In public schools, classes are bloated - it's ridiculous.
There are 600 districts in India. Every district in India has a teacher-training institute.
We definitely have to take care of our teachers more. Raise the pay. Give them the tools they need.
When I talk to teachers they tell me the things they'd most like from any government are a reduction in bureaucracy, support to help ensure good discipline and a reformed Ofsted.
My priorities are making sure we reduce class size and close the achievement gap.
Our teachers at the public school level are the most underpaid for the importance of their job in America.
We cannot expect systemic success when our teachers are underpaid and under-resourced, or when they split time being caretakers and counselors for our children as well.
I don't think we have a surplus of fine educators in this country that we can just start dropping them for no reason whatsoever.
We've all heard these statistics that teachers at times go into their pockets in the tune of several hundred dollars a year to pay for school supplies and materials. It's not normal.
If we want to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, it starts with a fair wage, adequate working conditions, and the resources and support to succeed. Remember: teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions.
Textbooks are no longer given to schoolchildren; they're too expensive. So they're given to the teachers, who probably need them more.
Why shouldn't we give our teachers a license to obtain software, all software, any software, for nothing? Does anyone demand a licensing fee, each time a child is taught the alphabet?
I have repeatedly called for residency programs for teachers, like those you see in the medical profession, to ensure our educators have the training and knowledge to succeed in their classrooms and in their careers.
There is no education system in the world - none at all - that's better than its average teacher.
I mean, look, teachers don't do their job for the money, obviously, because we pay them ridiculously little amounts for what they put in. Most of them come out of their own pocket for materials and things to help the children and all that.
Teachers should not need to have to buy books for the kids, or pencils and pens. That's absurd.
We've established a free marketplace of teacher ideas and donor interests.
