The GTC's governing Council

Our governing body is a Council of 64 Members, including a majority of registered teachers, 25 of whom have been elected by the profession itself.

The Council also includes wider representation from other interest groups in higher education, local government, from the teacher unions and associations, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and other key stakeholders. Overall it includes:

• 25 teachers elected by teachers in spring 2004
• 9 nominees from the teacher unions and associations
• 17 nominees from other interest groups (for example, higher education, local government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission)
• 13 Members appointed by the Secretary of State through the public appointments system, including parent governors, leaders of local education improvement, and outstanding classroom practitioners.

Following the Governance Review in Summer 2007 the full Council meets three times a year in different venues around the country. Council meetings are usually one-day events with at least one meeting per year having a member development session.  Members are also elected   to one of the following Committees : Executive Committee,Audit Monitoring and Review Committee, Policy and Research Committee, Registration and Regulation Committee or the Finance and General Purposes  Committee. Members of the  Finance and General Purposes  Committee. also sit on either the Remuneration Sub Group or an ad hoc Appeals Committee. Some Members serve on a policy group. Policy groups specialise in the following areas for the 2007/8 Council year : Accountability, Children and Young Peoples Learning. Every Child Matters and Support for Professionalism.Members on the Audit Monitoring and Review Committee do not serve on any other Committee to ensure independence.

Apart from the Executive Committee which meets six times per year each committee meets between two and  four times a year. Council Members also undertake the disciplinary casework as part of the GTC's regulatory role. Members are either involved in investigating where there is a case of serious professional incompetence or unacceptable professional conduct to answer or they form the panels used to hear disciplinary cases. Committee meetings are held in either London or Birmingham, often via video-link. Casework hearings are held in Birmingham. Members also sit on a small number of Induction Appeals Committees.

In addition, many Members undertake presentations at key teacher (including NQT events) and headteacher gatherings to inform colleagues of the work of the GTC and enable their influence on policy thinking.

The current Chair of Council is Judy Moorhouse, who was first elected in May 2004 and took office from 1 September 2004. In Spring 2007 she was re-elected for a further two years until August 2009. Judy began her career in teaching in 1971 and has been appointed to the GTC as a representative of the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

The current Vice-Chair of Council is Sarah Bowie. 

A teacher majority on the Council is essential, but while a clear majority of Members must be teachers, public confidence in the ability of the teaching profession to regulate itself will only be gained by including wider representation from the education community. In common with other regulatory bodies, lay member input into our policy formulation and regulatory procedures is both necessary and desirable.

Thirteen Members of the Council have been appointed by the Secretary of State under the procedures for public appointments, which were established following the recommendations of the Nolan Committee.

This means that they submitted a formal application and were interviewed and selected against objective criteria. The regulations governing the constitution of the GTC require that these appointees bring balance to the Council and ensure that certain perspectives not delivered through the election and nomination process are included.

Among the current appointees are two serving parent governors, teachers from small rural schools, a former full service extended schools headteacher and a representative of sixth form colleges. These appointments have strengthened the balance of ethnic minority representation on the Council.

The term of office for elected teacher Members is four years.

The terms of office for Members appointed by the Secretary of State will expire on 31 August 2009. The next public appointments process wil be held in early 2009.