That's just one of the key questions prompted by the most recent ministerial consultation paper on head teacher recruitment, says Brian Boyd

THE Government's announcement of a #1.5m teacher recruitment drive, coupled with the apparent inability in England and Wales to fill vacant head teacher posts, suggests that there is a crisis in teaching.

One might be forgiven for being slightly sceptical of such a glossy advertising after a decade and a half of anti-teacher, anti-state school propaganda from the previous government.

It may take a lot more than slogans to restore morale in the profession and persuade graduates to join it.

As for head teachers, who ought to be the role models for new recruits, they have been recast as managers and have struggled to keep the teacher bit of their role alive in the face of an avalanche of performance indicators, devolved - and decreasing - budgets, audits and league tables.

The most recent ministerial consultation paper on the issue of formal qualifications for aspiring head teachers is straight from the managerial stable.

It starts from the premise that up to 25% of head teachers are less than satisfactory and argues that a formal qualification is necessary to improve the calibre of candidates for senior management posts. In passing, it asserts that the Management Training for Head Teachers modules produced by the Inspectorate were a success - a claim not subjected to any research or evaluation during the 1990s.

Finally, it argues that a postgraduate qualification is desirable for aspiring senior managers in order to cope with the demands of devolved budgets and school development planning - as if a certificate by itself will lead to better management.

What is conspicuously lacking is any acknowledgement that being the head of a school is qualitatively different from being the manager of a business. Learning and teaching must be at the heart of the head teacher's role.

Indeed, it could be argued that it is leadership, not management in the narrow sense, which is required in the school setting. But the assumption in the consultation paper is that the necessary postgraduate qualifications will be of a managerial nature.

The only points at issue are the level of qualification (certificate; diploma; masters?) and the length of service required before a teacher can enter the scheme. ''Fast-tracking'' has already been suggested, though for whom it will be available is not spelled out.

It seems unlikely that new teachers will be attracted by the managerial ticket. Teaching is a people job, it is about making a difference to the lives of others, about a commitment to lifelong learning.

Anyone who doesn't believe that all young people are capable of successful learning, or who thinks that only the academically able are worth bothering about, shouldn't be in the profession.

No amount of publications from Her Majesty's Inspectorate Audit Unit - itself a creation of the Forsythian commitment to managerialism - will make schools better if the quality of learning and teaching is low.

There is an alternative view. The Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum's document Teaching for Effective Learning , published last year, signalled a belief that Scottish teachers were reflective professionals.

They could, if allowed to do so, stand back from the ''how to?'' questions and, where necessary, ask ''why?'' Why 5-14? Why Higher Still? Why staff development and appraisal? Why school development planning? Why league tables? Why audits and performance indicators? Why a cult of managerialism?

But when it comes to preparation for senior posts in schools, it seems that effective learning and teaching comes a poor second to management. Some authorities have even agreed to fund staff to go on management courses but not on learning and teaching courses.

Management competences have been embraced by the Scottish Office and there is a danger that the essence of educational leadership could be lost.

New recruits to the profession and those aspiring to senior posts must have the opportunity to extend their know-ledge and expertise in learning and teaching as well as in management.

It is not an either/or. Strathclyde University has recently launched a Certificate in Learning and Teaching, arguably the kind of post-graduate qualification which ought to be a requirement for aspiring heads.

The marriage of theory and practice is at the heart of the course, challenging experienced teachers to reflect on their own practice and that of others. It has three core modules, the first dealing with the Scottish educational tradition and theories of learning and teaching.

Module two looks at thinking skills, including major programmes and classroom strategies; and module three ex-amines the nature of subjects, pedagogy and values in education.

A fourth module, in preparation, will consider the recent research into the learning brain, the evolving mind and the approach known as accelerated learning.

However, the concept of the reflective professional is fine in principle, but at present two factors militate against it becoming a reality.

Firstly there is the issue of time - time to stop bumping, as Edward Bear would put it - and to reflect on theory, re- search, and practice.

The time available at present ranges from the almost non-existent in primary to the paltry in secondary; but even where there is time, during in-service days, in some cases it is not well used or is commandeered by the local authority, often to prepare staff for national developments.

Secondly, there is the issue of staff development opportunities. What passed for staff development in days gone by was a dreary diet of ''how to'' courses.

It was the command economy writ large - officials at the centre deciding what teachers needed, with little consultation. Never mind the quality; feel the width. Now, with a national Credit Accumulation and transfer scheme (CAT), there is the opportunity for teachers to gain accreditation at post graduate level - Certificate, Diploma and Masters - by accumulating modules. And these modules can incorporate work-based learning as well as academic study.

The issue of new recruits and applicants for head teacher posts are, of course linked. It is the quality of the experience, rather than simply pay scales, which is the key concern for both groups.

My post-graduate students, training to become secondary teachers, have just returned to the Jordanhill Campus after their first two-week induction block in schools. If their experience is in any way typical, some lessons might be learned which could inform the Government's campaign:

Reduce class sizes - to that enjoyed by the private sector against which state schools are often compared - and increase the time teachers have to prepare for classes and for staff development;

Build on the acclaimed early intervention initiatives and ensure that gains made in the early years are sustained;

Remove the managerial demands made on schools - the publication of raw exam results, the performance indicators, the audits - and give schools, along with their communities, the confidence to be self-evaluative; and...

Consider a new form of teacher contract which recognises the out-of-hours work they do, which allows real involvement in parental consultation, encourages extra-curricular activities and offers new routes to professional advancement other than management.

There need not be a crisis in Scottish teaching. The tradition in this country is such that the new Government has the goodwill of the educational community for the asking. But time is of the essence if the policies of the last two decades are to be reversed and real value placed on the learning and teaching in Scottish schools.

Brian Boyd is associate director of the Quality in Education centre at the University of Strathclyde. Information on the Certificate in Learning and Teaching can be obtained from QIE.