Policy areas

Our work to support entry to teaching includes advice to the TDA and government on:

• the effectiveness of different routes into teaching
• Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) standards
• the training curriculum.

We are key partners in a study over time of the quality of experience, retention and career progression of teachers entering through the wide variety of routes into teaching. These now include undergraduate degrees, the post-graduate certificate
of education, the graduate teacher programme, and school-based initial teacher training.

We know that teachers are personally committed to developing their own professional practice. Opportunities for effective continuing professional development hold the key to continual improvement.We have developed the Teachers’ Professional Learning Framework (TPLF) to help teachers map and plan their own development.We are working at local level with teachers, schools and LEAs to improve access to high quality CPD .

Our advice to government is that the role of the qualified teacher is central. New roles for other adults should be shaped by pupils’ learning needs. High quality preparation is essential and teachers themselves need support in adapting to new ways of working with a wide range of colleagues.

There have been many major changes to the school workforce in recent years, for example bringing more teaching assistants into schools and a new career structure for them.

With change continuing, we are monitoring these changes so that we can recommend how to recruit and retain the best school workforce. The main focuses for our work are:

• impact of fewer pupils
• impact of school support staff recruitment
• under-representation of men, black and minority ethnic teachers, teachers with disabilities and others
• glass ceiling in career progression for women, black and minority ethnic teachers and others
• continuing teacher shortages in subjects such as the sciences and languages, and in some localities
• challenge of the ageing profession. How do we make sure experienced teachers stay motivated, contributing to the education system. How do we replace the current cohorts of leaders in schools?

The GTC's education policies are underpinned by Members' commitment to the professional judgement of teachers playing a more critical role in the way that teaching and learning policy is developed at school level.

Examples of this include the GTC's promotion of:

• a model of school self-evaluation
• assessment for learning
• the role of support staff in adding value to teaching and learning processes, in partnership with teachers.

Early in 2005 we proposed to the Secretary of State three areas for policy change.

These areas were:

• reviewing and integrating formative and summative assessment, and understanding how this enhances teaching and learning
• exploring how data from pupil assessment can better support learning, while leading to enriched and accessible public information and accountability
• reviewing how assessment data are produced and used to monitor national standards.

By summer 2005 we had already, through consultation, produced three discussion papers on these issues. We have more work in preparation, including:

• parent focus groups on assessment and accountability
• evidence gathering to inform teachers’ CPD on assessment for learning
  work with the research community on using assessment data for monitoring national standards.

This work will build up to more material for the Secretary of State, teachers and other key partners, and form the basis of a policy makers’ seminar.

In 2004 the GTC proposed a radical shift in the balance between the public accountability of schools and trust in schools and professionals.

We wanted a greater emphasis on school self-evaluation, allowing inspectors and the public to judge a school effectively. This, coupled with the 2002 BBC Reith Lectures of Onora O’Neill, and the work of the teacher unions and others, led government to move towards a better balance of school accountability and trust in teachers and school leadership teams.

The result is the New Relationship with Schools programme (NRwS). Through NRwS, self-evaluation comes to the heart of school improvement, and Ofsted’s new inspection framework will bring shorter but more frequent inspections. The programme also brings a School Improvement Partner to each school, and cuts school bureaucracy.

We continue to advise government about NRwS. We will also publish a good practice guide for schools that will show how schools can have an effective, inclusive and sustainable approach to school improvement within the NRwS framework, bringing together school self-evaluation, CPD and performance management.

The 2005 government white paper Every Child Matters set out a new framework for children’s services. It required the organisations that provide services to children to team up in new ways, sharing information and working together to protect children and young people from harm and help them achieve what they want in life.

As the guarantor of professional standards in teaching, there is an important role for the GTC in this agenda. We are working with health, social services, and other organisations to explore the implications of the new agenda for the children’s workforce.

The GTC is working with representatives from health and social services organisations to establish a professional dialogue and promote the distinctiveness of each sector. This is particularly important in relation to the new roles proposed for early years professionals within the Children’s Workforce Strategy. The Council would stress the importance of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) for professionals working in an early years setting.