Jean Gemmell, head of the Professional Association of Teachers, responds to the education secretary's pledge to speed up the expansion of specialist schools.

We welcome Mr Clarke's commitment to teacher professionalism and to cutting red tape and teachers' workload - issues we have commented on elsewhere.

On the subject of specialist schools, the government seems to be sending out mixed messages - discouraging early specialisation post-16, with AS levels, while introducing specialist schools from age 11. We hope that the government is not engaged in promoting divisiveness rather than diversity.

Where there are clusters of schools, specialist schools could be a positive way to promote the collaboration of teacher expertise and the sharing of resources. Where there aren't clusters, for example in rural areas, more specialist schools may result in an imbalance of pupils at those school which remain general comprehensives.

We have seen schools become financially advantaged as a result of the drive for selection and specialism, indicating that a two-tier system will emerge. The perceived value attached to specialist status by society may in turn impact on parental choice and result in a widening gap between advantaged and disadvantaged areas.

Difficulties would remain for those schools serving rural communities, where there is limited choice for parents and where transport is a significant factor. The government must invest in excellent teaching and support for all our children, with all schools becoming centres of excellence.PAT is in favour of a more flexible curriculum that can develop the skills and meet the needs of all pupils. All should have opportunities to succeed. We hope that the government's recent greater emphasis on vocational education post-14 will help to address the 'ill-discipline and bad behaviour' Mr Clarke talks about in his speech.

A significant cause of disaffection and truancy among boys has been the downgrading of vocational subjects, which have not been valued in the same way as more traditional academic subjects. For discouraged pupils, such vocational subjects may be the learning lifeline. The current obsession with league tables and grades achieved in academic subjects ignores the practical and vocational lessons that keep many pupils switched on to learning.

It is important for both pupils and employers that there is clear parity between 'academic' and 'vocational' qualifications. Too many pupils are written off, or see themselves as written off, as failures because the system recognises one form of success.

We are glad that Charles Clarke recognises that teachers need the support of society to help to resolve pupils' problem behaviour. We need to engage parents more in the education debate and encourage them to foster in their children a greater respect for schools and education and a desire for, and a love of, learning.

No matter how much teachers' pay is improved, the recruitment and retention of teachers will not improve significantly unless the behaviour issue is addressed by early, appropriate, therapeutic intervention, instead of by punitive measures for teenagers which come too late.

Forum Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Gwen Evans, deputy gerneral secretary for ATL, told ePolitix.com: "Charles Clark looks impressively comfortable in one of the hottest seats in politics. His first moves combine some familiar policies with a discernible shift in emphasis towards an increasingly trusting style - an origin of genuinely mature government.

"His priorities look sensible though very challenging. It would have been even better if he had also looked at how the government should be stimulating employers demands for the well-educated young people emerging from schools, colleges and higher education. This is the place where the government must itself get beyond one size (or pious aspiration) fits all."