Government unveils new plans for dealing with under-performing teachers

Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced plans for significant reductions in the bureaucracy that controls how schools manage teacher performance and deal with poorly performing teachers.

Ministers said that the current system for teachers' performance management was complex, detailed and prescriptive, telling schools what to do at every turn.

The overall system also failed to respect the professionalism of headteachers and teachers and made it harder for schools to manage vital processes, such as how staff were trained and rewarded.

The Department for Education has published plans to cut this bureaucracy and make it easier for schools to deal effectively with the small number of poorly performing teachers.

Unveiling the plans, Michael Gove said:

Heads and teachers also want a simpler and faster system to deal with teachers who are struggling. For far too long schools have been trapped in complex red tape. We must deal with this problem in order to protect the interests of children who suffer when struggling teachers are neither helped nor removed. Schools must be given the responsibility to deal with this fairly and quickly.