On the cheap?

Today's Independent newspaper quotes an answer given to Michael Gove in parliament recently. It concerns the growing tendency for head teachers to fill vacancies with "unqualified teachers, lacking "qualified teacher status".

In 1997 there were 2,940 teacher without QTS. In 2007 there are 16,710! This is still very much a small proportion, but it is now more than 5 times what it was in 1997.

These figures do not include teachers qualified in the European Economic Area, - the EU plus Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein. Their qualifications are accepted as equal to those of this country. Otherwise teachers from overseas are permitted to work for four years before they have to obtain QTS. Last year 1,562 teachers from the EEA were awarded QTS.

To these must be added the number of classroom assistants, who may be admirable people but who are not qualified teachers.

Why are there vacancies? The answer is probably due to a morale problem - that would-be teachers who could not earn more elsewhere are deterred by the teaching environment. It may also be that qualified graduate teachers can usually earn more elsewhere.

The end result is a possible deterioration in teaching effectiveness and in the quality of education. For the Government there is the advantage of saving money, by not having to pay the "going rate" to produce a fully qualified teaching force.

Could it be rather like the Police Community Support Officers, - less qualified, fewer powers and lower paid, and in the end however good their qualities not a real substitute for the police officers whiling away their time in form filling and report writing?

Despite the vast sums poured into education and police, we are still reduced to "doing it on the cheap".