It’s the same in the US and in the UK: paper credentials count for everything, actual knowledge or experience notwithstanding. Nowhere is this more evident than in the education-industrial complex. Sometimes, hilarity ensues.

Teacher at Catholic London secondary school is suspended after it’s discovered he ‘CAN’T READ or write’

• Faisal Ahmed was given the green light by teacher training program TeachFirst 
• This is despite having problems with reading and understanding ‘written tests’
• Just days into his new job at St Thomas More Catholic school in Wood Green 

These elite training programs (they’re all “elite”) serve as gatekeepers, holding back those who haven’t passed through the pedagogy wringer of some college Ed Department. They deter the driven and the otherwise knowledgable while failing to catch the illiterate. I almost hope this cat wins his lawsuit.

Standardized tests for the kids. Standardized certificates for the teachers. Standardized failure for society.