondary education with five good GCSEs is at its highest-ever level, but authorities, heads, teachers and parents should be striving for further improvement.

When setting up his own school, Mr Hyman explained it was not enough to follow the existing guidelines, which focused on the basics of behaviour management and turning year 10 and 11 D grades into Cs. 

He writes the "world's greatest city" does not just need its schools to play catch up and instead needs to become the best on a global scale. 

"London's schools have to become centres of innovation, places where children are genuinely prepared for the challenges of the 21st century. Schools where students are taught to be agile and adaptable, provided with the tools to become eloquent, work in teams, develop deep understanding and knowledge of science, maths and technology," remarks Mr Hyman.

In order for this to be a reality, he wants schools to harness the cultural, financial, academic and creative resources that are on offer in London and pioneer a new educational model that is based on innovation. He added that this is the time to make it happen. 

As someone looking for a teaching job in London or the south-east, what do you feel about this? Is this just the seeds of another unneeded reform or is the educational model in the capital in need of fresh impetus? 

People in London teaching jobs stationed at both state and private schools must work together to improve the future and quality of life for all of the capital's school pupils.

This is a conclusion from a debate about the city's education system that was held by the London Evening Standard after the publication of data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that found English school-leavers are less educated than the rest of the developed world.

The study suggested that pupils who have just taken their GCSEs have lower levels of literacy and numeracy than their grandparents.

Experts on the panel acknowledged that London's schools had made terrific progress in the past decade and as a whole are now the second best in the UK, but they stressed that further improvement - the like that was needed to address the failings in the OECD report - will need to see the gap narrowed between the rich and the poor.

One of the panellists, Lucy Heller, chief executive of education charity Ark, said despite the progress over the last ten years, it is still the case that the children from the very poorest families in London leave school with the fewest amount of qualifications.

Clarissa Farr, head of St Paul's Girls' school, believes that private schools should be called upon to help close the gap, especially as 20 per cent of pupils are educated privately in London - double the national average.

She said: "Within education, we don't see this divide. Let's be proud, let's be ambitious for our young people and let's work together."

Robert Peston, the BBC business editor and founder of Speakers for Schools, said state schools could learn from the heritage and history at many private institutions.

As a teacher or somebody looking for a secondary teaching job in London, what do you think could be done to aid cooperation between private and state schools and is it the best way to bridge the divide between rich and poor?

Many PGCE students looking for their first primary teaching job in London would be thrilled to get the call that they have landed their first role, although they may not expect to be given a head teacher's job.

This is exactly what happened to Annaliese Briggs, a 27-year-old, who has already resigned from her post at Pimlico Primary just weeks after her controversial appointment.   

Ms Briggs was appointed the head of the school last April, while still studying for her postgraduate certificate in education, and had been in charge of the primary's 60 pupils for just four weeks.

Pimlico Primary, a new free school which opened at the start of this academic year, released a statement to say that its former head had left the job to pursue other opportunities in primary education.

It added: "A new principal of Pimlico Primary has been appointed. Coming from within the group, our new principal is already known to the pupils and families of Pimlico Primary and brings over ten years' experience in both early years and leadership.

"We are delighted that Annaliese will continue to support Pimlico Primary as it grows by becoming a governor."

After her appointment, Ms Briggs explained that although she did have some classroom experience from teaching primary school children in supplementary schools, she had been chosen for the coveted head's job due to her curriculum expertise.

Leader of the Labour group at Westminster Council Paul Dimoldenberg reacted to the news by saying that being the head of an inner-London school is a tough job, which can sometimes be very stressful for anyone who takes the role.

The Department for Education said it was a matter for the school.

As Free schools are state-funded schools set up to meet the needs of the local community they serve, was this a right decision? Can a person with no real teaching experience ever be an effective head?

The new shadow education secretary Tristam Hunt has said that Labour is "on the side" of parents who want to set up schools, stating that if the party was to form a new government at the next election, it would not seek to close most existing free schools.

Free schools are those that have been set up by parents and other stakeholder groups that do not need to answer to their local authority. They were established under a policy pioneered by education secretary Michael Gove and more than 170 have been opened across England since September 2011.

In what may be viewed as a shift in policy, Mr Hunt told the BBC that his party backed the "enterprise and innovation" shown by many free schools, which had helped to create more school places.

Labour's stance on free schools has been ambiguous, having opposed their introduction, but backed individual projects on a local basis and Mr Hunt's predecessor Stephen Twigg had already needed to back down from calling the idea a "vanity project for yummy mummies". 

When speaking to BBC One's Andrew Marr programme, the party's new education spokesman clarified that new free schools would not be introduced under a Labour government, but his party wanted to "keep the good free schools" open.

He flagged up the case of the Al-Madinah free school in Derby and said Labour would not allow schools to become an "ideological experiment". A teaching job in a free school in London was also the subject of controversy last week when a head who had been appointed with no formal experience quit her role at Pimlico Primary.

Mr Hunt added that new free schools would only be sanctioned in areas where there was a shortage of places and "properly qualified" staff could be recruited.

As a teacher or someone looking for a teaching job, what are your views on free schools? 

People on the ground floor carrying out teaching jobs in classrooms on a daily basis have long argued that school league tables are not the sole determiner of an institution's success.

It seems that the government is leaning more towards a teacher's perspective and schools minister David Laws has announced that secondary school league tables in England are to be redesigned. He explained the move is to take some of the emphasis away from the number of pupils achieving C grades at GCSE.

The changes will come into effect from 2016 and see schools and their teachers assessed on overall results in eight GCSE subjects. To do this, there will be four key league table measures, which will aim to make public pupils' progress as well as their final grades.

Speaking to the House of Commons, Mr Laws said he hoped the changes will reverse the "perverse incentives for schools to act in a way which is not in the best interests of pupils".

Teachers have already said that there had been too much of a focus on pupils who are on the C/D grade borderline and this has come at the detriment of students who are learning at higher or lower levels.

Mr Laws also believes the altered league tables will prevent schools in more affluent areas from "coasting", as they were previously awarded high positions without stretching young people to achieve their full potential.

The revisions will also bring new underperformance measures and minimum floor targets, which will be based on the progress pupils have made since primary school. 

National Union of Teacher's leader Christine Blower welcomed the "move away from a 'spotlight' on pupils on the C/D borderline", but expressed concern about the role of league tables in general.

Mary Bousted, ATL teachers' union leader, also supported the principle of "prioritising the progress schools make with their pupils rather than simply rewarding those with the top grades".

People in teaching jobs in London are preparing for strikes tomorrow (October 17th) in a dispute over pay, pensions and increasing workloads.

Up to two-thirds of schools are expected to be closed or at least partly closed in Hammersmith and Fulham. There are 55 primary and secondary state schools in the borough and 20 institutions have already confirmed they will be completely closed, while 15 others expect to be partially closed at some point during the day.

Bob Stapley, London regional secretary at the National Union of Teachers, said that strike action is always a last resort and never a step that any teacher takes lightly, adding that the teaching staff and unions are "very aware and concerned" about the inconvenience the industrial action causes parents.

He explained: "Unfortunately we are faced with a coalition government that is refusing to listen to the reasonable demands of the profession. Changes to pay, pensions and workload will make teaching a far less attractive profession, which is not in the long-term interests of teachers and children."

The NUT maintains the government reforms are making a career in teaching a far less attractive option for high-quality graduates and that will be very detrimental to the future economic and educational success of the UK.

Across the capital, the classroom disruption will affect schools in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking & Dagenham, while other schools in the south-east of England will also be affected, as teachers plan to march to Downing Street.

The proposed route is set to lead union members down Whitehall, past Downing Street and to a protest rally at Westminster’s Emmanuel Centre. They will assemble at Malet Street at 10.30 BST.

As somebody who is looking for a teaching job, what do you think about the changes to teachers' pay and working conditions? Do they have any effect on your determination to land a teaching role?

People in teaching jobs in London's state schools have been accused of letting their pupils down.

Young people who attend state schools in the capital are failing to get into Oxbridge universities because lessons are not "setting their intellect on fire", according to the head of a new academy, which has been set up by a top private school.

The new Harris Westminster Sixth Form will open next year and it is aimed at bright teenagers from poorer backgrounds who want to go to elite universities. Head and founder James Handscombe believes there is a role for his new school because thousands of children are leaving education at the earliest possible opportunity as schools are not "showing students that learning is amazing".

Harris Westminster Sixth Form will work alongside the £30,000-a-year Westminster School and although it aims to be academically selective, it pledges to interview all applicants to allow teachers to spot pupils with a passion for their subject that may not be apparent from their GCSE grades.

Mr Handscombe told the Evening Standard: "A lot of London schools are not lighting the touch paper.

"That's what they need to get into those top universities. A lot fail to get in, not because they are not bright or haven't learnt the syllabus, but because they have not had their intellect set on fire by the desire to know more."

"They see learning as something you do to pass exams rather than the reason we are here."

Westminster School currently sends around 90 pupils a year to Oxford and Cambridge - more than any other school and the new academy wants to learn from the private school, so specialist teachers from Westminster are designing the new sixth form's curriculum. 

Do London's state schools let pupils down? Are teachers not doing the best they can under tough circumstances? Is the new academy a good idea?

Let us know your views on the matter.