Greens force Tory climbdown on teacher standards
The UK Government has been forced by Greens to improve protections for Scottish teaching standards in the controversial Internal Market Bill.
The bill, which seeks to undermine the powers of devolved nations, would have forced the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) to register individuals as qualified teachers, even if they did not meet the high professional standards required to teach in Scotland, so long as they met the lower standards required in England.
Teachers will now be made exempt from new laws on the ‘recognition of professional qualifications and experience’ from the rest of the UK, similar to the exemption already in the bill for Scottish legal services.
The change came after work by Scottish Green education spokesperson Ross Greer MSP with former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales Natalie Bennett, who now sits in the House of Lords.
Bennett moved the first amendment to exempt teaching standards from the bill, which forced the UK Government to come forward with new proposals, including this exemption. This new amendment was agreed by the Lords late on Monday.
Responding, Ross Greer MSP said:
“The Internal Market bill is a direct attack on Scotland’s democracy and in breach of international law. The UK Parliament should reject it entirely, but given that is unlikely, I’m glad the Greens have secured new protections for Scotland’s centuries-old independent education system and the high standards of our teaching profession.
“That the Tories were prepared to allow individuals to teach in Scottish schools despite our teaching regulator regarding them as unqualified was frankly depressing. It was unfortunately no surprise though, coming from a Westminster government led by a man who thinks devolution was a ‘disaster’ and who is now doing all he can to undermine it.”