Ambitious teachers almost always face a dilemma at some point in their career. They either remain classroom practitioners and forgo traditional career progression, or they become heads of year and senior managers and end up teaching fewer lessons. Our system shapes this Hobson’s choice and Tristram Hunt is right to tackle it by offering different routes for progression and status. ‘Master teachers’ empowered to shape and deliver exciting and rigorous curricula while staying in the classroom could be the vanguard of a renewal of the profession and a rise in standards.

The art of teaching is as underrated as it is profound. I have seen teachers immerse teenagers in highly complex subject content through sophisticated techniques involving cognitive stretch, questioning and emotional engagement. I have seen teachers plan year-long curriculums that allow 12-year-olds to wrestle with carefully sequenced philosophical concepts while stimulating independence and curiosity. I have seen teachers take a group of 30 and plan individual interventions for each, lesson after lesson, so they can all progress. This all takes precision, skill and considerable practice.  And it is this artistry that needs reward and recognition.

Getting the teacher incentives right is important for social mobility. Creating a system that sees brilliant practitioners teach more would improve standards across the board but particularly for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The Sutton Trust estimates that over a school year, pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds gain an additional half a year’s worth of learning with very effective teachers. It is precisely these very effective teachers that need to stay teaching and coach others to do the same.

The ‘master teacher’ model would not just be good for elevating classroom practice, it would also allow for a rethinking of teacher training more broadly. For teachers seeking ‘mastery’ there should be a renewed emphasis on engaging with research both from education and related fields such as neuroscience and linguistics. There should also be ways for ‘master teachers’ to coach others to do the same while remaining teaching themselves. (This might require new forms of initial teacher training that are genuinely profession-led).

For teachers pursuing a more traditional route to headship there should be a focus on developing strong, innovative and autonomous schools. These strategic leaders should be encouraged to look outwards for partnerships and the best leaders from other industries should help coach and support.

Now, of course, there are practical issues to work through. There will need to robust certification for ‘master teachers’ and the standards they have to meet will need to be developed with the profession. Equally to succeed schools still need headteachers and senior leaders who understand teaching. Not all highly effective teachers can stay teaching for ever.

However, the objectives of this approach are right and they are coherent with Labour’s drive to enhance the profession. Teachers are the daily conductors of learning in their lessons; we need them to keep them conducting.

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Oli de Botton is deputy head of School 21. He tweets @olidebotton

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Photo: athena