Stop press: officials turn down junket. The General Teaching Council of Wales’s decision to deny itself a trip to Australia for fear of upsetting teachers might appear commendably cautious. But it was invited to the second international conference of teaching councils in Melbourne.
At last year’s conference, held in Edinburgh, teaching councils and registration boards from Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK agreed to share information on teachers barred from working with young people, accumulate evidence on effective teacher-training, improve mutual recognition and portability of qualifications, and promote high teaching standards internationally.
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, argued last week (TES Cymru, January 13) that Welsh educators cannot afford to look only inwards. The estimated cost of pound;4,000 for the two GTCW representatives, when the council has pound;698,000 of reserves, is surely worth it.
