The TES reports me as saying that defining a select few as excellent teachers denigrates the rest (TES, November 7). I said no such thing. I said: “Fast-tracking a few to promoted positions, however elevated, will do little to ensure high calibre people in every classroom which is the fundamental requirement to achieve the Government’s ambitious targets of raising standards. ”
Even if “fast-tracking” succeeded in luring large numbers of dynamic people away from the private sector, they would soon leave upon discovering that suitable rewards were available only to a few. It is not a question of allowing the least able to slow down the progress of the “high flier”.
Satisfactory rewards for all those who reach the required standard of classroom teaching, as advocated by the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, should be the key objective. It would have an impact. It would also cost some money.
NIGEL DE GRUCHY
General secretary, NASUWT
London WC2
