ABSTRACT
If we ask what is presently the most serious shortcoming of the teaching profession, we shall almost certainly be told by many of Her Majesty's Inspectors, Local Authorities and politicians that it is that many of its members lack the necessary skills to do the job that is required of them. New teachers, and those older ones who have remained on the lower rungs of the promotion ladder, are supposed to lack certain 'classroom skills' while those whose ambitions have taken them further in their careers are held to lack the 'managerial skills' appropriate to the running of complex organizations.
