Over the years, I enjoyed reading “My Best Teacher” in TES. It was a brilliant illustration of the types of teacher who have influenced some of the country’s most successful people. The teachers were often characterised as being creative and idiosyncratic.
Ignoring the lessons to be learned from this, governments have spent years criticising teachers and imposing “one size fits all” models. However, we seem now to have moved to yet another level: the bullies’ charter. Michael Gove is bullying governing bodies, even when they are supported by parents and teachers. Increasingly, I am hearing from ex-colleagues about bullying by heads. Worst of all, Ofsted is being used as a weapon in the government’s armoury, giving light-touch reports on the favoured and big-stick reports on those to be bullied.
Jane Eades, London.