in many state education systems which was either ignored or mismanaged was the ability to deal with weak, ineffective and incompetent teachers. Until some forms of performance assessment or appraisal began to be considered in various countries in the 1980s and 1990s (see Chapter 7), such teachers had been pro- tected by 'contracts for life' agreements and the fear of employers, often District or Authority officials, to tackle the problem head-on. Indeed, the practice of absorbing such teachers into national or district bureaucracies, was wide- spread in these countries until the advent of semi-autonomous schools, is still to be found in some African and European countries, in the experience of the authors. Even after performance management incorporating appraisal became widespread, the path to actual dismissal of such teachers was a lengthy and com- plex one so much so that in 2014, the education opposition spokesman noted — that only 17 teachers out of a workforce of many thousands had been deemed incompetent between 2010 and 2011 and thereby banned from teaching (Hunt, 2014). In some countries, the role of the teachers' unions was and is very powerful and a deterrent to employers to act. This is dealt with fully in Chapter 10. More recently, however, in countries where school self-governance is common (e.g. United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, United States, New Zealand) and where the huge emphasis on measured learning outcomes through tests and examina- tions has developed, an increasing variety of schools has emerged, as described in Chapter l. In many of these schools, or groups or chains of schools, different contractual working conditions are often in place and available to school leaders and governors. Already, in this new context, some limited research, such as by Courtney and Gunter (2015) in England, has indicated an increase in the ability and willing- ness of schools to dismiss teachers, suggesting that the grounds for such dismissal are simply due to those teachers not agreeing with the leader's 'vision', which is based on achieving higher pupil attainment (i.e. those test results). This research, drawn mainly from interviews with nine principals in England, leads the researchers to discern possible 'totalitarian trends' (p. 20) and at the very least to act as a warning that the pendulum risks swinging in the opposite way
in many state education systems which was either ignored or mismanaged was the ability to deal with weak, ineffective and incompetent teachers. Until some forms of performance assessment or appraisal began to be considered in various countries in the 1980s and 1990s (see Chapter 7), such teachers had been pro- tected by 'contracts for life' agreements and the fear of employers, often District or Authority officials, to tackle the problem head-on. Indeed, the practice of absorbing such teachers into national or district bureaucracies, was wide- spread in these countries until the advent of semi-autonomous schools, is still to be found in some African and European countries, in the experience of the authors. Even after performance management incorporating appraisal became widespread, the path to actual dismissal of such teachers was a lengthy and com- plex one — so much so that in 2014, the education opposition spokesman noted that only 17 teachers out of a workforce of many thousands had been deemed incompetent between 2010 and 2011 and thereby banned from teaching (Hunt, 2014). In some countries, the role of the teachers' unions was and is very powerful and a deterrent to employers to act. This is dealt with fully in Chapter 10. More recently, however, in countries where school self-governance is common (e.g. United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, United States, New Zealand) and where the huge emphasis on measured learning outcomes through tests and examina- tions has developed, an increasing variety of schools has emerged, as described in Chapter l. In many of these schools, or groups or chains of schools, different contractual working conditions are often in place and available to school leaders and governors. Already, in this new context, some limited research, such as by Courtney and Gunter (2015) in England, has indicated an increase in the ability and willing- ness of schools to dismiss teachers, suggesting that the grounds for such dismissal are simply due to those teachers not agreeing with the leader's 'vision', which is based on achieving higher pupil attainment (i.e. those test results). This research, drawn mainly from interviews with nine principals in England, leads the researchers to discern possible 'totalitarian trends' (p. 20) and at the very least to act as a warning that the pendulum risks swinging in the opposite way