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Teaching and teachers have the power to transform lives, says GTC Chief Executive Keith Bartley. Because of that, being a registered teacher must be something that teachers are proud of, and that has real meaning and status.
Teaching: the GTC magazine, summer 2008
I have received some pretty strong and clear feedback from teachers during my first year at the GTC.
Not all of it was positive. Some of you remain sceptical about the need for a professional regulatory body. Some think we may be treading on the teacher unions’ territory. Others believe we should be purely a teachers’ council. And a vociferous minority thinks we should stick to regulation and ignore the rest of our remit.
An equally committed contingent likes and values what we do through our professional networks and the Teacher Learning Academy, but may be less convinced about the value of our disciplinary role.
And some of you are indifferent - but not about teaching. I have not met a single teacher who does not care passionately about teaching.
I have not met any teacher who fails to have a view about the curriculum, assessment, tackling underachievement, pupil behaviour, parental aspirations and engagement, promoting learning, or teacher professionalism.
There is a wide consensus on some issues, such as the need to reform the assessment regime to support pupil learning more effectively. There is a strong set of common values shared by teachers and within schools, about supporting children
and young people to succeed and thrive.
There is almost universal disaffection with excessive central Government direction over the curriculum and pedagogy. There is a strong desire to enhance the respect accorded to teachers by parents and pupils at local level, and by policymakers and government at national level.
Where can and should the GTC get involved with these concerns and debates?
Our legal remit is clear – the GTC was created to work in the public interest to help improve standards of teaching and the quality of learning, to improve standards of professional conduct among teachers and to raise the standing of the profession.
Two major programmes running when I arrived at the GTC directly addressed these central issues:
They will deliver the remit that Parliament gave the Council and will genuinely contribute to improvements in teaching.
Our code should capture the enduring values that teachers share. It should define the legitimate expectations that teachers have of their colleagues and that the public has of teachers. It should provide an ethical framework for decision making and for professional behaviour and practice.
Based on proven evidence about effective teacher learning, the TLA is being enthusiastically adopted as a vehicle for personal development and whole school improvement by hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers. We are now scaling up the TLA significantly, with the help of over 40 national partners including teacher unions, higher education institutions and subject associations. By September 2009, it will be a fully national offer owned by the education community as a whole.
But important as these are, our aim should be nothing less than the transformation of teaching.
Teachers have the power to transform lives. You make the vital difference to children, young people and communities. So teaching itself should be a high status, highly respected profession that enjoys the full confidence of parents and government alike.
We are therefore embarking on a wide programme of dialogue and discussion directly with teachers, the organisations that represent them, employers, partners, parents and governors.
We want to hear what you think teaching should look like in 2012.And we want to know what role you think the GTC can and should play in shaping the future of the profession in the interests of all children and young people.
We want being a registered teacher to be something that teachers are proud of, and that has real meaning and status.
That might involve amore active expression of what it means to remain on the GTC register – how we can encourage and record the day to day development that teachers undertake to improve and reflect on their practice.
It should mean a new focus on pedagogy, the art and craft of teaching, and on teachers’ own professional judgement and expertise. It involves a vision for a refreshed, more flexible and dynamic curriculum and new, more meaningful but less burdensome approaches to assessment and accountability. And the Council’s own structures must be modernised so they are fit for the purpose of supporting teacher professionalism.
Read our draft vision statement.
