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The General Teaching Council for England today (Wednesday 9 April 2008) announces the names of the 25 teachers who have been elected to serve as Council Members for four years from 1 September 2008.
The elected teachers are:
Primary teachers (11 seats): Flora Barton, Paul Bird, Sarah Bowie, Janis Butler, Philip Cole, Lisa Copeland, Christine Green, Derek Johns, Aaron King, Alex Parker, Sarah Reed.
Secondary teachers (11 seats): Peter Butler, Andy Connell, Barbara Hibbert, Pete McAleer, Andrew McKinnon, Gail Mortimer, Annette Pateman, Elizabeth Purnell, Alice Robinson, Colin Surrey, Tom Trust.
Primary head teacher (one seat) Eric Gledhill.
Secondary head teacher (one seat) David Lowe.
Special school teacher (one seat) Stephen Viner.
The 25 teachers include 11 who have successfully stood for re-election to the Council. There has been a small shift in the gender balance, with more women elected than in 2004, though the numbers still do not match the demographic balance in teaching. Twelve of the 25 elected teachers are women, compared with nine out of 25 in 2004.
Just over 32,000 teachers voted in the elections, using a single transferable vote system. Turn out was 14 per cent in the primary head teacher category, but under seven per cent for the 11 primary and 11 secondary seats. The secondary head teacher and special schools categories were uncontested and David Lowe and Stephen Viner were elected unopposed.
The elected teachers have a very wide spread of teaching experience and expertise, from all levels of seniority and quoting a wide range of interests, responsibilities and subject specialisms.
Judy Moorhouse, Chair of the GTC said 'I congratulate my colleagues on being elected to the GTC. I look forward to meeting new Members and working with them from September, and it is good too to welcome back those returning to Council. The teacher voice on Council is vitally important. It ensures that we develop policies that reflect the experience and expertise of practising teachers. We have a very good range of practitioners joining the Council'.
Commenting on the turn out, Ms Moorhouse adds
'I am disappointed at the low turn out and we will need to reflect on the reasons for that. The GTC is less controversial than it was, which may be a factor – and on the positive side, teachers now have alternative ways of getting involved directly – through our networks, our conferences and the Teacher Learning Academy. Voting levels are in general decline across a whole range of elections – local, national and professional but we do need to reflect on the particular factors that have led teachers not to vote'.
