THE shortage of teachers has finally reached crisis point, with the new term about to start and the Government, as usual, in determined denial. Meanwhile, heads across the country are rubbishing their new appointments.
Why is anyone surprised? Surely this is what they wanted. Despite all the efforts of Chris Woodhead and the Office for Standards in Education to reinvent themselves, they were the ones who wrecked teacher morale. Egged on by governments of both colours, they vied with each other in shouting about the thousands of useless teachers. They set up, deliberately, a climate of aggression and fear, all the time claiming that they alone cared about standards.
Well, they succeeded. Thousands of teachers left. Are our rulers pleased with themselves? OFSTED now is so tainted by its efforts to intimidate that it needs to be consigned to history so that its sensible members can start to put right the wrongs of recent years. Will it happen? Of course not. Our governments do not listen, do not admit faults and do not learn. P O’Byrne 199 Nutfield Road, Merstham, Surrey
