All head teachers are illiterate - probably

Well some of them are, and I have long been puzzled at this phenomenon.  An article in today's Times suggests a possible reason for this.

The Times article quotes Emma Knights, chief executive of the National Governors’ Association, who states that one in four schools found it “very difficult” to recruit heads, deputies or assistant heads.  It is especially true of Roman Catholic schools, as these usually require the head teacher to perform extra duties in relation to faith and worship aspects of the school’s ethos (taking an active part in the life of the RC church and its parish).


Ms Knights said some candidates applying for senior jobs spelt the name of the school incorrectly in their application. “Sometimes, it’s basic grammar that’s wrong,” she said. “They should check their grammar. You don’t expect a school leader to be told to put the apostrophe in the right place, or ...their capital letters are in the right place, or they’ve got the school name right.”


The article doesn’t explicitly state this, but I think it is reasonable to conclude that if schools are struggling to fill vacancies for head teachers, they inevitably have to lower their standards and employ applicants “demonstrating poor grammar”, in order to fill a vacancy. 


Tougher tests have now been introduced for candidates entering teacher training, including more complex mathematical problems, tests of spelling, grammar and punctuation. 

Reasoning tests have also been added.  Too late for some Head Teachers.

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