In some countries, there have been schemes to encourage older professional people to retrain as school teachers. Do you feel that this is likely to have beneficial effects on education? Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience.

When there is a shortage of school teachers, the government’s response is usually to encourage more graduates to enter the teaching

profession

. Targeting older

people

who have spent their working life in a different

profession

is a more radical attempt to deal with the problem. Some

people

might doubt whether it would work well. Teaching in a school can be a demanding activity requiring high levels of energy and so some

people

might find it difficult if previously they worked in a quiet office.

Moreover

, if their previous

profession

involved working mainly with adults, they may have little understanding of young

people

.

However

, overall I feel that schemes like

this

are positive and more likely to be beneficial than

otherwise

. An older person who has worked in another

profession

will probably have a greater experience of life outside school than someone who has gone into teaching straight from university. One of the criticisms sometimes made of education systems is that they do not make enough connections with the working life that pupils will enter. Older

people

will be better able to make these links and may help pupils to see the point of studying. It is true there may be a lack of understanding between teachers and pupils in some cases, but perhaps an initiative like

this

could be part of the solution to the wider problem. It might increase understanding on both sides through communication in the classroom. In general, I feel that an initiative like

this

is likely to be positive for education as long as the professional

people

in question are truly committed to it and prepared for the new demands that

this

career move will bring.