Immoral Education – system failing and damaging teachers and pupils Published on: 22 March 2018 Humanity is being squeezed out of education with dire consequences for teachers and pupils, says a Â鶹´«Ã½ expert. Agency and autonomy In his new book, Immoral Education: The assault on teachers’ identities, autonomy and efficacy, Reader in Educational Psychology Dr Simon Gibbs, states the best teachers have a sense of creativity, autonomy and agency. However, current educational systems are destroying teachers’ professional identity and autonomy.He also highlights how the current system fails all children, especially those who need the most support, such as those who have special educational needs and are from disadvantaged backgrounds. “I have tried to illustrate how teachers in schools in England and, no doubt elsewhere, are increasingly denied the agency and autonomy to be other than technicians delivering facts that have to be assimilated,” says Dr Gibbs. “It is now hard, if not impossible, for schools to be organisations in which people can consider and learn about what it is to be a human living and inter-relating in a society. Immoral and unsustainable “At present in England more teachers leave teaching than enter the profession and significant numbers of young people - particularly those with the greatest needs - are formally excluded from education each year,” he added. “It seems to me that this is both immoral and unsustainable.“The British government is now calling on teachers to be responsible for ensuring the mental health of their students. This is doubly ironic since teachers themselves are showing increasing signs of mental ill-health, and there is little doubt that similar effects are responsible for the anxiety and ill-health experienced by young people." Dr Gibbs, a Reader in the , is calling for a wider debate on the purpose of education. He suggests that until we can come to agreement on this, education and the future of democratic society is in jeopardy. At present the culture of education is bound up with individual achievement, self-interest and ambitions disconnected from any democratic accountability. The resolution of this, he indicates, will require an emphasis on the development of interpersonal human relationships and understanding of the mutual responsibilities we bear for each other’s wellbeing. Identity, autonomy and efficacy Immoral education: The assault on teachers’ identities, autonomy and efficacy, is published by Routledge and is available . To request a review copy please complete this Share: Latest News Volunteers help turn Whitley Bay beach into maths experiment Members of the public joined mathematicians from Â鶹´«Ã½ to create what organisers believe is the largest aperiodic tiling ever attempted on Whitley Bay beach. published on: 15 June 2026 Student leader drives misogyny law change A Â鶹´«Ã½ student leader has helped change the law after creating a petition to make misogyny a hate crime, which gathered over 114,000 signatures, prompting action in Parliament. published on: 12 June 2026 Freemen of Â鶹´«Ã½ see construction of new Castle Leazes The Freemen of Â鶹´«Ã½ and other key stakeholders have become an indelible part of new student accommodation at Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s Castle Leazes. published on: 12 June 2026 Facts and figures
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