THE SHAKE-UP of the teaching of teaching announced today by education minister Gillian Shephard comes not before time.

For her setting out of moves to a new national curriculum for training colleges is based on a demand that teachers be instructed in methods that work.

In short, she is calling for a return to traditional teaching methods, particularly of "basics."

This is the stuff of whole-class teaching, learning of multiplication tables and reading with the drill of "phonics," as opposed to the so-called "progressive" systems of round-the-table classroom groups, less disciplined child-centred learning and youngsters being expected to grasp reading skills themselves from the appearance of words rather than their sounds.

Plainly, this focus on basics is aimed at improving teaching in the primary school sector.

And it needs to be.

For the horrendous results last month of the first-ever national tests of 11-year-olds showed the norm to be that children are two whole years below the standard for their age in the key subjects of English and mathematics.

It is the addressing of this concern over the teaching of basics that should allay and puncture the fears of teachers that the introduction of a national curriculum in training colleges will stifle their independence and creativity in the classroom.

For, surely, there will still be plenty of scope in the school timetable for individual teacher flair and stimulus outside the vital imparting of basics to pupils - and, being better equipped in those subjects, the children themselves will have greater opportunity to appreciate and benefit from the teacher's creative talents.

That said, though Mrs Shephard is right to target the evident failings in the teaching of basics and to question whether that stems from what is taught at the training colleges, it must not follow that these proposed reforms become part of a politicised bad-teacher witch-hunt aimed at the so-called "trendies."

For there are many, many dedicated teachers who, though they may or may not share the concerns about allegedly poor teacher training and doubtful modern methods, would point out that they are only part of the equation in the raising of standards.

There is also the factor of teacher motivation, which, in the view of many in the profession, has been stifled by low pay awards and continual cuts in resources so that workloads, stress and class sizes have all increased - and all to a deleterious effect on standards.

And are these not also basics that need addressing?

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