Tory education chickens come home to roost

By Ian Powell While on a recent visit to England it was interesting, both as a parent and as a former teachers' union official, to observe developments in the education service after 15 years of Thatcherism. In the all-too-brief 10 days I was there, two significant development were reported. First was a big fall in would-be teachers. Teacher training applications slumped by over a quarter over the year from September 1994, from 162,000 to 116,000. Since most candidates make six or seven applications, this suggests a fall in the number of actual candidates from 25,000 to about 18,000. Recruitment is worse in maths, science, technology and modern languages. This was a major embarrassment for the government's new teacher training agency, which was about to announce a &163;l million program to promote teaching. Agency officials were publicly confident but privately acknowledging concerns about the quality of recruits. Commentators for some years have been concerned about the impact of Thatcherism on education, particularly the emphasis on curriculum rigidity and regimented teaching and examination methods, along with the ideological drive to introduce market forces through stand-alone grant maintenance schools, all in the interests of producing a compliant product. This has had a devastating impact on teacher morale. However, to an extent the full impact has been masked by prolonged economic recession and limited alternative employment options. The fact that, even at a time of economic recession, teaching has proven to be such an unpopular career option compared to the past, is a damaging blow to John Major's government and its education policies. The second embarrassment occurred when the Guardian disclosed that a college was offering "golden hellos" worth &163;1200 to 16-year-olds with top results enrolling for a two-year A-level course. Teesside Tertiary College was offering an unlimited number of sweeteners to attract students with at least eight A grades. This new marketing approach is bringing tertiary colleges to the level of supermarket chains which offer inducement to new customers. This bribe is believed to be unprecedented in Britain but also indicative of things to come. The effect is to further widen the already elitist British education system by offering bribes to induce the so-called "academic cream" to certain affluent colleges.