Having been on the receiving end of Ofsted on more than one occasion, I think it would be more instructive to have a clampdown on Ofsted inspectors wearing shit suits. Which would provide the happy outcome of there being zero Ofsted employees left.

And as Ofsted only appear to be happy with teachers who devote their entire lives to their job, with occasional sleeping breaks, I don't see how they expect these people to find the time wear real clothes.

What a flybrained scheme. I can't remember what any of my teachers wore and I doubt I cared then or now.

I do remember the handful that were good and the many that were quick with the belt.

They all used to wear a collar and tie plus sports jacket or suit with black shoes. Women teachers wore a simple dress. Most wore academic gowns to keep off the chalk dust.

Clampdown will only have superficial change. It is just tinkering.

What a jerk that Wilshaw is, what a banal and empty load of tosh? "business-like" attire; what is that supposed to mean?  Like Steve Jobs wears or Zuckerman or...  Sadly I hold and have held Ofsted in complete contempt for some time.  All we need is more inspectors looking uncomfortable in off the peg suits they 'have to wear' and which they rip off along with their ties as soon as they get back to their houses at night: I know of which I speak.  They 'have to pay the mortgage' don't you know....

The Long march through the Institutions has been complete for some time now. And they all know it.

Teachers are a useful scapegoat when people moan about the state of education.

Britain is f...Ed. There are no quick fixes.

Yeah, not bad, and teachers tend to marry other teachers. So the combined wage would be 80K, in which case, it starts to look quite attractive.

Teachers have suffered the same fate as many others in the public services. The answer of successive governments to perceived problems has been to saddle the people doing the job with increasing accountability, record keeping and data collection to the point where it supercedes their core function - then act all surprised when things aren't going very well. Couple this with this vocal parents who know all about exercising their rights and won't accept that their brats are anything less than 100% perfect and future brain surgeons and you have an evil mix. Many teachers are voting with their feet and the authorities can't fill the vacancies, hence all the all out advertising campaign for teacher training. Unfortunately when a profession is continually denigrated by politicians and media after a while it is no longer seen as a good career choice.

Back on topic: both my primary and secondary school teachers, the male ones, either dressed 12-15 years out of date with the current fashion, or were all oily and smelly with moldy fig old tweed. But there was one, a psychotic maths teacher, who sported his leather jacket with the conviction and purpose of an SS commandant. He use to like to sup his ale at lunch time, come back all reeking of it, bitter and twisted too.