Council decides on the code
last updated:03 Aug 2009
Council approved the new code at its July meeting, held in Birmingham. The code sets a robust, clear and active set of principles which reflect the standards teachers expect of themselves and others expect of the profession.
Council heard that the Office for Public Management (OPM), which ran the public consultation for the GTC, received 3,670 replies to the draft code on its dedicated public website. They also ran ten workshops for teachers, parents and governors, which examined the draft in line-by-line detail. More than 70 partner organisations, including all teacher unions and associations, replied also, and more than 600 letters or emails were received as well.
As a result, the draft was slimmed by 50% and the wording tightened before being put to July’s Council meeting.
Welcoming the new version, Anne Madden, Equality and Human Rights Commission nominee to the GTC, said: ‘There are significant equality challenges facing education; the teaching profession, together with equality professionals, has to find the right mechanisms to address them – and we will.
‘The EHRC supports and welcomes the contribution this Code will make. It sets out an agenda of behaviours for teachers on equality which reflects all the key inequalities for children and has the potential to address them. The GTC should be proud of its role in developing such a comprehensive and inclusive approach that goes further than any equality and diversity standards for teachers to date.’
Members made two small amendments to the wording of the code.
Teacher member Tom Trust from Cornwall argued eloquently that the wording ‘[teachers should] act respectfully towards children and young people’ should be replaced by ‘act appropriately’. ‘Respect’, he said, had been hijacked by the culture of the streets, where demands for respect were actually demands for deference. ‘What is important is that we act in the best interests of children and respect their needs,’ he said, ‘since those most deserving of respect are often those who never ask for it. We need to reclaim the territory we have lost.’ The meeting agreed and the amendment was passed.
London head teacher Gussie Andersen moved to truncate the wording on a teacher’s role from ‘Their knowledge, skill, judgement, creativity and commitment play a vital role in the economic and social wellbeing of the country and the success of every other occupation’ to ‘play a vital role in society’. As she said, ‘Are we responsible for everything that goes wrong in the country, including other occupations?’ The wording has been duly altered.
The new code becomes effective on 1 October 2009.
