Teachers have a hard time lately. They have more targets to hit than ever before and are having to cope with an increase in the number of unruly children in the classroom, but the government are set to make things even tougher. From 2010 every newly qualified teacher will be given a license to teach. After five years this license will expire and a teacher will need to re-apply for their license. This is part of the government’s aim to boost the profession’s status. However Ed Balls the Education Secretary is due to receive over 11,000 postcards from teachers protesting about these plans.

Teachers already face routine assessments as part of teacher training and Ofsted inspections so will this new policy put yet more pressure on them resulting in a detrimental effect where more teachers leave the profession or where young people are put of taking up the profession altogether?