People in primary and secondary teaching jobs could be held in the same professional standing as doctors and lawyers - if the Labour party win the next election.

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt believes that like people in other professions, teachers should be made to take regular tests that check their ability. 

The idea seems similar to the one mooted and eventually dropped by the political party ahead of the 2010 election, but Mr Hunt told the BBC that it was "enormously important" for the good work carried out in teaching jobs to be recognised in some way.

He said: "Just like lawyers and doctors, they should have the same professional standing - which means relicensing themselves, which means continued professional development, which means being the best possible they can be.

"If you're not a motivated teacher - passionate about your subject, passionate about being in the classroom - then you shouldn't really be in this profession."

Labour has already distanced itself from free schools and said that everyone employed in a teaching job should need to have acquired Qualified Teacher Status.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said she had issues with the idea that teachers should be monitored more than they are already.

In an interview on the BBC Radio 4 show Today she said many in the profession describe themselves as being surveilled "the whole time".

Fellow union leader Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, explained that although a licence to practice could be positive, it is demoralising for teachers for every reform to be hijacked by commentators as a way to root out "incompetent" teachers.

As somebody who is looking to enter the teaching profession, how do you feel about this idea? Will it improve standards and earn teachers more respect or is it more political intrusion into the classroom? Let us know your views.