Like the 449,999 other teachers and headteachers in our profession, I have never been accorded the courtesy of being allowed to answer the question “Do you want a GTC?”
We have been saddled with a structure that the Government has chosen to impose: 40 per cent of the vote, and 100 per cent of the fees. Even if every teacher in the land voted to end the GTC, the 60 per cent army of unelected hangers-on would outvote us all (the General Medical Council representation is 54 per cent elected doctors, 6 per cent medical academics and 40 per cent appointees).
Clearly our profession is not to be entrusted with the right to determine the destiny of an organisation for which it is forced to pay. I regret to say that the unions and professional associations have been complicit in this as they too have not asked their members if they wish them to be represented on the GTC. Is no GTC better than the one we have got? I can only answer “yes”.
Steve Kite Headteacher, Edmund de Moundeford primary school The Beck Feltwell, Norfolk
