The drums of possibility are beating a hopeful tattoo – three words: College of Teaching. It’s been floating in the background for a few years now, ever since the Education Select Committee first speculated on whether such a body could work. You might not have been heard much about it, but it’s been brewing, sometimes underground, sometimes visible.
Tonight I spent my evening at the Wellcome Trust HQ (which makes the DfE seem modest and cramped) in their underground hollow volcano in Euston Square. It was host to a college consultation meeting; last Saturday, there was a consultative event for teachers in Birmingham, but today was invite only. Maybe 70 people over 13 tables; perhaps reassuringly, there were many teachers (at least one per table I heard) – albeit often management – including me, you could have rounded up the classroom teachers and quite comfortably twerked in a fridge together. Still, we’ll always have Birmingham. (The representative from the SSAT boldly described Birmingham as “like something from Planes, Trains and Automobiles”, and I’m thinking, “What the bit where John Candy wakes up in bed with Steve Martin?”)