Labour plan for teacher licences to 'update skills'

Teachers would have to be licensed every few years in order to work in England's state schools under a future Labour government, the BBC has learned.



Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said regular re-licensing of teachers would allow the worst ones to be sacked whilst helping others to receive more training and development.

The last government made a similar proposal for what became known as "classroom MOTs" but then dropped it.

Unions criticised it as "pointless".

The Conservatives said they had already taken steps to improve teaching standards.

When former schools secretary Ed Balls proposed a so-called "licence to practice" in 2009, the National Union of Teachers said it would be "another unnecessary hurdle" for teachers while the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said it would be a "bureaucratic nightmare" to introduce.

But the NASUWT and National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) came out in favour of the plans at the time.

At the moment teachers are not licensed.

Indeed, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have criticised the fact that some of those working in the government's new "free schools" can teach without having "qualified teacher status".

Yet another layer of bureaucracy that will add nothing but cost. We need to sort out the core issues on education and deliver a sound basic education to all of our children.

Some of the best teachers I ever had wouldn't qualify in today's climate, and that is a loss to both teaching and pupils.

I agree tha teachers should update their skills always look at better ways of teaching , etc.. I say that with no experience in teaching, but in the years my son went to school, I was shocked at the sloppiness/couldn't care less attitude of some of the teachers, I was forever going up to that shcool making complaints about some teachers who were too idle to correct obvious spelling or grammar in essays. My son was also on a maths project far to low for his age, he was also good at art but he soon became discouraged by the remarks of the so called art teacher.