Schools get power to remove poor teachers within a term The education secretary, Michael Gove, said poor teaching put pressure on other staff and undermined children's education. Underperforming teachers can be removed within a term under powers being introduced in September. Under the new arrangements, first announced last May, schools will be able to remove poor teachers from the classroom quickly. The process currently takes a year or longer. The three-hour limit on observing teachers in the classroom will also be scrapped, to allow schools to decide on observation times. And teachers will be assessed every year against a set of key skills known as Teachers' Standards. The measures cover state schools in England. The Department for Education is also consulting on proposals that would place a duty on schools to share information - if requested - on whether a teacher had been investigated for poor performance. This is aimed at stopping poor teachers being shuffled from school to school. Speaking on BBC's Today programme, Michael Gove, the education secretary, said headteachers should be able to intervene more often and more quickly when "alarm bells were ringing and the red lights were flashing" over a teacher's incompetence. Gove said that with the "right support," many teachers could improve their performance. He said it was difficult to easily quantify how many incompetent teachers there were. Teachers would continue to be protected by employment law from headteachers who didn't like certain members of their staff and wanted to fire them. "If they are a victim of prejudice, for example, they will have the full protection of the law and the possibility of going to an employment tribunal," he said. What we are talking about here is [when there is] clear evidence that children are not doing as well as they should be ... Nothing matters more than the quality of time children spend with a gifted adult. Sometimes a headteacher intervening with a few brisk words can get things right. In an interview with the Daily Mail Gove said he wanted parents to ask to go into classrooms to assess how well children were being taught. Gove said: "You wouldn't tolerate an underperforming surgeon in an operating theatre, or a underperforming midwife at your child's birth. Why is it that we tolerate underperforming teachers in the classroom? Teachers themselves know if there's a colleague who can't keep control or keep the interest of their class, it affects the whole school. Two teachers' unions condemned the move as "unnecessary and draconian," with one leader calling it a "potential bully's charter." Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The changes to the appraisal and capability policies will rightly be seen by teachers as an attack on their professionalism and will anger and depress them in equal measure." She added: "What the government proposes is potentially a bully's charter. The union believes that many well-functioning schools, where development and professionalism is prized, will not adopt Mr Gove's model. If schools are serious about addressing the issue of teacher competence should it arise, they must do it in a fair fashion and not be constrained by a one-term time limit. It is far better to improve teachers than to seek measures to sack them. Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said: "This is yet another depressingly predictable announcement from a government seemingly intent on destroying the teaching profession and state education. The draconian measures announced today are totally unnecessary. There is no evidence which demonstrates that there are problems with the current system. She said the NASUWT would "vigorously" oppose the changes. However, there was support for the measures from headteachers. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the proposals were in the "best interests" of the profession. The simplest way to protect teachers is to be seen to be taking responsibility for our own performance. There is so much good practice out there that I think the profession has nothing to fear," he said. Clearer systems of performance management are one way to build up the professional reputation of teachers and get those outside the classroom to let the experts get on with the job. Teachers deserve to be regarded as skilled professionals driven by a sense of vocation and making a real impact. For those who are clearly unsuited to teaching, it is in everyone's interests - not just of pupils but of the profession's reputation - that, after a fair process, they should be helped to pursue their career elsewhere. Meanwhile, Gove told ITV's Daybreak programme that he wanted schools to lengthen their working days and shorten their summer holiday. If you love your job then there is, I think, absolutely nothing to complain about in making sure you have more of a chance to do well. He said deprived children would particularly benefit as some did not keep up their learning in the holidays.