The rise of red tape in our classrooms

From: Alec Denton, Guiseley.

JAYNE Dowle’s article on the ‘teaching crisis’, reminding us of the parlous state of the British education system (The Yorkshire Post, October 13), was a timely dose of reality after all the recent speculative articles and arrogant ‘demands’ regarding the outcome of negotiations with the EU.

Since officially postreferendum negotiations have not yet commenced, there is nothing of importance that can be said publicly, though I admit it would be nice to have had the reassurance of at least a little bit of ‘post-vote’ good news.

Regarding education, our UK education system has always been fully controlled by the UK Government and they are the cause of the present emphasis on assessment that appears to have replaced teaching as the main driving force in schools.

This follows from the introduction of the National Curriculum in the late 1980s, when our bureaucrats suddenly realised it was now possible to assess not just pupils, but also teachers and schools.

The effect of this change in emphasis has been an inevitable rise in the proportion of the education budget spent on assessment, accompanied by a consequent fall in the resources allocated to classroom teaching. The teachers I talk to certainly support Ms Dowle’s arguments.

In fact, although I believe every recent Education Secretary has stated that their aim is to reduce red tape, the workload of teachers has increased annually. It may also be significant that while the domination of assessment in education has grown, the UK’s manufacturing base has declined dramatically, with a possible cause being that the over-rigid control of modern education suppressing entrepreneurial instincts by killing interest, variety and initiative in the classroom.

I do not believe the introduction of an elitist type of ‘grammar’ school is the correct remedy; instead I believe we should trust our teachers, free them from the present stifling bureaucracy and encourage them to get on with the job of teaching.