Industry News
Incompetent teachers 'could be removed'
Posted on 2nd May 2008
An educational watchdog has warned that up to 24,000 teachers who have been judged incompetent could be removed from their schools and "recycled".
The General Teaching Council for England's (GTCE's) plan would see the failing teachers sent to neighbouring schools.
When the Department for Children, Schools and Families's (DCSF's) Children's Plan was presented last year, it promised to provide a "world class workforce" for children.
Chief executive of GTCE Keith Bartley told the Times that urgent action needed to be taken to retrain incompetent or failing teachers.
"We are not talking about a system in crisis. But there's a band of teachers who have more bad days than good," he said.
Mr Bartley added that the issue was to energise teachers in order to prevent them from falling into a routine.
The plan would see head teachers having the power to refer incompetent teachers to an independent agency that would put them into a neighboring school. Here the teacher would undergo intensive retraining and would be afforded the opportunity to prove themselves.