I don't dispute that underperformance is an issue in any organisation and in teaching the effects of such poor performance can have far reaching consequences for the pupils and the school.

However, in a similar vein to the argument for 'Protected Conversations' (a post on this can be read here), the response of Government seems to be weighted in favour of punitive measures rather than a desire to improve the situation i.e. find a way sack employees more easily, remove the red-tape that binds employers, etc.

Michael Gove speaks of headteachers being able to intervene when there are 'alarm bells ringing and red lights flashing' over a teacher's incompetence; I think it's rare that incompetence is truly the root cause, more likely it is weak management, poor training, lack of support, systemic issues, absence of regular feedback and confidence.

A mindset which believes that there is a lot of incompetent teachers out there will reach for the solutions we are seeing implemented by the DoE, but it misses the opportunity to introduce real measures which will help teachers improve where there is underperformance, which has to be a better alternative to sacking them.

John