With regard to your article on city academies (“Is this the way to save sink schools?”, First Appointments, TES, May 13), a recent MORI poll shows that eight in 10 parents believe that teachers in academies should be registered with the General Teaching Council.
Eighty-three per cent of parents interviewed said that qualified teachers working in academies should be professionally registered and 86 per cent were likely to reject an academy school as a choice for their child if its teachers were not registered with the GTC. General support for the principle of professional registration and regulation was also strong - 92 per cent of parents said that teachers working in state schools should be registered.
Registration is an assurance to parents, pupils, the school and the public of a teacher’s qualification and good standing and an indication of the high standards of the teaching profession. It should be mandatory for teachers in academies as it is for teachers in other publicly funded schools.
Carol Adams
Chief executive
General Teaching Council for England, Whittington House
19-30 Alfred Place
London, WC1
