Sandra this post set off a powerful load of memories off:-
'Someone here had a brilliant idea to deal with the teacher shortage in under-privileged schools.

Send the best of the newly graduated teachers to these schools!

Someone else commented that it would be the way to send these folks straight out of the school system, & that it would be far better to send them to the "good" schools, & move highly experienced teachers to the difficult schools. Tho as we have had lots of resignations, I dunno if that would work, either.

sandra'

I was a teacher in the 1970's in a several large city schools.

There was a theory, current at the time, that senior teachers were a bit like bloodstock. You had to improve the bloodline, by importing senior teachers from 'good' schools. Show the scufflers and footsoldiers what it was about.

We ended up - with a headmaster who spent all his time gong out addressing various august bodies; a deputy who spent the entire year on a mysterious activity called 'doing the tietable'; and a second deputy who never ventured out ofhis office and spent his time growing a beard - we couldn't really see if he did anything else. They all avoided contact with the kids like the plague.

Occasionally the Head would do a gabbled assembly talk - delivered at speed for his time was precious. The nice kids used to occasionallly remark, what was that about.

Now and then we would be given a new school rule, but we never really knew what the old school rules were - and anyway it was more about which rules you could get away with applying.

Now and then we would get some idiot destined for high office in the teacher strength, and these had to be kept way from the kids at all costs. One was given a playground duty to perform, and caused a riot. He was dragged from the crowd in the nick of time shouting, 'I have my standards....!'

So we took him off the onerous business of standing in the playground and gave him an empty corridor to patrol, where he could be alone with his standards.

Theres a lot wrong with English schools and its unlikely to ever get right. All the executive power resides in the hands of middle class plonkers and hustlers - endlessly coming up with simplistic answers. True professionalism is sneered at. Like the rest of society really.