ABSTRACT
The crisis in the education service, and the attacks on teachers, and on teaching, calls not only for resistance by the organised body of teachers, but makes special demands on every teacher and every school. Few schools are equally successful in all areas, and few parents expect perfection all round, but professional teachers need, and indeed, do strive, for the highest possible all round standard of their own schools. Thus, the judgment which parents make of the teaching profession is usually the judgment they make of the schools to which their children go, and this must inevitably be from a limited perspective based on meeting a couple of headteachers, and a small group of teachers with whom their children come into contact. In many cases, the teacher concerned will be able to give the professional advice expected, or will, at least, initiate a procedure to deal with the matter.
