Dani Garavelli: Bottom of the class

I SHOULD, perhaps, state from the outset that I don't have what it takes to be a teacher. Sometimes – particularly as the long summer break approaches – I do daydream about the possibility.

In this reverie, I picture myself as a combination of Miss Jean Brodie and Professor John Keating, from Dead Poets Society: a maverick, inspiring and moulding generations of pupils with my enthusiasm for my subject and my ability to make even the most complicated of topics interesting and accessible (although obviously not filling their heads with political propaganda and sending them off to fight in foreign wars).

Then I snap out of it and remember that, since the control I have over my own three scallywags is often tenuous, and my patience is tested to breaking point by a three-second delay in an internet search, I am unlikely ever to be able to cope with a roomful of cheeky teenagers more interested in my prospective suicide than Hamlet's.

In light of this, I have unbounded admiration for the many teachers who are able to summon up fresh enthusiasm every day; who have a genuine affection for their charges, and who elicit respect from them in return.

But it is the very fact there are so many dedicated teachers out there which makes so inexplicable the profession's reluctance to deal appropriately with those who fall below an acceptable standard. Last week, there was a great fanfare when primary teacher Susan Barnard pled guilty to charges of professional incompetence at a hearing of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).

Barnard, it emerged, had been sacked by Perth and Kinross Council because she was found to be unable to plan "coherent and progressive" teaching programmes or to communicate clearly and interact with pupils. The prospect that she may become the first teacher in the country to be removed from the register in such circumstances (the final decision won't be taken until next month) is being touted by some as evidence of how the authorities are cracking down on underachievers.

But, in fact, it does nothing of the sort. Rather, it highlights the extent to which teachers are a protected species; the extent to which – when faced with poor performance – the profession simply closes ranks.

How can it be that seven years after the McCrone deal brought better pay and conditions in exchange for greater accountability, and two years since the then Education Minister Peter Peacock pledged tougher action, this is the first case of its kind to be heard in Scotland? And how come – with all the emphasis on inspections and league tables – local authorities and the GTCS seem unwilling to do the one thing that might really raise standards?

I'm not suggesting the education system has more than its fair share of incompetents. But – as Gordon Smith, from the Association of Headteachers and Deputies, pointed out – there are 50,000 teachers in Scotland. If you work on the assumption that just 1% of them are likely to be performing below standard, that's still 500. And yet, when politicians speak out about the failings in our schools, it is "feral" children and "feckless" parents who shoulder most of the blame.

Most people have encountered incompetent teachers in the course of their schooling: the drinkers; the ones whose only means of communication is a bawl, or whose self-esteem depends on rubbishing others.

Yet how often is action taken? The last time figures were obtained – through an FOI request made by Scotland on Sunday two years ago – only nine of 283 teachers and heads referred to local authority chiefs for disciplinary action between 2002 and 2006, were sacked. Worse still, since those nine were not struck off, there is every chance they went on to teach children in other authorities.

Even now, two years after she was sacked, Barnard does supply work for schools in other areas. And – quite incredibly – earlier this year, the General Teaching Council for England drew up draft proposals recommending the recycling of sub-standard teachers to other authorities.

Yet, in Scotland, at least, there is plenty of fresh talent currently coming through. With almost half of newly-qualified teachers unable to get a post last year – there is just no excuse for places to be taken by the lazy, the jaded or the useless.

If the teaching profession wants to tackle the perception that it gives sanctuary to the idle and the inept, then those who run its training courses need to do more to ensure those unsuited to the job never make it to a classroom.

Local authorities must ensure they have the right headteachers in place: headteachers who have high expectations of what both staff and pupils can achieve and who refuse to put up with substandard performance. And they and the GTCS must resolve to act swiftly and decisively when incompetent teachers are brought to their attention, offering them support and retraining in the first instance, and the door in the second.

These moves would benefit not just those pupils whose learning is being disrupted, but also other staff members who are working harder to cover their less able colleagues' backs, or who are forced to teach their own classes with a riot going on next door.

Ridding the system of a tolerance of apathy and inadequacy is likely to have a positive effect on everyone's morale and drive up standards generally. After all, it must be easier to persuade children to strive to be the best they can, if they are surrounded by teachers who are leading by example.