New teachers reception, October 2008

last updated:30 Apr 2009

Extracts from a speech by GTC Chief Executive Keith Bartley given at a GTC reception for new teachers, October 2008

Keith Bartley spoke to teachers new to the profession about the difference new teachers can make; the GTC’s role in helping to raise standards and in supporting teachers’ professional development.

Welcome to the teaching profession

Colleagues, I am really pleased to be here with you tonight:

• to welcome those of you who are brand new to teaching and to thank those of you who are starting your second, third or fourth year of teaching
• to outline our vision for teaching and the GTC’s contribution to a brighter future for teaching –
• to talk to you briefly about the Teacher Learning Academy
• and still leave time for you to ask me questions and to comment.

So let me start with a very important message – welcome and congratulations.  Congratulations on your choice of career and welcome to those who have recently entered the teaching profession.  I hope you are enjoying the ride so far.  Earlier this year I was privileged to attend a number of regional awards ceremonies organised by the Teaching Awards Trust, at which they highlighted a range of quotes from key figures in education & the media. Ted Wragg – a touchstone for several generations of teachers for more than 30 years - said that without teachers, society would sink back into primitive squalor.  Jon Snow of Channel 4 News and John Humphreys of BBC Radio 4, both affirmed that teaching is the most important job in society.

So…good choice!  It is a great time to be a teacher and to join teaching.  Ofsted has said that the current generation of new teachers – that is you – are the best trained ever.  You have a high qualification base – strong and growing academic credentials for the job.  You are joining an education service that has received unprecedented investment in recent years, including a whole new generation of new buildings – brand new schools with excellent facilities.

New teachers – making a difference

And as new teachers, you are already making a difference to children and to the profession. I feel lucky that I have recently had the chance to be reminded of this in person. One part – probably my favourite part - of my role as Chief Executive is retaining a commitment to get out of the office and into schools on a regular basis, to meet teachers and talk to them, and see and hear what they are doing.  At a small primary on the outskirts of Winchester, I was privileged to meet a teacher named Vicky, only in her third year of teaching, whose confidence and professionalism was truly amazing. Her class of 30 Yr 3&4 pupils was buzzing with learning: pupils busily working – and playing - in small clusters. Most activity was self-directed; all of it was taking place without a word of behavioural guidance or instruction; Vicky herself was working quietly with a small group of pupils – all while seated on the floor with her back to the rest of the room. The sense of learning and purpose and enthusiasm by all of the pupils – some patiently let me interrupt them briefly before making clear that they wanted to get on with whatever activity they were doing – was a clear result of Vicky’s trust in her pupils and her commitment to developing them as learners in a constructive and responsive way.

Now, I know that there are lots of Vicky’s out there; probably some of you here tonight either are a Vicky or are well on your way to becoming one! But it is important to me that, in my role, I take the time to see for myself the truly excellent work that is going on in classrooms thanks to teachers who are new to the profession.

I think that as a society, we have a clearer understanding than ever before that teachers make the vital difference to children’s futures – to their achievements and their enjoyment of learning.  

Teachers are working in new ways

Teachers are working in new ways – as part of a wide children’s workforce that collaborates around the needs of the child – with the child at the centre and with a new respect for the contribution that a range of professionals make to their development – be they teaching assistants within school, or the very wide range of health and social care professionals who also care passionately and want every child to succeed and thrive.

So, it’s a positive picture and a great time to be a teacher.  But that doesn’t mean it isn’t tough, demanding and challenging.  And that is where we come in – I hope.

It is a crying shame that 30 per cent of teachers exit from the classroom within five years of entry.  Now that may be the right decision for some of that 30 per cent.  They may always have intended to do a short, intense burst in the classroom and then do something else.  But I want every teacher who leaves to feel positive about teaching and to feel that a return might be a runner in the future.  And I don’t want anyone to leave because they are burnt out or demoralised.

And as you may have seen in recent media coverage of the publication of the GTC’s Annual Digest of Statistics, the teaching population is actually getting younger for the first time in years – decades, even. This has big implications for the profession overall for the ways in which you are able to develop and progress throughout your career, not the least because the nature of a career for life has changed – ask a lot of city bankers this week! – and so your opportunities for training and develop to refresh or extend your practice need to take account of this.

Supporting teachers’ professional development

The Teacher Learning Academy was launched as a pilot project in 2004 and its development right from day one – in fact from well before day one when the idea was first conceived - has been underpinned by a very rigorous evidence based approach to what makes effective CPD. The structure is quite simple and straightforward:

• A teacher identifies what it is about their own teaching that they want to work on, and, vitally, what is already known about it
• They then plan what they want to learn, and how they will put this into practice – and potentially what it is that they will change
• Along the way, they will seek support and feedback from colleagues, and also find ways to evaluate the impact of what they did
• And of course they will want to share what they have learned so that improvements in practice can be spread more widely – both in and beyond the school

I believe – and what teachers who are part of the TLA have said is – that one of the TLA’s strengths is how the projects are rooted in the classroom, and that they enable teachers to focus on their own role and the context they work in, addressing priorities for them, their pupils and their schools.  

This represents a tremendous culture shift – a really exciting shift! – in our definition of professional development. I  And it also means that teachers are not only effecting change in their own practice and their own classroom and for their own pupils. They are also influencing practice on a wide scale – and from the classroom upwards and outwards – but never losing sight that at the heart of whatever learning or changes take place is their pupils.

Really, the TLA embodies what the GTC is about. Our stated purpose is to work for children, through teachers.  

Raising standards

Parliament demands that we make a contribution to raising standards of teaching and the quality of learning in the public interest.

That’s quite a mouthful – so I go back to our simpler mission statement – we work for children, through teachers.

We do this in a number of ways.  Some of our work is geared very directly to the end user – not the teacher actually, but the parent and the child.  Why does society insist that qualified teachers in England are registered with the General Teaching Council?

Because it is important for children.

Children and young people deserve to be taught by properly qualified teachers who have been rigorously trained and prepared for the role.  Parents and employers have the right to know that this is true.  

Why do we regulate the profession?  Because we are a profession and because the impact of teachers is so profound on society as a whole.  

Professionally led regulation is about teachers safeguarding the good standing of the profession – which is in all our interests – and about patrolling the boundaries of acceptable professional conduct and practice.  

But the GTC is about raising standards of professional conduct and practice – that is a much bigger challenge than simply patrolling the boundaries – and a much more exciting one that is about raising the standing of the profession.

Teachers’ values

…We all need something that gets us out of bed in the morning.  For me it has always been teaching – or rather a fascination with helping children and young people to learn, succeed and thrive.  My role in this is now more indirect, but the motivation remains the same and it stems from my own professional and personal values.

That is true for all of us.  Some of us are quite explicit about our values; quite conscious of being part of a profession that serves the public and quite clear about what “good” looks like.  

Most of us however – most teachers that is – do not talk the language of “professionalism” and certainly don’t use terms like “the public interest” over coffee in the staffroom.  That doesn’t make us any less professional or any less committed and accountable.  We derive our sense of accountability or vocation very directly from the pupils we teach, our school community, our passion for our subject or phase of teaching.

We understand intuitively that teaching is a complex and creative activity, but we are not always as articulate as we need to be about the practice of teaching – about pedagogy – about what it is that we teachers do – that makes that vital difference to learning.  And we need to be.  We need to be better at it – because our standing in the eyes of the public – the government, parents, employers, the local community – derives in part from being confident, assertive and articulate champions of teaching and learning.

Debating the future of teaching

So over the next four years – from now to 2012 – the GTC wants to engage in a very broad dialogue – with you – with the profession as individuals – and with our many partners in education – on what teaching should look like – what is special about teaching; what training, support and resources do teachers need to give of their best.  What are the respective roles of teachers, pupils and parents in the learning process?  Who is responsible for creating and maintaining the environment in which young people learn and develop?

You may be wondering, why only four years? Why not longer? Because it seems a good start. A lot can change in four years – government, perhaps, with the impending general election? Technology, certainly. A teacher recently reflected that four years ago there was one whiteboard in her school which nobody really knew much about; today they have them in every classroom and they’re an integral part of pupils’ learning. And you, of course – those of you who do feel that teaching is the right fit for you, will be at least four years into your career – in fact, some of you will have been teaching for nearly a decade!   

At the higher level, it means all of us getting engaged in a debate about teaching – we chose well when we chose teaching – we must therefore invest in its future.

Thank you and good luck.