7 Six months to train to become a teacher?

Departmental press release http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0048 and sceptical daily mail report http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1160835/Failed-City-staff-offered-fast-track-route-teaching.html I think it is interesting that this announcement met with a general scepticism that these recruits will be ill equipped to deal with the hurly-burly of a demanding student group as they simply won’t have adequately developed skills of classroom management in such a short training period. The example of an earlier migrant offers hope http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/17/ex-bankers-teaching-city

For life at the chalk face, this French film would seem to be worth a view http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/01/pupil-behaviour-schools-class-control and an article from the Times about how schooling can destroy even for the most confident: the headteacher’s tale http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5821872.ece Overall, while sharing some of the scepticism, I think the experience of previous recessions has been that the teaching profession benefits from an influx of individuals who in other times might well go elsewhere.