Free schools are part of the British government's reforms in education. Parents, teachers or charities will be allowed to establish their own schools. These schools are free toemploy people without teaching qualifications.
This is as a result of three American studies which found that teachers with little or no training perform just as well as those who are fully certified.
However, some people are against this idea because they think teacher training is necessary. Mary Bousted from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers says you need to learn different approaches to teaching and learning in order to be a good teacher.
So what do you think? How important is it for teachers to be fully trained for their job? Is 'life experience' enough? And what do think about the idea of using former soldiers as teachers? Please tell us your views.
