We don’t need no education, education, education…

Although Iraq may have had more devastating and immediate consequences, for me, just as big a betrayal by New Labour has been their arrogant disregard of the education system, while pretending that they actually cared about it.

I have never yet cheered at the election of a political party but I came close when Blair beat the Tories…I started my teaching career a year or two before Thatcher's first victory and so spent the next decade or so watching and coping with the deliberate attacks on the state system. Thank goodness there were the miners for her to really vent her spleen on or there may have been no state education system left for us to be concerned about.

But at least you knew where you stood with the Tory party at the time…it was obvious that they saw the local comprehensive as something “other people” used – a necessary evil to occupy the children of the great unwashed until they could take their rightful place in the factories and shops (in order, of course, to make larger profits for the same politicians when they retired from politics and settled into their next life as members of the board at ICI)…

Then – hooray – here comes Tony and his merry band…they really care about education; and education for all! In fact some of them (not many, true) actually went to a state school and some (also not many) actually send their children to one.

And repeating his rallying call from the last general election - in preparation for the next, Mr Blair promised that his "government's passion" would be "education, education and education. Then, now and in the future."

But, of course, twelve years later (Has it really only been that long? Seems longer!) we know that this was as empty a promise as the rest…There may have been extra money but at no point have we had a coherent policy…bureaucracy, targets and testing have accompanied a steady decline in standards, behaviour and recruitment (until this year…well the recession is good for something, after all).

So we come to the latest mad idea…aptly described by one union leader as “back-of-the-fag-packet-stuff”. Actually, that may be ascribing too much thought to it.

When I trained, most teachers did a three year course; either the B.Ed. or the Cert.Ed…over the last twenty years it has become more common to go the route of a one year PGCE after obtaining your degree. This also has it’s roots in the Labour party but the old version…Shirley Williams' closure of teacher training colleges (which was more about cost cutting than anything else) pushed more potential teachers toward the PGCE route.

Now, I was not exactly a model student. I am blessed with an excellent memory and went to just enough lectures to stay (mostly – got carpeted a couple of times) on the right side of my lectures and borrowed notes from friends at revision time…And I was definitely not possessed by some sort of vocational dream…but I wanted to teach…I don’t know why exactly - I just did. Did I do it because I wanted to do some good? – a bit, I like to think. I certainly believe that a good education is a way of freeing people to make their own choices…

And some of the stuff I learnt has never been much use…or has it? I certainly never walked into a classroom and thought “Which of Piaget’s stages are these pupils at?” or “What would R S Peters have to say about this class?”…but looking back, I realise that I did, unconsciously, use what I had learned..and again, looking back, I see that it made me a better teacher…

And OK, perhaps it is possible to cram that into just a year…although I doubt it…

So now what? Ooh…Let’s cut the training down to 6 months…

6 months?

So at the same time as the government move to forcing more and more kids into further or higher education against their will (and won’t that work out well!!!) because education, skills and training are essential for everyone in the modern world, we cut down the training for those that will be expected to deliver it…

One argument is that there are high quality potential teachers that find the idea of a year’s course unacceptable and go go off to work foe Barclay's (Not anymore!) instead. Frankly if that’s the extent of the commitment of these lost “excellent” candidates, I don’t want any of them teaching my children. And what do we think they will do if when?) the recession eases…they’ll be off to Barclay's again, I warrant…

You’ve got to love the description of these people…

Schools Minister Jim Knight is to announce proposals aimed at attracting more outstanding people into teaching as a new career.

What's so f*****g outstanding about them – does he mean, as teachers? They weren’t interested in teaching last week, mate. Perhaps they were hoping to be outstanding wbankers but the field is shrinking a bit (I hear the pension benefits might not be all it used to be either). And if they are outstanding mathematicians, or historians or musicians – what the hell has that got to do with them being a good teacher?

There are huge problems with education…it needs a root and branch overhaul and it needs courage to ask real questions about what type of education will be needed for the next twenty or thirty years…

…but I have no hope that we will get anything other than more fag packet policy…

Incidentally, they may have already done so; and this particular bit of madness was not a deal breaker, but today I know for certain…for the first time in my life the labour party has lost my vote.