Lee Elliot Major wrote a letter to the Editor of the Times.

Sir, The importance of good teaching cannot be underestimated. For all the talk of structural reform, including the expansion of free schools and academies, what really makes the difference is the quality of leaders and teachers in a school.

Our research has shown that good teaching is most significant for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Over a school year, these pupils gain the equivalent of a year and a half of learning with very effective teachers, whereas the same pupils only advance by half a year with poorly performing ones. In other words, for poor pupils the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher is the same as a whole year of lessons.

That’s why it is important that we not only recruit more good graduates into teaching, but that we improve the skills of the 450,000 teachers already working in classrooms. We need improved professional development and appraisal, and a school workforce that is attuned to the research on what makes good teaching. It is to be hoped that alongside the promises of structural change and improving coasting schools, the new government places teaching quality at the heart of its reform agenda.

Dr Lee Elliot Major
Chief executive, The Sutton Trust

See the published version in the Times here. (£)

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