ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the 1980s, the education service faces a new dark age; school closures, both in cities and in villages, are the order of the day, with no regard for the quality of life in the areas affected or the wishes of the parents. The cherished vision of an earlier teacher generation, to create a graduate teaching force, with appropriate qualifications to meet the challenges of the twentieth century, is gone. The attack on teaching, being political, therefore requires, regrettably, a counter attack, the basis of which must be to challenge the politicians’ view that their position gives them the right to say how our schools should be run. The greatest asset any school can have is a highly professional, proficient and able staff. The teachers need to understand how and where the divergence has arisen and must be determined to narrow this gap, both for the sake of the nation’s children and for the profession.
