Monday 13 April 2009

Crackpots?

The General Teaching Council, which snatches a chunk of our wages once a year to produce a rubbish magazine and tell us how we should be leading our lives, is mostly in the news for getting teachers kicked out of the profession for getting drunk on a Saturday night or nicking pens from the stationery cupboard.

But apparently, while a few pints (of wine) at the weekend is a no-no, hard drugs are perfectly fine...

Teacher in nightclub crack arrest goes unpunished by GTC

A science teacher arrested for possessing crack cocaine has escaped without punishment from England’s General Teaching Council.
Michael Swann, who teaches at Maltby Community School in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct. But he avoided any further disciplinary action after he was praised by his headteacher for being a role model for pupils.
The judgment follows complaints from some teachers that the GTC - which is preparing to unveil a new code of conduct - has become too intrusive when dealing with teachers’ private lives. The number of tribunals involving out-of-school offences has soared in recent years.

4 comments:

Fran Hill said...

Some role model!

Ranting Teacher said...

I know what you mean, but it does raise all kinds of issues. How far should teachers be judged on what they do outside the classroom? If at all?

Malthebof said...

The teaching unions co-operated with NuLab in setting up the GTC. A little lik turkeys voting for Christmas. The GTC is about unelected officials imposing government policy.

StupidityContainmentFieldCompromised said...

Malthebof, it sounds more like putting foxes in charge of hen-house security !