PS News presents reports on recent College activities and a selection of announcements, events and initiatives in the wider education community that may be of interest to our members.
General Teaching Council for England
England to scrap GTC
Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced the end of the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), the body that regulates the teaching profession. Legislation is expected in the fall.
The GTC, set up in 2000, has been under increasing criticism. Gove claimed the tipping point for the government came when the GTC did not strike a teacher from the register although he had used a school computer to call immigrants “savages” and “filth” when he should have been supervising students.
The newly elected government is cutting public services to cope with the national debt, and the GTC was the third education agency cut. In England, unlike in Ontario, the government paid millions of pounds annually to subsidize GTC operations.
Gove said the government has not thought about next steps, but he agreed that many of the registration and regulatory duties will have to continue.
The GTC, which was not informed of the decision before the announcement, is seeking legal advice.
Reaction from teachers has been mixed, with some teachers’ representatives welcoming the change but warning the government that the GTC’s demise will not deflect other criticism of the government’s education agenda. Principals, generally, have been calling for the reform of the GTC.
The fate of the teaching council for Wales, set up at the same time as the GTC, lies with the Welsh assembly. The General Teaching Council for Scotland, set up in 1965, was one of the first teachers’ regulatory bodies in the world.
