Australian Journal of Teacher Education

in helping young people develop in competence and confidence. Their work, however, is not of interest to the mass media. Themedia are interested in a story- the more sensational and simplistic the better- so the academic or employer who is vvilling to blame secondary schools for the perceived limited language skills of young people is guaranteed good coverage. Such indictments of secondary school English teaching ignore the evidence that there is much soundly based, good teaching taking place. No doubt there is, and has been, some English teaching that is less than satisfactory. This is an inevitable outcome of the chronic shortage of English teachers. Employing authorities have had minimal choice in the selection of English teachers for some years and many teachers who have been required to teach English recognise they.. ar,e inadequately qualified for the task. " " C;f Continued attacks on the school system g~erally and English teachers in particular are hardly likely to attract English graduates into teaching. Indeed, such attacks are more likely to lead to good English teachers leaving teaching for employment elsewhere. Amoreconstructive approach would be to suppor