Blog: Should ex-troops get special help to be teachers?
Wednesday 24th November 2010, 12:16PM GMT.
Blog: Left right, left right, left right. Attenshun!
The Government’s Education White Paper has announced plans to encourage to encourage servicemen leaving the forces to re-train as teachers under a “Troops to Teachers” programme.
The document says soldiers have a “great deal to offer young people as mentors”.
I know I’m going back many, many years, but from my experience of former servicemen who landed up in teaching, they were a tough breed, hard on discipline in the classroom. Put the slightest foot wrong and you were in trouble.
But hey, that was yesterday and nowadays pupils probably have nothing to worry about.
Under the White Paper proposals, armed forces veterans with a degree will have their tuition fees sponsored if they wish to train as teachers and the Government intends to explore a “bespoke compressed” undergraduate route for ex-soldiers with a degree.
I don’t have any problem with that as such, but I still can’t fathom out why ex-servicemen or women should be treated as a special case.
Surely there are also many other professions which produce the sort of people who would make excellent teachers.
I also have a couple of other initial concerns regarding the White Paper.
For example, secondary schools will considered to be failing if fewer than 35 per cent of their pupils get five C grades at GCSE, including English and maths.
On the face of it this looks fine, but I hope this doesn’t mean that schools have more hoops to jump through and less able young people are overlooked.
And coming back to teacher training, it is proposed to scrap funding for those who have a third class degree.
This, I worry, will exclude some people who would make first rate teachers.
Many examples can be found of excellent teachers who haven’t the higher qualification now being demanded.
The Department for Education says the White Paper sets out a radical reform programme for the schools system, with schools freed from the constraints of central Government direction and teachers placed firmly at the heart of school improvement.
There do seem to be many good things in it but I’m still trying to digest all the contents.
However Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, is in no doubt what the White Paper will mean.
She reacted by saying: “We are today witnessing a vicious assault by the Secretary of State on teachers’ commitment and professionalism to deflect attention from the coalition Government’s policy of savage cuts to education, its elitist agenda and its free market ideology.”
Phew!
By Dave Morris
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My twin brother at a state grammar school had a terrible ex services PE teacher who was a bully and I remember on one occasion broke a boys arm.
There were several ex forces teachers at my husband’s school which was a minor public school.Some had terrible memories/experiences in WW11 and a couple committed suicide.
I am in favour of teaching being improved because I feel my children have had an inferior state education compared to ours in the past.
The school day is too short and sport and club activities suffer as they were part of every lunchtime. There is a lack of acceptable behaviour in classes.
Teachers should have their salaries published like all other public services employees.
The pay is higher than equivalent jobs in the public sector for shorter hours.
The pay should reflect the challenges the school poses so inner city schools with fast turnovers of staff get more support.
Church schools should not get extra funding.
I never remember any pupil having to leave due to bullying and I do think the bullying often extends to the staff who are in hot competition for the jobs in good areas where teachers are often in the same school for decades.
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As a current serving member of the Armed Forces of 20 years, I am currently in a situation where my career is less certain with the proposed redundancies. During my time in the RN I’ve completed a degree and would relish the opportunity to work as a primary school teacher, if there is a scheme to help me achieve this then I’m all in favour of it. The days have gone where bullying was considered character building and a clip round the ear was a suitable method of getting your point across to juniors. Service personnel are employed in a diverse array of jobs with varying skill sets. What can be said (of most) is that you will get peaople with a strong character, integrity, good time management skills, loyalty, excellent communicators and above all, I believe, good role models for the younger generation. Roll on redundancy I say
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Harold Shipman was a murderer, doesn’t mean that all GPs are murders. The previous writer makes a logical error. The armed forces spend their life training, teaching and developing you people. They take often poorly educated people and turn them into first class citizens. They are constantly assessed and those who don’t make the grade are given help to achieve. If a soldier isn’t up to the job the right role is found for him. Those who are totally unsuitable are fired.
If we fired all the useless teachers (yes there are some) and had better quality teachers (there is room for improvement) we can only all win.
Teachers complain of low morale and respect – well whose fault is that? That comes from poor leadership and not earning respect. Perhaps a few more first class citizens becoming teachers would be a very good thing – as would firing the useless ones.
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Marton I presume you referring to my post.
I was not expressing a view just stating how it was when I was young and a lot more people were ex forces, in boys schools anyway.
I think it would be much better if more rounded people came into the teaching profession and I know that the one teacher my children had a lot of respect for as a good teacher had prevously been a solicitor and ran a garage repair shop as well as being a teacher. He was not liked by the other staff, partly because he was interesting and liked and used to tell the kids what they all earned etc!
A lot of ex-forces people used to get into the civil service and local government but those jobs are decreasing at the present time.
My husband worked with an ex Falklands veteran who seem to find negotiated solutions to problems difficult. He liked to see things more combatatively. That could have just been personality of course. He also did not get that people do not just follow orders in civvy street, hierarchy does not rule, so things often have to be followed up.
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Being an Ex service man of 11 years and having served in many various theatre’s I would relish the assistance to enable me to gain my QTS
I currently work in a school, has an alternative curriculum teacher, providing the school with the means to take out/work with/engage and deal with the most disaffected students. I served as a PTI, I feel I would be an ideal candidate to gain the training to become qualified, and give my knowledge and experience to these vunerable students and hopefully point them in the right direction in life
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