BEING charged with the education of the country's next generation should be a rewarding job.

Today, however, there are growing signs of disillusion within the teaching profession.

The decision by a County Durham headmaster to leave his career to become a lorry driver highlights the low morale in school staffrooms.

The implications for our children are immense. Is it possible for teachers suffering stress and strain to perform to their highest possible standard?

And with so much doom and gloom emanating from the current crop of teachers, can our schools expect to attract the highest calibre of graduates to the profession.

No one, even the most hard-pressed teachers, denies the need for educational reform, to reflect the changing world and changing needs of society.

But for the past two decades our schools have undergone wave after wave of reforms, many of which have been in place for barely a term.

The obsession with statistics and league tables has created a tier of bureaucracy which has hampered the effectiveness of teachers in the classroom, ironically at a time when more and more emphasis is placed on performance and results.

For the sake of our children the time has come for stability. Time to stick with a cohesive policy which is given the chance to succeed. Time to give teachers the chance to be in the classroom with children, rather than stuck behind desks piled high with paperwork.

The last thing our schools need is yet another raft of changes. Which is why William Hague is unwise to propose what he claims to be the most radical shake-up of the education system since 1944.

Headmasters and teachers will not thank him for reforms which will leave them tangled with even more bureaucracy.

Timely measure

LAST month's thuggery in Brussels and Charleroi was entirely predictable.

Despite the Home Secretary's insistence to the contrary, it was abundantly clear well ahead of Euro 2000 that the British Government's measures to keep potential troublemakers at home were woefully inadequate.

While yesterday's anti-hooliganism proposals are a case of Jack Straw closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, they are entirely appropriate.

Before any more shame is heaped upon our country and our national game, it is vital the legislation is in place before the start of England's World Cup campaign.