The glare of publicity can be uncomfortable for the private individual, as Susan Barnard has probably discovered. The 55-year-old made news yesterday when she became the first person to appear before the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC) to determine whether she should be struck off the body's register. A teacher cannot practise in the classroom if he or she is not on the register. Mrs Barnard is not the first teacher to be sacked for incompetence in Scotland. But she is the first to be referred to the GTC under a process introduced in 2006 aimed at delivering consistently high standards throughout the profession and across Scotland.
The glare of publicity can be uncomfortable for the private individual, as Susan Barnard has probably discovered. The 55-year-old made news yesterday when she became the first person to appear before the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC) to determine whether she should be struck off the body's register. A teacher cannot practise in the classroom if he or she is not on the register. Mrs Barnard is not the first teacher to be sacked for incompetence in Scotland. But she is the first to be referred to the GTC under a process introduced in 2006 aimed at delivering consistently high standards throughout the profession and across Scotland.
Mrs Barnard's dismissal by Perth and Kinross Council is not in question. She has accepted the sanction, imposed after she had been found to be unable to plan appropriate lessons; communicate clearly with pupils; and manage pupil behaviour effectively in three primary schools. She had been given several opportunities over a lengthy period of time to become more professional but had been unable to do so. Before 2006, she would have been able to work for another education authority as the disciplinary action would not have been a matter for the GTC. It is now. Being struck off would prevent her teaching in another council area, a prospect that concerns her.
However, there are bigger points at issue. Policing teaching standards is one. The GTC is a regulatory body that supports the teaching profession but takes tough action when appropriate. Depriving someone of their livelihood is the ultimate sanction that, before 2006, was reserved for teachers convicted of a criminal offence or disciplined for misconduct. Incompetence has been added to the charge list and the GTC will decide next month whether Mrs Barnard should be struck off.
Without passing comment on that case, it is clear that a higher profile has been attached to the question of competence at the chalkface and that, when it arises as an issue, the GTC will be involved, which in itself sends a message to the profession. All referrals to the GTC are in the public domain. Mrs Barnard's case is groundbreaking but it and any others like it should not be, and must not be allowed to become, about "naming and shaming".
The vast majority of Scotland's 53,000 teachers do a good job. Education standards are rising and more young people are going to university and college. But there is a small minority of failing teachers who are doing no favours to themselves, their colleagues and, most importantly, the pupils for whom they are responsible but whose prospects they damage by their poor performance. Poor teachers are given help and guidance to improve. The system for addressing bad teaching has been streamlined if problems persist. While there perhaps remains a reluctance on the part of councils to tackle incompetence in the classroom, no-one can now be in any doubt that the price of failure for the individual to pay can potentially be very high.
