The GTC was a good idea, but once it started interfering in teachers’ private lives it had to go. I have had to plead the case for several of my staff who have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, accepted a police caution because they are law abiding people who are ignorant of how the law works. Then, lo and behold, information about their private conduct turns up on their CRB check and instead of a sensible approach they find themselves being “investigated” by the GTC. It’s straight out of Nineteen Eighty-Four! Such an “investigation” is very stressful for teachers even if they have done very little wrong. The Government has no right to probe peoples’ private conduct if it has no bearing on their ability to work with children.

Clodia

From www.tes.co.ukgtcaxe.