Professor must take GCSE to teach in his school

The Daily Telegraph ^ | 12 October, 2004 | Liz Lightfoot

[tjwmason]

Professor must take GCSE to teach in his school

By Liz Lightfoot, Education Correspondent
(Filed: 12/10/2004)

A former professor of physics who has contributed experiments to the international space programme has been told he is not suitably qualified to teach the subject in a state school.

David Wolfe, who ran the physics department of a large American University, must go back to school to take a maths GCSE or leave the school where he has taught for three years.

Sixth-formers at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, Bucks, voted Mr Wolfe the most inspirational teacher last year and his subject is so popular that nearly a third of the 450-strong sixth form are studying it at A-level.

But the American professor who has retired to England has been told that his qualification - a PhD in physics from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the eight Ivy League schools - is not sufficient.

Mr Wolfe does not want to take exams and submit himself to assessment at the age of 65 and says he teaches because he loves the job and wants to give something back to society.

He is making a stand against the red tape and inflexible rules which also prevent the headmaster of Westminster, one of the leading independent schools, from teaching maths in the state system on his retirement from a distinguished career in education.

Tristam Jones-Parry, 57, has complained that he will either have to retrain or work as an unqualified teacher at a reduced salary before he can "give a bit back in a state school".

Boys at the Royal Grammar School have drawn up a petition which was sent to David Miliband, the school standards minister, complaining at the way Mr Wolfe was being treated.

Tim Dingle, the headmaster, says that if the rules are not changed he will be prepared to break them by continuing to employ Mr Wolfe.

"David Wolfe is the most inspirational and highly qualified teacher of physics I have ever seen," said Mr Dingle, who has taught in both independent and state schools.

"The country is desperately short of physics teachers and schools can't get them despite all the incentives handed out by the Government.

"I am incensed by the inflexibility of the rules and by the fact that David Miliband has refused to even consider making an exception for this extremely talented physicist and teacher.

"He was the head of the physics department of the University of New Mexico containing 80 physicists, including Nobel prize winners. He is an expert on nuclear and particle physics and has been involved in space research. But the General Teaching Council wants him to take a maths GCSE."

A report by the Institute of Physics this year said two thirds of secondary school physics teachers taking GCSE classes did not have a related degree and 29 per cent did not even have an A-level in the subject. Mr Wolfe says he is determined to have his qualifications recognised.

"It is quite ludicrous to expect me to take an exam for 16-year-olds. I love teaching and I don't want to give it up but it would be humiliating to have to submit myself to assessors much younger and less experienced."

Mr Wolfe came to England because he "loves the country". He is fluent in Russian and Swedish and teaches both in his spare time at the school.

Parents of pupils at the school have contacted Paul Goodman, the Conservative MP for Wycombe, who has urged Mr Miliband to make the teacher a special case or revise the rules.

Tim Collins, the shadow education spokesman, wants Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, to order an urgent review of the requirements. "Red tape and inflexible restrictions must not be allowed to discourage men and women of talent and experience," he said.

The Teacher Training Agency said Mr Wolfe could use the fast-track route to qualified teacher status, which requires the submission of a portfolio of evidence. Assessors from a teacher-training college would then watch him teach. "GCSE maths is required but there is an equivalence test which he could use to prove that his US qualifications reach the same standard," a spokesman said.

[Timocrat]

Why should he be any different?

Surely the question should be why are rules in place which prevent an obviously brilliant teacher from teaching( Getting a third of the schools A level students to take Math is a miracle in itself - hard sciences seem to be avoided like the plague) The shortage of Math and science teachers is critical throughout the US and Europe and then some education bureaucrat puts in place rules which exclude teachers who can actually teach.

The relevant question in not "why should he be any different" but "why are rules put in place which produce hundreds of incompetent teachers and exclude exceptional ones". My guess is that, like the Democrat party in this country, the socialists in power in the UK have a large cadre of unionised teachers in their party organisations and this is just payback.

Credentialism over competence and the kids are the losers.

[Timocrat]

Why should he be any different?

Surely the question should be why are rules in place which prevent an obviously brilliant teacher from teaching( Getting a third of the schools A level students to take Math is a miracle in itself - hard sciences seem to be avoided like the plague) The shortage of Math and science teachers is critical throughout the US and Europe and then some education bureaucrat puts in place rules which exclude teachers who can actually teach.

The relevant question in not "why should he be any different" but "why are rules put in place which produce hundreds of incompetent teachers and exclude exceptional ones". My guess is that, like the Democrat party in this country, the socialists in power in the UK have a large cadre of unionised teachers in their party organisations and this is just payback.

Credentialism over competence and the kids are the losers.

[AnAmericanMother]

LOL! Sounds like you won that round!

[Porterville]

I don't care if it is the King of France teaching about cowardice, he should have to follow proper protocol.

[AnAmericanMother]

A friend of mine has a degree in special ed. (mostly because she has two LD children). She substitute taught for awhile, but she just couldn't stand it - "mind numbingly dull" is exactly how she described both getting the degree and trying to teach. Now she's concentrating on getting her second through high school.

[pabianice]

Education, Liberal Style

[Ditto]

This is ridiculous petty bureaucracy.

Is there any other kind?

[Doctor Stochastic]

Teachers are only required to be certified, not qualified.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Not exactly. You are qualified to teach. You are not certified to teach.

[AnAmericanMother]

I don't care if it is the King of France teaching about cowardice, he should have to follow proper protocol.

. . . this would be him, if you're considering the Orleanist line to be the correct one:

Seriously, "proper protocol" has degenerated here into a system designed to suppress talent and ability and reward timeservers and the marginally competent. Think the Byzantine court or the Chancery of Dickens's time.

You can't support a procedure just because the system itself claims "proper protocol". Of course every bureaucratic system declares itself to be proper. You can't judge this by its own internal standard; that standard has become corrupt.

[AnAmericanMother]

They ought to provide certification upon a showing of an appropriate degree plus teaching experience.

Some school systems provide a special certification for teachers from the ranks of retired businessmen, engineers, etc.

I guess it depends on whether they are more interested in getting the best possible education for the children, or just in protecting the educratic turf.

[Timocrat]

"...he should have to follow proper protocol".

Don't ever read "The Good Soldier Schweik" it'll be a complete waste of your time.

[international american]

You truly speak the gospel truth on all counts!

[ladylib]

Many very good private schools don't have "education school" teachers on their staff.

[BlueNgold]

there is an equivalence test which he could use to prove that his US qualifications reach the same standard...

An equivalence test to see if an IVY LEAGUE PhD is up to standard for teaching HS? Mr. Wolfe MUST stand up and fight this, if for nothing else than for the honor of his cloak.

[MississippiMan]

Good grief, did you even READ the article?

Your comment is a perfect example of how the right also has its share of knee-jerk reactionaries who refuse to employ common sense and perspective. If it's a teacher test, it MUST be good.

We see this same thinking through countless other issues: If it's a lawsuit, it MUST be bad. If it protects an animal, it MUST be extremism. And on and on. It's ridiculous.

MM

[AnAmericanMother]

The private school that my daughter attends makes a point of telling parents that ALL its teachers have degrees in the subject they teach - NOT 'education degrees'.

I attended the same school in the late 60s, early 70s - I don't know if my German teacher had a degree in German . . . she was a native Austrian (born not too far from Ah-nold's home town) . . . but she had TWO doctorates in chemistry from the University of Graz . . . I guess she could have taught us chemistry in German . . . :-D

[Old Professer]

The British haven't contributed anything to science since The Sten gun.

[tjwmason]

The British haven't contributed anything to science since The Sten gun.

Apart from such minor things as (off the top of my head) the discovery of D.N.A.

[ArrogantBustard]

I sat through them ruminating on whether the course material made the professors so mind-numbingly dull or whether they were dull to start with and gravitated to such course material.

Ahhhh ... one of the great questions of the ages. I suppose it could be settled by experiment, but the experiment would be highly unethical to conduct.