This weekend two young men, both history graduates have been expressing their views about education and how to improve teaching in our Schools. Tristram Hunt who is a graduate of Trinity College Cambridge has shown his willingness, yet again to appear to out Gove, Michael Gove. This is a trait he began within days of being appointed as Shadow Education Secretary when he surprised colleagues in his endorsement for Parent led Academies, at a time when many within the party thought that their party was opposed to these. This weekend he has been surprising teachers with his proposals that teachers should be licensed to teach and then relicensed every few years, possibly every 5 years. It is clear from the debate that has taken place since that this idea, which first emerged from Ed Balls when he was Education Secretary, is not entirely opposed by teachers and their unions, but a great deal depends on the detailed basis of this assessment and the extent to which teachers are able to benefit from ongoing training. However making such announcements in order to capture headlines and broadcasters attention can backfire, as none of us like to be spoken about as though we are not in the room. Teachers are professionals and whilst all professions include people who are ineffective, the majority are working incredibly hard to educate our children and deserve respect from people whose own profession or trade is supposed to be to provide political leadership, and is not always as well received as they may wish.

Our second Historian is not officially a politician, but he works for a right wing think tank and like Tristram Hunt has strong views about education and in particular the education he received at School and Loughborough where he studied History and Politics. Jago Pearson wrote in the Telegraph expressing support for Michael Gove, pointing out that his experience (he graduated in 2013) had shown him how Left Wing our History teaching is. “Don’t get me wrong: I had some superb teachers and lecturers, both throughout   my time at school and while studying for my degree – individuals who enthused and inspired and knew their subjects inside out. But the majority of them were rabidly Left-wing and the subjects they chose for their students matched their own misguided outlook on society.”

I suspect that both men agree that the quality of teaching depends on having well trained and highly inspired individuals in every classroom. As Jago’s article proves, we don’t have to agree with our teachers on their political views (assuming he is correct in his assumptions) for us to receive an education we can be proud of. However what I recall from my own education (several decades before either men) that I learnt most from those who were enthusiastic and interested in what I got from the lessons, and perhaps rather less on what pressures that they were undoubtedly dealing with in their daily lives. The only understanding we had of an Education Secretary was the rather nasty woman who stopped our milk. We did not need teachers to express their views, we knew that Margaret Thatcher was bad news.

I may not be typical, but I want to vote for a party that has an Education Secretary who shows a willingness to support and inspire teachers to go an extra mile with their students. Someone who has the social intelligence to work out that if things don’t operate in the way that we wish, that telling people to do things differently with no understanding of the implications is not leadership, its just getting things of your chest. If Tristram Hunt thinks that teachers should be re-professionalised every 5 years, what about beginning by discussing this with teachers and ensuring that their views are taken into account. If Jago Pearson feels there are too many History teachers who are Left wing, why not focus on the right wing history graduates like himself and ask them why they are not attracted to teaching? We appear to have a culture where Politicians (and trainee Politicians) begin by criticising one another, and then turn their criticism onto public servants or those who are unable to answer back for other reasons. History teaches that such approaches do not improve society, they just make the ruling classes feel better.