As well as changes to ‘what’ our students learn and the ‘method’ of its delivery, the report also suggests some fundamental changes in ‘how’ and by ‘whom’ they are taught.
Mr. Gove remarking that the report was “brilliant” and “ground breaking”, immediately accepted four recommendations in the report (DoE, 2011). Two of which were to allow QTLS teachers to teach in school classrooms on the same basis as QTS teachers and to clarify the rules on allowing industry professionals to teach in schools. In regards to the latter, on the 28th of February (three days before Professor Wolfs report was published) Mr. Gove appeared on a pre-recorded edition of Panorama. ‘Classroom Warriors’ was a 30 minute documentary on governments push to see more ex-service men and women qualify as Secondary and FE teachers. During the interview, Mr. Gove commented upon initiatives to not only aide, but encourage people retiring from the forces to retrain as teachers in an attempt to literally ‘Combat’ unruly behaviour in the classroom. New funding has been released with £1.5 Million pounds awarded to ‘Skillforce’, a charity that employs former services personnel to work in schools. The charity will train 100 mentors to work in close proximity to pupils who are at serious risk of expulsion from mainstream learning. He also spoke about bursaries to the value of £9000 to any ex-service men and women wishing to retrain as teachers (Telegraph, 2011).
This at a time when education as a whole has lost its funding and non-ex-service candidates wishing to re-train as teachers are having to struggle with self-funding, with no grants available for working families earning of £27,506 (Directgov, 2011) and no student finance in the form of loans available regardless of earnings if you are working fulltime and studying at distance or part-time (Directgov, 2011).
Whilst no doubt the introduction of the ruling of parity between QTS and QTLS is great news for all teachers wishing to teach at either secondary or further education, it does seem like a coincidence that it was also announced that troops without university degrees would be able to take part in fast-track two-year undergraduate training programmes to give them qualified teacher status and accreditation could be given for previous work experience (Telegraph, 2011). In November 2010 the DOE released the White paper ‘The Importance of Teaching’ where they are quoted as saying:
"We will pay tuition fees for PGCEs [postgraduate certificates in education] for eligible graduates leaving the Armed Forces and work with universities to explore the possibility of establishing a bespoke compressed undergraduate route into teaching targeted at Armed Forces leavers who have the relevant experience and skills but may lack degree-level qualifications (MOD,2010).
Only time will tell whether Mr Gove’s gamble with ‘Troops for Teachers’ pays dividends and increases productivity and reduces disruptive behaviour in our classrooms. Experience has demonstrated that the whole ethos within a military environment is the reason why their classes are non-disruptive. There is ‘Cause’ and ‘Effect’ in place in the forces and being disrespectful or disruptive can and will have serious consequences. However, in a normal classroom, in a normal school or college where students are fully aware of their rights and the minimal effect of their disruptiveness due to factors such as the retention figures in Colleges, a background in the Military will demand no more respect as a teacher than ‘Flower arranging’. Students react best to stimulating lessons, taught by passionate teachers in subjects they are genuinely interested in teaching and the students are also interested in doing as opposed to being forced in to a subject just to make up numbers or fit them on to a course for the sake of numbers.
The Institute for Learning (2011) recommend that non-academic teaching should be from “experts in the vocational or practical area who have successfully ‘done the job’ and who have developed new professional identities as teachers and trainers in further education and skills.”
A cause for concern should now be that many teachers who see teaching as a ‘vocation’ as opposed to their next career choice, will be overlooked for another who picked teaching as something to do when they came out of the forces.
Word Count: 1018
Bibliography
Cavendish College London (2011) – Fees [On-line] Available at:
Clarke, A. (2002) Online Learning Skills,NIACE, Nottingham
BBC (2011) - Student debt [On-line] Available at:
British Council (2004) – Distance Learning in the UK [On-line] Available at:
Accessed 25/3/2011
Broadbandwatchdog (2011) – More popular than TV) [On-line] Available at:
Accessed 25/3/2011
Comscore - Global Searches (2010) [On-line] Available at:
Accessed 24/3/2011
Confusicous [On-line] Available at:
Accessed 2/4/2011
Department for Education (2011): The Importance of Teaching [On-line] Available at:
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/PlansToEncourageTroopsToBecomeTeachers.htm
Accessed on 19/3/2011
Department for Education (2011): The Wolf report review [On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 26/3/2011
Directgov (2008) Compulsory learning age - Teenagers to stay in education or training until 18 [On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 26/3/2011
Directgov(2011):Student Finance [On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 18/3/2011
Economy Tracker (2011):16-24 Unemployment figures [On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 24/3/2011
Galusha, J.M (2008) Barriers to Learning in Distance Education [On-line] Available at:
Accessed 2/4/2011
Institute for Learning (2011): IFL Response to the Wolf Report[On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 18/3/2011
Laurillard, D (2005). Rethinking University Teaching: A Conversational Framework for the effective use of learning technologies. Routledge Falmer, London, UK.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity: Cambridge University Press.
Littlejohn & Higgson (2003) – e-learning [On-line] Available at:
Mason, R. & Rennie, F. (2006). ELEARNING: The Key Concepts. Routledge Taylor & Francis, London, UK
MOD (2011): Troops for Teachers [On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 18/3/2011
National Office for Statistics (2011): Unemployment Figures [On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 24/3/2011
National Students Survey (NSS) (2011) [On-line] Available at:
Open University (2006) Student Satisfaction [On-line] Available at:
Accessed 24/3/2011
Oxford Internet Survey (2009) – The Internet in Britain [On-line] Available at:
Accessed 24/3/2011
Panorama – Classroom Warriors (2011) [On-line] Available at:
Resource Development International (2011) Distance Learning [On-line] Available at:
Accessed 24/3/2011
Resource Development International (2011) Latest Fees [On-line] Available at:
Schon, D. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner, San Francisco, Jossey Bass
Savery, J. R. and Duffy, T. M. (1995) Problem Based Learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework. Indiana University, Bloomington
The Telegraph – Broadband Rollout (2011)[On-line] Available at:
The Telegraph (2011): Panorama: Classroom Warriors [On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 23/3/2011
The Telegraph (2011): Soldiers drafted into schools in discipline crackdown [On-line] Available at:
Accessed on 23/3/2011
Uswitch - Average household income (2010) [On-line] Available at: