As the election campaign in the UK goes into top gear, Conservative leader David Cameron has pledged to adopt a "brazenly elitist" recruitment policy for teachers. He aims to base this drive both on high quality qualifications, as well as an attractive remuneration package "to attract high-flyers from other professions".

Politicians everywhere are proclaiming that high quality education is the most critical success factor that will determine which country wins the competitiveness race in the next two decades. Hardly ever these pious intentions go beyond the crude educational evangelism meant to win the support of those in our society who genuinely feel that not enough is being done to raise educational standards and achievement levels.

Few countries have in fact really achieved excellence in education. Finland, Singapore and South Korea have often been quoted as examples of countries that have "deliberately made teaching a high prestige profession". Can we say that we are anywhere near these leaders in education?

We too need to attract high flyers to this profession, if we want to excel. Investment in education is not so much about how many teachers are encouraged to obtain first degrees and post-graduate qualifications; neither is it about how much money we spend on refurbishing schools or building new ones. Most important of all, excellence in education must not be certified by politicians, but by employers and investors who recruit the young people who go through our educational system.

There is so much backlog of work that needs to be done to bring our educational indicators at least at par with the EU average, that one can understand the political urge to turn our educational institutions into production lines to multiply the number of students who graduate every year. This policy may improve statistics, but it will eventually fail to secure the quality of educational achievement that is so necessary if we are to attract the kind of investment that will promote new jobs.

Many educators feel that they are not being empowered enough to produce the best results in the students that they teach. Some argue that morale amongst educators is low both because of low remuneration, but even because they feel that they are not respected enough by their managers. A more participative style of management is needed in our educational institutions if we are to stimulate more creativity and initiative amongst teaching staff who work in the coalface of our society.

Educational reform should start by understanding why so many of our students are failing to achieve success after ten years of full time education. My instinct tells me that this has something to do with the deteriorating quality of life of so many of our families. Our society is turning a blind eye to the pathetic condition in which far too many children are living.

Despite boasting of a free educational system from kindergarten to university, many of our political leaders do not acknowledge that for some young people not paying school fess is simply not enough to get them on the first step of the ladder that will free them from material and spiritual poverty. These young people need a tailor made solution for their problems that will involve educators, sociologists, and family therapists working as a team to understand and treat the root of the problem of educational failure.

Unfortunately, most of our media is more interested in dissecting every minute detail of political non-events in order to feed our insatiable interest in partisan politics, rather than engage in a liberating soul searching exercise of how our educational system is failing so many members of our society.

We too need an elite teaching force that indeed looks at students as unique individuals. Some of these students are facing formidable challenges in their private lives - challenges that can never be overcome simply by paying more stipends. These individuals and their families should be supported much more effectively than they are today.

Some other students may just need to be motivated to excel and not be content with mediocrity. We want our young people to enjoy their youth, but we must also stimulate their imagination and their ambition for success by teaching them to be creative, resourceful, and able to work in teams and solve problems.

If an elite teaching force is what is needed to achieve this, then I am all for brazen elitism in teacher recruitment.

jcassarwhite@yahoo.com