The Marples lawsuit: 3aaa co-founder hits back at ‘specious’ DfE defence

Peter Marples is holding firm in his High Court battle as his family lawyers attempt to pick apart the government’s defence.

The co-founder of 3aaa is attempting to sue the Department for Education for the then-Skills Funding Agency’s refusal to sign off on the change of ownership of the former apprenticeship giant in 2016, two years before the company went bust amid an investigation and police referral.

In the latest instalment of the legal action, Marples’ lawyer, Mark Harper KC, has countered the DfE’s claim that the case is “fundamentally flawed” and attempted to justify why a financial loss was suffered.

The reply to the defence also submitted evidence which alleges that the SFA had originally intended to sign off on the sale before U-turning at the 11th hour, and claims that the DfE has admitted the funding agency “did not have the power to approve a change of control”.

Bargaining power lost and shares rendered ‘worthless’

Marples claims that the consequence of the SFA’s refusal was that the proposed sale of shares fell through and caused a loss of at least £37 million.

The DfE’s lawyers hit back and said this “represents no loss because they retained the shares”, adding that the main reason why Marples suffered any loss is because the value of the shares “fell for other reasons, in particular when the company went into administration in October 2018”, which is “unrelated to the pleaded causes of action and is not recoverable”.

But Marples’ lawyer argued this was “specious” because the claimants “lost the benefit of the bargain that they had, in principle, agreed”.

The reply said: “It is not pleaded in the defence that there was an alternative, available market for the retained shares. Indeed, the effect of the refusal letter was to deprive the claimants not only of the intended sale to TLP (Trilantic Capital Partners LLP), but also to any other interested purchaser, to whom that refusal letter would have been disclosable.

“The shares were rendered worthless by the refusal letter.”

‘Duty of care’ contested

The DfE said Marples’ claim of negligence is premised on the idea that the SFA, in exercising a right under a contract, owed a “duty of care to its contractual counterparty’s parent company’s shareholders”.

It added that there is “no room for any such duty of care, which would conflict with fundamental principles of privity of contract, the corporate veil and public policy”.

Marples’ lawyers disputed this: “There is no principle of law that such a duty is not owed to the shareholders of a company, by a contractual counterparty.

“The fact that the claimants were shareholders in the SFA’s counterparty is no bar to the existence of a duty of care in their favour, and the material facts show that the SFA assumed a duty of care when purporting to have the right to approve or deny a change of control request.

“Ultimately, the SFA purported to act as gatekeeper to a deal where it was reasonably foreseeable that its conduct would cause the abandonment of the TLP acquisition, and therefore cause the claimants’ loss.”

DfE ‘admits’ it had no power to refuse sale

3aaa’s funding agreement with the SFA included the following clause (5.10): “The contractor must notify the chief executive if there is a change in its name and/or ownership. The chief executive reserves the right to terminate the contract if they consider in their absolute discretion that the change in ownership would prejudice the contractor’s ability to deliver the services.”

Marples’ lawyer argued that, accordingly, the SFA exercised an effective veto over any change of control, because no reasonable intending purchaser of the company’s shares would agree to buy it without assurances that the funding agreement would not be terminated.

The DfE’s defence then said that, while the SFA “did not have the right to approve a change of control, it is admitted that it was commonplace for providers to seek the assurance of the SFA that it would not immediately exercise its right to terminate the contract”.

But it denied that approval by the SFA to the proposed change of control was “agreed to be a condition precedent to the TLP acquisition”.

Marples’ lawyer said the defendant has “therefore admitted that, whereas it purported to be entitled to decide upon a change of control, it had no contractual basis on which to do so”.

The latest reply continued: “The most the SFA could properly have said was that it reserved the right to exercise its discretion under clause 5.10 in the event of a change of control. Had it done so, the acquisition would have been completed. 

“The SFA still had the opportunity to not renew the contract at the end of the then current term, being 1 August 2017, if it so wished; something which TLP were aware of as part of the acquisition when agreeing the consideration for the company.”

Marples’ lawyer added that, if the SFA was “truly concerned” about the future deliverability of the contract, then its options were to either terminate the funding agreement post-acquisition or simply not award a further annual contract.

But the “reality is that the SFA increased its funding to the company the following year”.

The mysterious draft letter

Marples claims that on December 22, 2016, he telephoned then-SFA deputy director Sharon Forton to enquire about the status of the sale approval. She allegedly informed him that she had placed a letter on the desk of then-SFA chief executive Peter Lauener, which “confirmed that the SFA would consent to the change in control”.

The DfE’s defence said the claimants are required to prove the telephone call and contents pleaded, adding that the letter refusing consent was drafted by Forton on December 22, 2016, and “at no time before that letter was drafted” did Lauener indicate to Forton, or any other person, that he intended to approve the change in control.

Marples has now claimed that there existed a draft version of the letter (see image) which “differed substantially from the refusal letter…which was presumably signed off by Peter Lauener”, adding that the defendant has “not explained how such amendments were finalised”.

Show us the evidence!

The DfE’s defence denied that 3aaa was “unique” in not being granted approval to a proposed change of control and claimed that the SFA had “terminated the contract of another provider upon a proposed change of control”.

In its reply, Marples’ lawyer said the DfE is “put to strict proof” on this matter, adding that the department must “prove that the alleged termination of contract occurred in the same period and pursuant to the same contractual provisions as governed in the funding agreement”.

You can download and read the full claim from Marples here, the DfE’s defence here, and Marples’ reply to the defence here.

The case continues.

Awarding federation boss resigns

Federation of Awarding Bodies chief executive Tom Bewick has resigned, FE Week can reveal.

The former Labour councillor turned Brexit party parliamentary candidate has led the membership organisation, which represents 120 awarding bodies and apprenticeship end-point assessment organisations, for five years. 

Bewick will remain in post until the end of September. The federation’s board is working on plans to find their next leader. 

From October 1, Bewick will join Ecctis, an international qualifications body, as chief executive.

Kirstie Donnelly and Alan Woods, chief executives of City and Guilds and VTCT respectively, and co-chairs of the FAB board said: “We thank Tom for five successful years leading FAB. He’s built a strong foundation for FAB to continue representing its members during these important times in policy for skills, apprenticeships and technical education.  

“On behalf of the board and the membership of FAB, we thank Tom for his committed service and we wish him well for the future.” 

The skills and enterprise expert is co-founder of Franklin Apprenticeships in the US, and founded the Transatlantic Apprenticeship Exchange Forum in 2015 to promote opportunities for UK training providers in the US. 

He led the International Skills Standards Organisation Ltd from 2011 to 2015, and prior to that was chief executive of Enterprise UK, a former government quango, from 2010 to 2011. 

Other government roles include adviser to the minister for adult skills in the early 2000s. 

He was a Labour councillor at Brighton and Hove City Council from May 2015 until he resigned in January 2017. 

He left the Labour Party in 2019 to run as the Brexit Party’s candidate for Dagenham and Rainham at the 2019 general election. 

In July last year Bewick was made a visiting professor of skills and workforce policy at Staffordshire University. 

Richard Hastings, the chair of Ecctis’ employee ownership trust board, said: “Our new CEO will progress our ambitious plans to invest in and grow our skills recognition and verification services and our global insights work, developing the business within the context of an employee-owned trust.”

No plans to exempt colleges from VAT, says Treasury secretary

Colleges’ hopes of claiming an exemption from VAT have been dashed again, after a Treasury minister confirmed there are no plans to change the law despite strong opposition from MPs.

Victoria Atkins, financial secretary to the Treasury, told a Westminster Hall debate this week that exempting colleges from VAT would cost around £200 million a year, which she implied would mean a significant loss of public spending elsewhere.

The debate, tabled by Conservative MP George Eustice, argued that, while academies and schools with sixth forms do not have to pay VAT, FE colleges and standalone sixth form colleges are in a “ludicrous situation” where they are not exempt from the tax.

Eustice explained that, considering colleges were reclassified by the Office for National Statistics late last year as public bodies, they should now also benefit from the exemption.

“At the moment, it is incredibly difficult for those FE colleges to be able to recruit and retain staff because of the squeeze on their budget,” he told MPs.

Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex Sir Bernard Jenkin said that VAT exemption had led to negative consequences in his area. He told MPs that Colchester Institute, which serves his constituency, was suffering an “unparalleled financial squeeze” leading to redundancies and cost reductions at the college.

“Unless the government can resolve this anomaly, they are facing a crisis,” he said.

Labour MP for Cambridge Daniel Zeichner, Conservative MP for Chelmsford Vicky Ford, and Conservative MP for Torbay Kevin Foster also made pleas for the Treasury to exempt colleges from VAT.

But Atkins resisted the calls, stating that the Treasury has no plans to make amendments for FE colleges mostly because of the amount it would cost the department each year.

“There is a balancing act here,” she said. “If that is £200 million that we are attributing to this scheme, then that is £200 million elsewhere in our vital public spending priorities, like the schools budget.”

She said the Treasury was facing its own post-Brexit bureaucratic pressures regarding requests for VAT exemptions. “We have had requests for more than £50 billion-worth of relief from VAT since the EU referendum,” she said.

Currently, Section 33 of the VAT Act 1994 allows local authorities and other such public bodies to reclaim VAT from non-business activities. In 2011, the law was amended to include Section 33b for academies to become exempt from VAT on costs incurred.

But Atkins said that sixth form colleges and FE colleges are not included in section 33 or 33b section of the law as “they do not fit the rationale for either”.

The rationale of Section 33, she said, is to “prevent VAT costs from falling as a burden on local taxation”.

She added that sixth form colleges can restructure as academies if they want to take advantage of the tax benefit.

Atkins also said the eligibility for VAT refunds is “not related” to ONS classification.

“There are a number of public bodies and publicly funded activities that make significant contributions to our lives but are not eligible for VAT refunds, for example, the Bank of England and university research grants,” she explained.

The opposition also raised concerns about colleges’ financial stability but stopped short of committing to exempting colleges from VAT if Labour wins the next general election.

Abena Oppong-Asare, shadow secretary to the Treasury, said the Labour party’s mission is for colleges to play a “vital role” in breaking down barriers to young peoples’ access to further education.  “The Labour party will evaluate the situation properly before putting any proposal forward,” she added.

AI-powered CareersPro platform launched to support careers guidance

Complementing the growth of Learning Curve Group’s existing Ed-Tech solutions, CareersPro is designed to provide individuals, young or old, with the tools and resources to make informed choices about their education and career paths. This platform harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to deliver personalised recommendations, guidance, and costings that are tailored to each individual’s unique skills, interests and aspirations.

Last year’s Ofsted inspections revealed that 80% of educational institutions required improvement in their Careers Education, Information and Guidance (CEIAG). The platform has been built with this in mind and will give the likes of schools, colleges, local authorities and independent training providers the ability to offer careers guidance through an easy-to-use online resource.

Taking career advice and guidance to the next level

With a vast library of resources, including industry insights, salary data, and job descriptions, CareersPro has made it easier than ever for individuals to explore different career paths, empowering users to choose careers that align with them.

Users can explore careers that complement their skillset and make use of their existing qualifications. CareersPro gives them all the facts, so they can make well-informed decisions.

This innovative platform uses comparative judgement to discover what is most important to people in their careers. If users already have an idea of a career, they can browse the database of over 500 careers and explore which qualifications they’ll need, what the local labour market looks like, and consider which skills they already have that match that career.

Building a CV has never been easier. CareersPro identifies transferable skills and provides a personalised career report for each user, meaning they can tailor their CV with the rich information from the platform.

World-class careers advice using the power of software

CareersPro is at the forefront of EdTech solutions and has been designed to support education providers meet the Gatsby Benchmarks to offer world-class careers provision. It has been developed to align with the Gatsby framework, which all providers are responsible for implementing within their education setting. Legislation states that “careers information is a fundamental right for all children in the UK”, so it is imperative that providers have the resources to facilitate young people’s understanding of their possible career routes and how they can get there. 

Far more than a career quiz, what really sets CareersPro aside is its AI-powered recommendation engine, which uses sophisticated algorithms to analyse the user’s interests, skills, and career aspirations and builds a personalised career report. With this platform, users can be confident that they are making informed decisions about their futures.

Providers can purchase access for users in bulk, so they can explore careers, job opportunities and qualifications that will get them to where they want to be. There are a range of licence options available to support organisations of all sizes.

To book your demo today, visit https://www.lcgonline.co.uk/careerspro

The success of London Multiply demonstrates the importance of adopting a local approach

Maths and numeracy skills play a crucial role in the lives of everyone, from working out household bills to getting the skills to find better paid work. In London, the mayor is committed to making sure all Londoners have the skills they need to succeed in a fair, inclusive, and thriving society. This includes increasing participation and progression in numeracy skills training.

In the past year more than 24,000 adults in London have accessed maths and numeracy courses funded by the mayor through the adult education budget (AEB). Nevertheless, low participation in numeracy courses and negative attitudes to maths continue to be a challenge. Some estimates suggest 58 per cent of Londoners have low numeracy skills and are therefore more likely to earn less and face a higher risk of unemployment.

In his recent speech on improving attainment in maths, the prime minister set out an ambition to tackle the national “anti-maths” mindset with a proposal for all learners in England to study maths until the age of 18. This renewed focus on increasing numeracy levels and challenging negative attitudes to maths is welcome, but any real success beyond the rhetoric will only be achieved through a local approach to delivery.

London can lead the way in improving the skills and life chances of Londoners

The success of London Multiply demonstrates the importance of adopting a local approach to maths and numeracy skills provision. London Multiply provides access to nearly 300 free courses for adults aged 19+ who have limited qualifications in maths (below GCSE pass grade). This includes everyday money management courses that help Londoners manage their household budgets, and more employment-focused courses that help those who have been made redundant transition back into work.

The devolution of London’s £320m AEB has proved to be an effective tool in making adult education more accessible, impactful, and relevant to those least likely to participate in further education – especially those who are struggling with the soaring cost of living. The mayor has introduced funding for Londoners in low-paid work to access adult learning, supporting 20,000 people a year to acquire the skills they need to secure higher-paying and more stable employment.

We know that significant negative perceptions of maths and a low awareness of the courses available can prevent Londoners accessing the training that is on their doorsteps. This is why the London Multiply programme builds on the success of the AEB delivery in working closely with community-based organisations, boroughs and colleges to tackle barriers to the uptake of numeracy courses and ensure it reaches as many people as possible.

Through the success of these programmes, we have shown London can lead the way in improving the skills and life chances of Londoners. On this National Numeracy Day, I am calling on the government to devolve all 19+ skills and employment support budgets to the mayor as part of a single pot of multi-year funding so we can continue to build a fairer and more prosperous city for everyone.

Manchester mayor’s ‘MBacc’ to rival EBacc to boost technical education

Andy Burnham has launched proposals for a “Greater Manchester Baccalaureate” to promote technical education courses to the city region’s young people.

Set to be up and running for year 9 options in 2024, the MBacc will be a list of qualifications that steer pupils towards technical training routes leading to in-demand jobs in the local economy.

The MBacc proposals have put the mayor of Greater Manchester on a collision course with Department for Education ministers, who have fiercely resisted calls to expand EBacc subjects to include creative or technical subjects.

But, unlike the EBacc, there are currently no plans to publish league table measures on entries and achievements on the MBacc subjects, raising questions over how the mayor will incentivise schools to offer more technical options to 14- to 16-year-olds.

Ministers are also set on delivering a Conservative party manifesto “ambition” to see 90 per cent of pupils studying EBacc subjects by 2025.

But the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said that only 36 per cent of 16-year-olds in the area leave compulsory education with EBacc subjects, prompting Burnham to create his alternative.

“The question we’ve all got to consider is what about the 64 per cent. Are we doing enough to help those thousands of young people across Greater Manchester to find their way in life and find their way to all the good jobs that are here. I don’t think we are,” Burnham said at the launch event for his plans on Wednesday.

What is the MBacc?

Like the EBacc, the MBacc is not a qualification in itself. Burnham’s baccalaureate would include a core set of GCSEs in English language, maths and a technology subject such as ICT or computer science. 

Alongside those would be options including a GCSE in engineering, creative subjects and the sciences. In addition, the mayor is consulting on including GCSEs in business, economics, humanities, languages and physical education.

With those MBacc GCSEs in the bag, the idea is that 16-year-olds will progress to one of seven “career gateways”, each leading to a T Level or other level 3 qualification, like BTECs, in: manufacturing and engineering, finance and professional, digital and technology, health and social care, creative, cultural and sport, education and early years and construction and green economy.

Then, at 18, MBacc holders would access employment, a degree apprenticeship or a higher technical qualification (HTQ).

The final set of MBacc subjects will be subject to consultation with government and local partners, the mayor’s office said.

No plans for new league tables

Published school performance measures include data on how many pupils are entered for EBacc subjects at GCSE and what grades they achieve. The DfE also incentivises schools towards EBacc subjects by offering heads opportunities to advise on policy and take part in certain government schemes.

FE Week asked the mayor whether he would be introducing similar incentives, like league tables, to encourage schools towards MBacc subjects.

“I’m not going to be in a position to change those things. I’m not seeking to. The Ebacc is important,” Burnham said.

“We’ll have to have a conversation with the DfE. None of this is confrontational. This is about making some of their policies work better. 

“So T Levels, for instance… Let’s go on this journey and see if we can help knock T Levels into shape.”

‘New powers’ make MBacc possible

Since becoming the first elected metro mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham has called for more control over post-technical education. He describes the MBacc as “the first step on the journey” for Greater Manchester to become “the UK’s first technical education city-region”.

This week’s announcement comes months after Greater Manchester and the West Midlands gained extra skills powers in the Spring Statement. The mayors from both combined authorities had pushed for more education powers as part of their “trailblazer” devolution deals, but much of what was offered was in the adult skills space.

The pair did win the ability to form “joint governance boards” between their combined authorities and the DfE to “provide oversight of post-16 technical education and skills” and become “central convenors” for careers provision in their regions.

At the MBacc launch, Burnham said it was the new board with DfE help that makes his academic and technical pathway options possible.

“The devolution trailblazer creates a joint board at the Greater Manchester level, a partnership between ourselves and the DFE. And what you are hearing today is our first sort of ‘starter for ten’. To say, look, this is what we would want to get to, through this joint board, those two clear equal paths.”

Finding tech teachers a ‘risk’

The MBacc launch coincided with day three of 12 days of strike action at The Manchester College over pay.

Anna Dawe, principal of Wigan and Leigh College and chair of the Greater Manchester Colleges Group, is working with the mayor on the MBacc. GM Colleges are “co-ordinating their specialisms” to deliver the MBacc, Dawe told FE Week, and national challenges around technical teacher recruitment are a risk.

“It is certainly a risk we are living and breathing,” she said. “We’re working collaboratively within Greater Manchester Colleges around staffing, around how we look at different methods of delivery specialisation which will alleviate some of those issues. 

“But it actually highlights and puts pressure on the investment that is needed in technical education.”

Tributes paid to principal’s thirty-year legacy after sudden death

Tributes have been paid to Cirencester College principal Jim Grant after he died unexpectedly.

Grant spent most of his career at the Gloucestershire-based sixth form college, beginning as a lecturer of history and archaeology in 1991 and progressing to principal in 2017.

The college said Grant passed away suddenly at home on the evening of Friday, May 12.

Peter Holmes, chair of governors, said: “Jim will be missed by a great number of people who have worked with him now and over the many years he has given to Cirencester College and its community. The governors and the management team are united in their wish to ensure his legacy continues to grow and thrive.”

A spokesperson for college said Grant was a “friend, coach and mentor for many people, staff and students alike, and his impact on all of us was profound”, adding that he “will be deeply missed by us all”.

The college said that in his thirty-plus year career, Grant championed social mobility at the college, made appearances in the media and scheduled an upcoming visit to Parliament to speak about the sixth form sector in England.

As principal, he also oversaw significant redevelopments and commitments to ecological sustainability across the campus such as its “award-winning” digital building.

Grant was also a published author of several works, including multiple additions of an archaeology coursebook.

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “We are terribly sorry to hear the very sad news about Jim. Our thoughts are with his friends and family and the close-knit community at Cirencester College.

“We will miss Jim’s great sense of humour and his steely determination to do what he knew was right. He was always ready to help and support the team at SFCA and his colleagues across the sector. It was a privilege to know him. He will be greatly missed by many, many people across the country who have benefitted from his advice, expertise, insights and support over the years.”

How East Anglian colleges have put aside competition to deliver sustainability together

Historically, the further education sector has struggled to achieve true collaboration.  In an intrinsically competitive post-16 education system, and with teaching staff availability off timetable often limited, getting together with colleagues from other colleges to plan and deliver joint activity can be a challenge.  

The five further education (FE) colleges across Norfolk and Suffolk have been bucking that trend, working collaboratively on a number of recent projects such as sharing learning on employer curriculum engagements through the European Social Fund (ESF) technical curriculum project. ESF-funded provision for those facing barriers to accessing education has also seen significant joint working across colleges and the voluntary community and social enterprise sector, and the regional Visitor Economy Network Initiative (VENI) project is a college and private sector partnership promoting careers in this key sector for the east of England.

So we are good at planning and delivering activity and engaging employers together, and we share skills and expertise in the management of externally funded projects very readily.

The climate emergency presents a new scale of challenge for us all.  With new job roles and skills requirements emerging all the time and regulation and qualifications not keeping pace with the changes, it is vital that colleges pool knowledge and expertise to deliver the best possible learning opportunities.

The New Anglia Green Skills project – running from August 2022 to spring 2023 and funded by the strategic development fund from the department for education (DfE) – sought to deliver a step change in our green skills work.  Partners, Suffolk New College, City College Norwich, West Suffolk College, East Coast College and The College of West Anglia developed a multi-strand revenue and capital project looking at curriculum, business engagement, facilities and learner involvement in green skills. 

The climate emergency presents a new scale of challenge for us all

The project culminated in the New Anglia Green Skills conference on 15 March at the Hold in Ipswich, organised by Suffolk New College on behalf of the partnership. A key aim of the conference was to bring together teaching staff from all five colleges and give them the opportunity to hear from leading speakers as well as to talk to each other about the curriculum adaptation work they had done. The energy and commitment to collaborate in the workshop sessions was extraordinary, and staff were keen to build on the new cross-college links they had made.

We were really committed to putting on a conference because we are so aware that many FE teaching staff don’t get to go to other colleges or attend conferences. That professional ‘buzz in the room’ that more strategic staff get to experience is so important for professional development, and a really good outcome of this project. Indeed, we hope to work across the colleges to better align our staff development days and make it easier to deliver similar events in future.

All our colleges are at different stages in investing in facilities to teach and train in net-zero technologies like solar, heat pumps, and hybrid and electric vehicles. This is a particularly key area for ongoing collaboration as we develop and evolve training and teaching programmes to meet the huge skills demand and engage with careers leads to enthuse people with new career opportunities. 

The green skills project covered all curriculum areas, not just the ‘obvious’ green skills requirements in construction and engineering. In fact, some of the most dynamic and committed work came from curriculum areas that aren’t front of mind when people talk about ‘greenifying’ business; Hair and beauty teams were especially active, for example, in developing net-zero salons, with work on waste recycling and using greener products.

The project has delivered capital investment in all colleges and many small-scale initiatives to improve and adapt curriculum and facilities. The partnership has carried out extensive curriculum reviews; developed many new resources; sent staff on key training and fact-finding visits; and developed teacher development frameworks and tools to embed sustainability as standard in all teaching. 

And the best thing is that we all agree: This is only the start.

What we really mean when we talk about likeable teachers

It was one of those ridiculously busy days. I was bustling down a corridor with an armful of exercise books when I came face-to-face with a student who had not been in my lesson earlier. Brought up short, I took a second to absorb the fact and felt the frustration of the day rise inside me. I stopped and called their name, drawing them out of the flow of bodies, away from their friends.

My initial annoyance flipped as I remembered that this student was having a really hard time of late due to factors way beyond their control. As I checked they were alright and said how pleased I was to see them in college, I swear their face changed. Those thirty seconds were by far the most important part of my very busy day.

That student was present in my next lesson, chirpy and ready to work. There is nothing unusual in this scene. It is mundane and it is replicated thousands of times every day all across the country. But everything about that exchange is essential.

It brought to mind an educational social media debate that flared recently about whether teachers should be likeable. As is often the case on social media, likeability was in short supply – and in no discernible relationship with the positions held by the contributors.

The heart of the issue is the fact that education is a profoundly relational business. Like all relationships, there is an indecipherably complex mix of factors at play when teaching works well. Teasing out the strands is hard and possibly even counterproductive.

I have been in schools and colleges where teachers have prided themselves on their stern discipline. These stony-faced pseudo-sergeant-majors seem to take to heart Machiavelli’s hoary old chestnut about being feared rather than loved and I sometimes question their motivation to teach.

Seeking the approval of students is a self-evident dead end

Then again, I also question any over-eager, wide-eyed teacher who desperately needs to be liked by their students. Insecure neediness often cries out from behind the façade of the cool teachers, and there is a sneaky manipulation in being likeable in order to bring about some desired result. This is likeability as a transactional tool and that feels dishonest. 

Anyone who teaches must, at some point, consider why they do what they do. Possibly on a Sunday night, right around the time that Antiques Roadshow comes on. After all, there are many reasons not to do this mad job.

Harder to reflect upon than why we do what we do in the way that we do it. If we do this honestly, we will probably soon find a whole range of wounded motivations driving our interactions with others, including in our teaching. After all, we always bring all we are to all we do.

Among our possible drives, seeking the approval of students is a self-evident dead end. As any therapist will tell you, it is an unhealthy displacement that cannot end well. We are not in the classroom for ourselves or our own gratification, but for the good of our students.

What students really need is to trust their teachers, and in the power-imbalanced, age-discordant relationship of the classroom, trust is most quickly built on a foundation of kindness. I suspect this is what we mean when we talk about likeability, a professional kindness that might involve discipline and might involve care but will certainly involve dignity, respect, empowerment, empathy and compassion.

Like many older teachers, I was schooled in the dark days of flung chalk and flying board rubbers. Violence was endemic to the classroom. Those were not kind days, and a lot of people received deep and long-lasting wounds in those schools. But there were kind teachers, and they stood out like beacons. They are the ones we still remember as we reflect on what motivates us.

Kind teachers still stand out today. The students can tell you who they are. Ask them some time; it’s instructive. Ask who the best teachers are, and then ask who the kind teachers are. I suspect you’ll find the lists overlap, and that likeability has little to do with it.