I am a member of the GTC because I have to be. The case of Angela Mason shows why the body is so unpopular. Mrs Mason may have used less than “respectable” methods to bring to light what is happening in some schools, but I do not see it leading the charge to do something constructive about the problem she brought to public attention. Rather, it shoots the messenger, instead of accepting that children’s opportunities are being destroyed by a handful of anti-social pupils, and that teachers’ lives and careers are being ruined by them.

The GTC has reacted in the way any unaccountable body would eager to conceal an unpalatable truth. Pupils and teachers have been ill-served by this judgment. I would resign from the GTC if the law allowed me to do so and am sure thousands of colleagues would

do the same. This matter is a disgrace and the GTC has shown that it is a body wholly unfit for purpose. It is high time it was abolished.