We knew they were desperate but just how barkingly so the powers-that-be have become over teacher recruitment only became fully apparent in the AQA (NEAB) GCSE English Paper 1 last week. There, in an otherwise normal paper, was an advert for the teaching profession which pupils had to read and answer questions on.
The mere presence of such propaganda caused a minor outcry but claims that “leading classroom teachers” earned pound;40,000 and that teaching was “designed to fit the way you live your life” had invigilators pulling their hair out. One enraged veteran raved: “I have been teaching a full timetable for 23 years, am head of a faculty, with three responsibility points and have passed the ‘threshold’ ... yet my earnings are way below this. Teaching is hardly ‘designed to fit the way you live your life’. Instead, it tends to take over one’s life.”
Let’s hope the young literary critics realised they were dealing with fantasy, not realism.