Dominic Raab MP: Useless teacher quip is a disgrace

Jul 26 2010 By Dominc Raab, MP for Esher & Walton

This month Zenna Atkins, the outgoing chair of the Office for Standards in Education, said every school should have a ‘useless teacher’ – so children learn how to put up with incompetence and ‘play’ authority.

I find those remarks a disgrace. We should be pursuing the highest standards of teaching. And last week, the new government made a start – setting out plans to allow state schools to become academies, giving teachers, parents and communities greater freedom to innovate.

The old system is too bureaucratic. Forty per cent of primary school pupils fall short of basic numeracy and literacy. Half of all pupils get five good GCSEs. British 15-year-olds are slipping down the international rankings - in maths, reading and science. Yet, last year, the limited number of academies Tony Blair set up saw GCSE results improve at double the national average rate. We want to build on that.

Our plans allow all state schools to apply to become academies. Academy status frees up teachers to tailor the curriculum and school day to meet the needs of children, not Whitehall targets. It encourages Boards of governors to attract sponsors from business, universities and charities – and set staff pay.

International experience in Sweden, America and the Netherlands show these freedoms can drive innovation. Far from creating a two-tier system, plans for a ‘pupil premium’ will ensure additional investment for children from poorer backgrounds, and experience shows academies can be a force for wider good in collaboration with neighbouring schools. That is why 25 Surrey schools have already registered an interest in becoming academies.

Sure, some academies will do better than others. That is how we learn. But, we have to get away from the stifling culture that dictates that no school may thrive, unless all schools progress at precisely the same speed. Giving schools the freedom pioneer ‘best practice’ can benefit every school.