These days, our politicians are often accused of having no experience of the ‘real world’, as if working in a think tank or advising a minister is to book a one-way ticket to fairyland.
Is this a fair criticism?
Admittedly, the CVs of Messrs Cameron, Clegg and Miliband aren’t exactly black with the grime of quotidian existence, but could one say much different for MPs recruited from the banking sector, academia or most branches of the law?
Also, isn’t there something to be said for the good old-fashioned principle of learning on the job? It’s a point made by Anthony Seldon for the Spectator, but in relation to the teaching profession rather than politics.
The context is a move by the Government to allow academy schools to recruit teachers without formal teaching qualifications. Needless to say, the teaching unions are up in arms – however, Mr Seldon, the headmaster of a highly successful school, has no problem with the idea at all:
But how will teachers learn how to teach if not at teacher training college? Mr Seldon’s response is that the real learning starts once college is over:
Surely, though, teaching is a profession and, as such, requires some form of professional qualification. Again, Mr Seldon begs to differ:
One has to ask what the teaching unions are worried about. If they’re right about the necessity of formal qualifications – especially those provided by the kind of establishment that has done so much to shape the educational ethos of the last few decades – then any school that dispenses with such wisdom will soon be found out, thus vindicating the union line.
Then again, is being proved right what they're really afraid of?