www.sec-ed.com


Scrapping GTCE was ‘premature’


by Chris Parr


Abolishing the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) was a short-sighted and potentially costly move, it has been claimed. Philip Parkin, general secre-


Razing standards: It might be many schoolboys’ dream to raze their school building to the ground, but you might expect better behaviour from teaching staff. However, Lorraine Wright, head of learning for performing arts and media at Francis Combe Academy in Watford, took the controls of a “mechanical claw” (pictured) and helped with the demolition of her school this week. She also laid into the school hall with a pickaxe and club hammer. It all happened after she successfully bid £120 for the right to help dismantle the old school building. The money will go to help her former headteacher, who is now working with orphaned children in Mombasa, Kenya. Ms Wright said: “I have had a love-hate relationship


with the hall and its stage ever since I came here 10 years ago, as it doesn’t work quite as I would like it to for school performances. I had always joked about smashing it down and when the charity auction came up I grabbed the chance to make it a reality.”


tary of the education union Voice, says he “cannot understand” why Michael Gove, the education sec- retary, is taking steps to disband the organisation when it would be more affordable to simply reform what was already in place. He told SecEd: “It is very clear


that there has to be some kind of body to deal with registration and regulation of teachers. “The criticism is that the GTCE


widened its brief too much – that’s why it was not accepted by some teachers. The government’s deci- sion to get rid of it was premature, and not thought through. It would have been perfectly feasible to reform the GTCE and get rid of its extraneous activities. There are also questions about the cost of closing down the GTCE and setting up an entirely new body.”


Closure? Philip Parkin says the GTCE should be saved


Speaking to SecEd this week,


Keith Bartley, chief executive of the GTCE, said he had been dis- appointed by the way Mr Gove had announced the government’s intention to abolish his organisation – claiming he was never given the chance to put forward a case for its continuing existence.


“The secretary of state has


always said that this body (the GTCE) is not as effective as it could be, and I agree with him. That is why we are already far down the track in terms of looking at how we carry out processes such as our disciplinary functions. My regret is that we never had the opportunity to hold discussions with his ministe- rial team.” In order to get rid of the GTCE,


primary legislation needs to pass through Parliament. It is thought that this could form part of a wider “Quangos” Bill, which will seek to disband a number of organisations already earmarked for closure. However, what is not clear is


how the government intends to replace the GTCE’s core functions. A government spokesman told


us: “Ministers are clear that they wish to retain an efficient and effec- tive regulatory process for teachers and are looking at ways that the current system can be streamlined. We will outline where these respon- sibilities will sit in due course.”


• See page 6: The GTCE debate.


Scottish teachers work longest hours in Europe


Only teachers in New Zealand, Mexico and the US spend more time in the classroom than their counterparts in Scotland, accord- ing to a survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Unions said the findings high-


Campaign aims to save school dinners


A campaign has been launched to save school dinners, amid fears that the coalition government is not tak- ing the issue of children’s nutrition seriously enough. Several organisations have


joined together to promote the importance of school meals as a means of ensuring children stay healthy, learn about good nutrition and are prepared for learning by having a good meal at lunchtime. The Food for Life Partnership,


which is led by the Soil Association, has launched a petition to lobby the government to ensure that funding for school food is included in the October Spending Review. In June, the coalition announced


that plans to expand the free school meals pilots for the poorest families would be scrapped. There then followed a number of


ministerial gaffes. Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, told a confer- ence of doctors that the Jamie Oliver approach to school meals would do


SecEd • September 16 2010


nothing to help public health and that people needed to take responsi- bility for their own actions. The TV chef responded that the


minister’s remarks had been ill- judged and added “it is an insult to the hard work of hundreds of thousands of dinner ladies, teach- ers, headteachers and parent help- ers who strive to feed school kids a nutritious, hot meal for 190 days of the year”. He said any problems were due to there being too little government funding available to train school catering staff properly. The Department of Health was


later forced to back-peddle, claim- ing that Mr Lansley applauded Mr Oliver’s campaign but was critical of the Labour government for plac- ing restrictions on it. Then in August, Anne Milton,


the health minister with responsi- bility for public health, announced the government was considering withdrawing funding for free school milk for hundreds of thousands of


children, only to be over-ruled by David Cameron, the prime minister. Pamela Brunton, policy man-


ager with the Soil Association, said: “We have a government which talks about public spending cuts, makes ill-advised comments about school meals but has said nothing of substance about the importance of ensuring children eat healthily. When faced with that context, we are extremely concerned about the future of school dinners. “School meals are not just about


healthy eating but about educating children about nutrition, growing and cultivating food as well as the impact eating well makes on behav- iour, concentration and attainment.” The campaign is being sup-


ported by the Children’s Food Campaign, as well as other school and children’s groups, including the parenting sites Netmums and Mumsnet. Visit http://apps.soilas- sociation.org/schoolmeals for more information or to sign the petition.


lighted the impracticality of a pro- posal by some councils to extend those hours in order to save money. Staff north of the border spend


an average of 855 hours a year teaching, the report found, which ranked them fourth in the devel- oped world. In terms of pay, Scottish teach-


ers are the eighth highest paid in the world, the OECD said – unchanged from last year. Non-promoted teach- ers can earn a maximum of £34,000, trailing Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany, Korea, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland. Last month the leader of


Glasgow City Council said teachers should work longer hours to avoid the effects of budget cuts. Gordon Matheson said an extra


30 minutes a day of actual teach- ing – taken out of preparation time – would save the council £15 mill- lion a year because fewer teachers would be required. This would stop cuts to frontline education services. Jenny Dawe, leader of


Edinburgh City Council, said the idea would also work in the Scottish capital. But the Educational Institute


of Scotland (EIS), the country’s biggest teaching union, said the


measure could harm the quality of education and force teachers to do more work at home. Ronnie Smith, EIS general sec-


retary, said: “The amount of time that Scottish teachers spend actually teaching classes has come under misinformed attack in recent weeks. “As this publication clearly


shows, in no other country (in Europe) do teachers spend more of their working day teaching classes than in Scotland, yet Scotland con- tinues to rank far lower in terms of the salaries paid to our teachers. “In addition to the extremely


high percentage of class contact time, Scottish teachers also rank very highly in terms of overall teaching hours. Scotland’s teachers continue to work some of the long- est teaching hours in Europe, which is a credit to their professionalism and their desire to deliver the best outcomes for their pupils.” Mr Matheson said: “I am well


aware of the number of hours teachers in Glasgow spend in the classroom and how hard they work to achieve the best results for our children.” However, he insisted the propos-


al was reasonable in the economic climate and “that is why I have asked the Scottish government to reopen the McCrone Agreement”. The 2001 McCrone deal stipu-


lated a 35-hour week, with 22.5 hours’ teaching and the rest set aside for lesson preparation, mark- ing time and also administrative work.


Film website


A website aimed at young film-makers has been launched. BoldFace Productions offers free tools and support, as well as an online community, for aspiring film-makers. The website also offers tailored film production training and podcasting to young people of all abilities. Visit: www.boldfaceproductions.co.uk


Driving support


A free curriculum-linked education programme aimed at young drivers has been launched. The 6th Gear covers aspects of citizenship, PSHE and life-skills such as assessing and managing risk and understanding money management. The programme is comprised of activity and discussion sheets with the overall focus of choices and decisions, linked to driving and vehicle management. Produced by young driver specialist, Young Marmalade, the programme is available free to all heads of 6th form and PSHE. Visit: www.6th-gear.co.uk and www. youngmarmalade.co.uk


Lesson of a lifetime


Schools are being given the chance to win a special science class delivered by Professor Brian Cox, presenter of the BBC2 seriesWonders of the Solar System. Prof Cox has teamed up with The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair 2011 to launch The Big Bang Lesson. Students aged 11 to 18 can now enter their school into the draw which will see one UK school picked at random to receive the lesson from Prof Cox. Visit: www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/ thebigbanglesson


NEWS In brief Suicide prevention


Don’t be Afraid to Ask, a programme of suicide prevention training workshops, has been launched marking World Suicide Prevention Day which took place on Friday (September 10). The programme, from PAPYRUS, the charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide, offers one-day workshops for anyone working with young people and two-hour awareness sessions for people concerned about a young person they know. Visit: www.papyrus-uk.org


Leaders’ training


The National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services is holding four free regional training events this autumn for school leaders, governors and local authorities wishing to find out more about different models of school organisation, collaboration and partnerships. Visit: www. nationalcollege.org.uk/ modelsandpartnerships


Poetry resources


Budding poets are being invited to use the nominations for the 2010 TS Eliot Prize for Poetry as inspiration. The Poetry Book Society scheme is based on the shortlist for the award, which is announced on October 21. Once unveiled, anyone will be able to download a biography and photo of each poet and three poems from their book, together with notes on the poems. Last year’s award winner was Philip Gross, for his collection The Water Table. Visit: www.poetrybooks. co.uk/projects


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