The other day I saw a vomit inducing article online about the government's response to a petition to allow teachers from Commonwealth countries to work in the UK without having to go to all the trouble of going through the full process of gaining QTS. It was nothing but long winded management speak about requirements to maintain the 'highest of standards' in education. The fact that almost everyone looks down on the UK system seems to escape them. UNICEF carried out a survey in 2007 that looked at the wellbeing of children and the UK finished 22nd out of 22 countries. Last year a university in London compared results from a standardized test to those of children about 30 years ago and found the more recent results were lower. From that you could say that you would have been better off in a school over 30 years ago than today. Then when you throw the increasing number of unqualified staff doing more and more teaching into the mix you aren't really talking about the highest of standards at all. More like the cheapest.