Teacher imports

Press, 8 July 1986, Page 20

Teacher imports

Sir,—The proposal to import secondary teachers from Canada does not address the real problem of teacher shortages. The P.P.T.A. alternative, to ask parents to “baby-sit” secondary classes, would sell pupils short. The proper approach is twofold: to lift the supply of career teachers by paying trainees competitive allowances; and to use more resources and imagination in this country to recruit adults with working experience, which may or may not include teaching, for both full-time and parttime teaching and ancillary jobs. In the meantime parents could be involved more in transition education, especially in the area of life and work skills such as goal-setting. The human resources which parents represent are a largely untapped reservoir of valuable insights and experience. They need to be actively used. Adolescents need challenge, stimulation, and positive role models, not the passive containment of baby-sitters, permanent or temporary.—Yours, etc.,

LYALL LUKEY. July 3, 1986.